In for the Long Haul – Even When Your Bill Dies, There’s Always a Next Step


August 4th, 2021

This year, IIDA took an important step in its advocacy efforts when both the Northern and Southern California Chapters of IIDA voted to support Senate Bills (SB) 31 and 32, both authored by Senator Dave Cortese from Santa Clara. In a nutshell, both bills were aimed at promoting building decarbonization to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and in turn, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. More information about IIDA’s entry into this type of legislation here.

Representatives of both IIDA chapters met early on with Senator Cortese’s staff to seek clarification on the bill language, and to commend the Senator for taking bold action on this crucial issue. The Senator’s office expressed gratitude for our support on these measures, and understood that commercial interior designers have key role to play in the implementation of whatever steps we take to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, especially in the new building inventory that will be built between now and 2045, when California hopes to meet its goal of relying entirely on zero-emission energy sources.

As can often happen with bills like this that propose sweeping reform (often with high price tags associated), these bills both stalled in the Senate. SB 31 has been designated a two-year bill (meaning Senator Cortese can continue to work on this bill and add it to his legislative package again in 2022-23), and SB 32 died in the Appropriations Committee. 

“While this may sound disheartening, it’s a very common outcome for bills of this nature, and there are some key factors to note when putting that outcome into context,” said Christina Marcellus, IIDA’s California lobbyist. First off, as a post-COVID organizational rule, Legislative leadership imposed a strict 12 bill limit on every member of the Legislature. This limit was imposed in mid-May, just as both SBs 31 and 32 were set to be heard in the Senate Appropriations committee. “For every author with more than 12 bills total, difficult decisions had to be made,” Marcellus said. Senator Cortese has a robust bill package, and perhaps figured that other bills he was authoring had a better chance of success this year than either of these, and had to make that difficult call not to pursue them. 

While these bills ultimately weren’t successful this year, Senator Cortese is new to the Legislature and IIDA’s California chapters support the Senator in continuing to be a champion for clean energy climate solutions. While legislation is the main vehicle to advance a policy change, it’s also possible that these types of programs get funded directly through the state budget, which can sometimes make bills with a similar goal obsolete. 

IIDA’s involvement in legislation not directly related to the design industry is a crucial step in expanding awareness of the work interior designers do, and the role they play in the health, welfare and safety not only of people who inhabit their designed spaces, but also of our natural environment.  We will continue to look for on-ramps like this into areas related to our work to build partnerships, develop awareness, and enhance IIDA’s profile in Sacramento.

Targeting California’s Carbon Footprint, IIDA’s California Chapters Stand Together


May 27th, 2021

In a landmark move, IIDA’s Northern and Southern California boards both voted to publicly support California Senate Bills 31 and 32 at their April meetings. SB 31 and 32 target the decarbonization of buildings as a way of combating global warming; this is an area of clear importance to our industry, and where we can have a direct impact. Both the Northern and Southern California chapters of IIDA were eager to take this step and become public advocates for these new pieces of legislation.

The bills were introduced by State Senator Dave Cortese of District 15 (Santa Clara County). SB 31 would require the state’s Energy Commission to use some state and federal funds to implement regulatory programs promoting decarbonization for new and existing buildings, while SB32 addresses how cities and counties in California plan for energy efficiency, directing them to specifically target decarbonization as well. IIDA’s Northern and Southern California boards felt these sensible measures align with our mission for several reasons:

First, IIDA values sustainability and believes more radical action is needed to move the needle on slowing and ultimately reversing climate change. On the heels of the United States’ renewed commitment to the Paris Climate Accord, we believe that climate action implemented in California will set a sweeping example for the country and the world to follow. 

Echoing this first point, IIDA Northern California’s President-Elect, Verda Alexander, recently launched a joint-chapter initiative to increase commercial interior designer’s participation in climate action—citing the responsibility of designers to meet this challenge, considering that buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption in the United States. 

