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 Ģ������ƵStories      May 19, 2025

By Shane Ryden

Ģ������Ƶ interior design students collaborated with seniors at the Givens Great Laurels retirement community this May to discuss and address the realities of aging in place.

In colorful proposals inspired by interviews with residents, seven teams of young designers unveiled new concepts for lighting, paint, flooring and furniture meant to transform and update nearly every aspect of the 2007 construction.

The effort continues a tradition of service for the School of Arts and Design. Every spring, junior students in their studio course undertake a service-learning project with different community partners. Past partners have included the Catamount School and the Jackson County Center for Domestic Peace.

The Given Great Laurels is located in Waynesville, with 100 affordable-housing apartments on site.  

Shelby Hicks, associate professor of interior design, has been teaching the class for seven years and knows that, for all its difficulties, the work represents an important step in the young designers’ education.    

“They’re juniors in their spring semester, and prior to that, they have a very scripted client. The faculty, all of us, create and then present whatever the environmental issue is that has to do with design and what they’re going to solve,” Hicks said.

“Then, all of a sudden, you’re thrown into this class where you’re working with a real person who has definite ideas about what interior design is, never mind what they need… They have to figure it out, and they work in teams.

“They will work on teams for the rest of their lives. That’s what design is.”

Concord native and interior design major Samantha Mack’s presentation culminated weeks of difficult but rewarding research on and off property. Her group’s board, like many of her peers, was bright with overheard diagrams, digital models and color swatches.

Mack and her peers studied WELL building standards, guidelines promoting health and wellness, the different social determinants of health, especially as they relate to aging, and case studies with similar design ambitions to the Givens.

Students spoke with contractors and manufacturers in addition to touring and taking measurements of the space. Twelve residents were interviewed and offered their perspective on where their apartments and common areas could be improved. From the lobby to the library to the gym, they had much to discuss.

“They decided they wanted to help, and we met with them, and we answered a bunch of questions. They told us what was wrong, what they wanted fixed. We asked about the lighting, the sound,” Mack said.

“We had to learn how to talk to people that don't necessarily have the background that we do…Is it loud in the hallways when you’re walking by? Can you see in the hallways? Questions like that,” she continued.

“We had to learn how to talk about that in a way that they would understand to get responses that we could then understand and interpret into what we needed to change for the design process.”

The changes suggested were broad, and all seemed to draw excitement from the small crowd gathered that heard designers’ proposals.

Acoustic lighting fixtures, lighter furniture, new paint for new in-building neighborhoods and more comfortable carpeting were all items brought to the discussion table. Students connected each aspect of their plan with an element of health and wellness, taking into account issues of accessibility and wayfinding.

“We had to give them as much as we could because the hope is that they’ll like stuff enough that they’ll actually be used in real life, and we’ll get to see our designs implemented somewhere,” Mack said.

“I’m very thankful to the university and our program for having this type of experience, because it’s definitely going to benefit us all in the long run going into our internships and our professional lives knowing what we’re capable of doing to help people.”

Teresa Stephens is the vice president of Givens Affordable Communities, and a graduate of Ģ������Ƶherself. In overseeing the Great Laurels complex in Waynesville and the Gerber Park complex in Asheville, she’s been witness to a tremendous effort by Ģ������Ƶstudents to give back to their region.

 “We have been working with Ģ������Ƶ for many years, a lot with the social work department and the School of Nursing, and so we really love these opportunities to get students connected with our residents, older adults, to understand the importance of aging well in community,” Stephens said.

“I graduated from Ģ������Ƶ with a fine arts and graphic design degree, and real-life projects gave me a real portfolio to take out into the world and help me get jobs.”

Speaking on the Givens, Stephens said, “It’s beautiful, but it’s affordable housing. There’s not a budget to hire professional interior design people to come in and give us ideas and thoughts and color palettes and lighting.

“This is not just a student project for us. It’s something real … we hope to take some of their ideas and their designs and actually refurbish the building.”

Stephens was most grateful to see residents’ reactions: “I think they feel heard, listened to and excited that they have input on it. That’s what I’m most excited about.”

Professor Hicks hopes by the course’s conclusion that students better understand the breadth of interior design’s overall purpose and audience.

“Interior design is not just for the top 10%. We have the skills and the knowledge to create healthy environments that would be so beneficial to our marginalized communities, and it doesn’t cost all that much to just be aware of what you’re putting into a design,” Hicks said.

“It’s awareness for our students that you don't have to work in designing office spaces, high-end residential, that you could also do marginalized communities, low-income housing.

“You get a lot out of doing that kind of work.”