April 2025
2025 IIDA Northern California Student Design Charette
Event Recap
Student Affairs
On Saturday, April 26, the IIDA Northern California Chapter proudly hosted its annual Student Design Charette at Gensler’s San Francisco office. This high-energy event brought together 27 interior design students from across the region for a one-day collaborative design challenge that pushed the limits of creativity, adaptability, and collaboration.
Students, many of whom had never met before, were placed in multidisciplinary teams and given just 2.5 hours to respond to a surprise design prompt. This year’s fictional brief challenged participants to reimagine a Silicon Valley office building for a tech company seeking redemption by turning its space into a vibrant, community-driven hub. The prompt asked students to explore themes of transparency, trust, and social responsibility—all through the lens of design.
The Design Process: Learning on the Fly
Working under tight time constraints, teams had to quickly align on concept direction, space planning, and presentation strategy. It was an exercise not only in design thinking but also in communication and teamwork.
“There were two major learning opportunities at the Student Charette: approaching a design problem and negotiating group dynamics within a very short period of time,” said Sally Midgley, Director of Student Affairs.
“Group members met for the first time, learning names as the time clock started. The remarkable feat of producing a design solution in this context is something you can’t truly appreciate until you’ve experienced it. Each group explored their identities and unique combination of talents to produce a delightful variety of projects. The biggest lesson? Exactly what Millie Kwong said at the end of the day: ‘Everyone has something to offer.’ To that, I would simply add—everyone has something to learn.”
After presenting their concepts to a panel of jurors, students were given one week to refine their designs individually before the final judging phase.
Judging Criteria: More Than Just Looks
The judging panel, made up of respected local design professionals, evaluated submissions based not only on aesthetics but also conceptual depth, storytelling, and clarity of communication. While many teams produced beautiful visuals, the winning team stood out for their clear design rationale and process documentation.
“Given the small amount of time these teams have to work on their presentations, it can be really difficult to balance good graphics with a strong, thoughtful design narrative,” said Jonny Bywater, Assistant VP of Student Affairs.
“While a few teams focused intensely on the look of their presentations, it was the thoughtfulness and reasoning behind specific design decisions that ended up being the deciding factor. The winning team certainly proved this. I really commend each team on an incredible range of ideas and design resolutions, and I hope they can take this experience and the judges’ feedback and apply it to future projects.”
Congratulations to the Winning Team
The winning team’s concept, inspired by the structure of DNA, conveyed powerful themes of interconnectivity, identity, and transparency—a response that aligned beautifully with the challenge’s intent.
Congratulations to the members of the winning team:
- Ana Castaneda – Cañada College
- Monce Perez – CSU Sacramento
- Amy Bam – West Valley College
- Sheree Poon – Cañada College
- Amy Zumout – San Jose State University
Special recognition goes to Monce Perez, who has been selected to represent the Northern California Chapter at the National Student Charette, taking place at NeoCon in Chicago, June 9–11, 2025.
Thank You to Our Partners
This event would not have been possible without the generous support of Gensler San Francisco as our event host, our esteemed panel of judges, and of course, the students, whose energy, ideas, and dedication brought the challenge to life.
Looking Ahead
The 2025 Student Design Charette was not only a showcase of emerging talent but also a reminder of the power of design to provoke dialogue, encourage reflection, and inspire community-focused solutions. We look forward to cheering on our chapter’s representative in Chicago and welcoming a new class of student designers to next year’s event.