Second, IIDA members are experts in a wide-ranging field and can employ that perspective and expertise to create positive change, following a strong precedent set by other professional associations in our industry including the AIA (American Institute of Architects) and ASME (American Society for Mechanical Engineers), who have weighed in on similar legislation.

Finally, misconceptions about commercial interior designers are still common in our state and local governments, and joining this kind of discussion makes us more visible and gives us the chance to shine a light on what we do. “As IIDA engages with lawmakers regarding SB31 and SB32, we also have the opportunity to educate our representatives about our profession, our skills, and our impact on the health and safety of their constituents,” says Laura Taylor, VP of Advocacy for IIDA’s Northern California chapter. “This work not only elevates our image as a profession, but also builds relationships with policy makers who could one day introduce or vote on legislation that will impact our practice.”

SB31 and SB32 are set for hearing in the Senate Appropriations Committee where arguments and amendments will be heard and the bills will be formally voted on. If the bills get out of their current Committee, they will head to the Senate Floor for a vote by the full body. Check back to IIDA’s newsroom for Part 2 including a detailed breakdown of SB31 and SB32 by IIDA’s California lobbyist.

Strategic Solutions – Why Communities in Crisis Recovery Need their Commercial Interior Designers


December 11, 2020
IIDA representative  present one part of it’s $40K+ donation to Homes for Sonoma

Sonoma County, north of the San Francisco Bay, covers a large area, but it is a tight community with very few degrees of separation among its residents. When the 2017 Tubbs Fire took out nearly 6,000 homes in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County’s largest city, everyone was affected to some degree.

1 in 5 people had to evacuate, often with little warning and no time to save possessions. If you weren’t one of them, you knew someone who was. By the second day of the disaster, I had a space planner from Sonoma County and a furniture installer for a local dealership staying at my house in Petaluma with their family. They had lost everything and gotten out with minutes to spare before their Santa Rosa home burned to the ground.

Responding to a crisis like the Tubbs Fire is, at base, a design problem. What do survivors need in the short-, mid-, and long-term? What do cities and organizations need to help those evacuees, and to shore up and redirect their own infrastructure? These are the kinds of questions we designers are adept at understanding—and where our organized creative process provides a proven path to solutions.

In 2017, our North Bay City Center Director, Christina Pratt, Assoc. IIDA, owner of Trope Group, the local Herman Miller dealer had been evacuated from her home in the more rural part of Sonoma County, and Trope Group’s offices became a gathering space and safe haven for her employees who had been evacuated. With their usual work at a standstill, Trope Group put their centralized location and their fleet of trucks to use. They quickly set up a process for collecting supplies from local businesses and donation centers and delivering them to the shelters and evacuation facilities where they were desperately needed.

As the fire was contained and we began to look for next steps, individuals grappled with rebuilding while the cities and county faced an even bigger problem: the devastation of the fire had made our housing crisis much worse. Our homeless population had increased and some of the resources they’d relied on had disappeared—and, given the high costs in our area, many folks were simply finding it impossible to replace the homes they’d lost.

Only a short time later, a multi-disciplinary group of design professionals got together to brainstorm about how design thinking could help to re-house people quickly and efficiently—and Homes for Sonoma was born. This organization is composed of designers, architects, marketers, and community leaders who took a time of tragedy and turned it into an opportunity for a larger conversation about building, living, and working more densely.

After the fires, I advocated for our Northern California Chapter to throw all its philanthropic support toward this effort—and for all our City Centers to contribute to the pool, as well. The Board agreed, and IIDA Northern California donated its entire philanthropic funds for 2017, the largest donation in the chapter’s history, to Homes for Sonoma to further the design thinking strategies they had identified to help revitalize suburban Northern California. The North Bay City Center also donated to the organization, and various other monies were pooled for a total of $43,140 from our design community.

Less than a year later, Homes for Sonoma completed its first modular units and began to move survivors into new long-term housing for below-market rents. The organization continues to address this problem, actively looking for more land and also pursuing less traditional approaches like helping private homeowners establish accessory dwelling units on their property.

IIDA NC Instagram- Homes for Sonoma

Within the design community, we have also continued our efforts to learn, explore, and offer real solutions. To continue the conversation about how we rebuild our community, the North Bay City Center focused its 2018 Spring Forum on the topic of “Revisioning suburbia and challenging our notion of density and scale.”

Of course, the need to respond to disasters never stops for long. In 2018, an even more devastating set of wildfires hit California, and in 2020 we, like the rest of the world, are dealing with the many impacts of the coronavirus. All varieties of commercial interiors have been greatly affected, and Sonoma County, which has historically been slow to embrace new technologies or remote working, has had a meteoric shift.

This is an amazing time for a greater strategic conversation about what our public spaces can be and how they might function better for the benefit of all. There’s a clear benefit to having design professionals—especially commercial interior designers—provide strategic input to cities, businesses, and leading organizations, as we are trained to bring insights into human behavior and experience and we have deep knowledge about materials, sustainability, and health and wellness to bring to every space we consider. Problem-solving is a design exercise, and when it comes to disaster response, we’ve demonstrated—as we did in the aftermath of the Tubbs Fire—that we can bring unique insights and create valuable long-term solutions. 

Heather Mackin, IIDA, is the owner of Mackin Creative and the former director of IIDA’s North Bay City Center


LEGALIZING EMPOWERMENT: ONE TOOL FOR INCLUSION NOBODY’S TALKING ABOUT


November 30, 2020

Like every other industry today, architecture & design are having serious, soul-searching conversations around diversity, equity, and inclusion. But we may be missing a straightforward legal adjustment that could change the inner workings of the industry in profound and positive ways. 

Our industry has focused for a long time on the overwhelming whiteness of the designer/architect pipeline. We have centered our diversity and inclusivity action plans on outreach to incoming generations of BIPOC (Black, Indigiouness, and people of color) college, high school, even elementary students who’ve historically not been exposed to or recruited by our industry. Programs like Architects in the Schools, Hip Hop Architecture, and Citizen Schools, among others, have all made great strides in beginning to close that talent gap. And for those who love our craft, sharing it with BIPOC students may naturally be the most attractive and sustainable form of activism.

But the emphasis on industry pipeline ignores the barriers to professional advancement young BIPOC designers face once they’ve joined the profession. In spite of decades of efforts public and private, in our industry, female designers, queer designers, black and brown designers are often still working for straight, white, male architects.

The current demographic makeup of the industry—and the undeniably different makeup of its leadership—is not just due to the discriminatory practices of individuals or companies. It is the inescapable result of regulatory laws that have failed to evolve with the industry and have resultantly granted disproportionate power to one class and professional category over all others. Despite years of diversification of design specialties, architects—who are overwhelmingly white and male—remain the legally designated authorities over our entire industry.

The history of commercial interior design explains this. Our discipline emerged from the practice of architecture in the last half of the 20th century due to the increased complexity of interior spaces and a new demand for thoughtfully designed interiors. Whereas interiors used to be just the accidental result of external architecture, in the 1960s and 70s both clients and designers began to see the potential for interiors to function as spaces that would help employees work more efficiently, students learn more effectively, patients heal more quickly. Interiors could, more generally, improve the quality of life for everyone who moved through and occupied them. This awareness created a new focus and need for a professional perspective independent from that of traditional architecture. Thus the commercial interior designer was born. 

In addition to those personal and workplace challenges, the state has erected a legal barrier to professional advancement for non-architects. Commercial interior designers are not included in the California State Civil Code’s definition of Design Professionals, and they typically cannot submit drawings for permit without the stamp and signature of an architect. An ambitious commercial interior designer thus faces a professional impasse, and can find they have no pathway to ownership at all, since achieving this legal authority is often a requirement. 

Is it ethical to encourage young students to get a degree in a field which doesn’t allow them access to the hallmarks of power in the industry? Do students know their choice of interior design over architecture may mean they never get the opportunity to submit drawings for acceptance at a building department all on their own, and may prevent them from ever achieving a position of ownership?

The practice of the law, itself, proves its antiquity. Architects aren’t generating all these drawings themselves; they are often stamping the work of commercial interior designers which includes details and specifications unfamiliar to them. These specifications, of course, represent the daily work and core competency of commercial interior design. It’s clear that the state needs to establish a new tier of recognition for qualified commercial interior designers that acknowledges and respects the specialized training and knowledge of commercial interior designers, who ensure that all citizens have safe, accessible, useful spaces to move through. 

The idea of creating a new and particularly rigorous requirement for full participation in the industry might seem wrong-headed in terms of increasing diversity and equity. But as sociologist Beth Redbird’s research has found, “licensure… creates a set of institutional mechanisms that enhance entry into the occupation, particularly for historically disadvantaged groups…” In other words, providing a clear path to advancement allows people to pursue and achieve it equally, without such exclusionary considerations as personal connections and subjective assessments of style that in the past have served to suppress greater diversity among practitioners. In Redbird’s sample of 300 occupations over 30 years, the creation of occupational licensure increased the proportion of Black workers by more than 3%. Given the current demographics of our industry, 3% would be a significant improvement. 

Importantly, associating real professional benefits like the ability to stamp and sign drawings with occupational licensure would not just increase the proportion of historically marginalized populations in the profession. Bestowing legal authority on interior designers through certification would qualify them for entry into partnerships and other senior leadership positions, from which they are now often technically excluded. In the short-to-mid-term, this would inevitably elevate a more diverse population into positions of ownership within the architecture and design world overall. 

If we want BIPOC individuals to join, enrich, and diversify our profession—and we do, far beyond simply responding to the social pressure of this moment—we owe them a future that presents unfettered potential for leadership, ownership, influence, respect, and impact. Licensure of commercial interior designers is a critical change we can make right now to help level the playing field and open up those opportunities.

Laura Taylor is a designer at ASD|SKY and the IIDA Northern California Chapter VP of Advocacy


We Keep the Public Safe

We Keep the Public Safe

On Friday, November 21, 1980, the MGM Grand Hotel, one of the centerpieces of the Las Vegas Strip, had a fire that started small but quickly spread through the property, with devastating effects. The fire killed 85 people, and in the weeks that followed, it would force a wholesale re-evaluation in high-rise building code. Its greatest legacy, however, may be the way it forever changed our understanding of Commercial Interior Design.

The MGM Grand fire remains the deadliest disaster in Nevada history and the third-deadliest hotel fire in modern U.S. history. The fire, itself, however, wasn’t what killed the victims. The burning decorative materials, instead, created toxic fumes and smoke which ascended throughout the hotel tower. Those interior materials also contributed to the speed with which the fire overtook the building. Combustible furnishing and interior finishes, foam padding, and moldings allowed for an extremely rapid fire spread and heavy smoke production.

The end result was that dozens of people were trapped or overcome before they had any chance to escape.

This tragedy has led to many changes in building codes, material uses, and studies on the toxicity of building materials and their impact on the environment and the health and safety of occupants. The MGM fire, as much as any modern incident, reminds us of the importance of designing buildings that keep people safe.


In short, the MGM fire defined the need for skilled, expert Commercial Interior Designers—a professional designation that had never existed before, but which, in the 40 years since, has only grown in importance. Today, commercial interior designers play a large role in the health and safety of the occupants of every public and commercial building. 

Designing for commercial spaces means designing for the public at large. We are not just designing for ourselves (our aesthetic, our preferences). The health and safety of all those who enter and use these spaces has always been paramount, even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today architects design much safer buildings than in the days of the MGM fire, but interior designers have not historically been required to meet similar standards of education, experience and oversight. In fact, even 40 years later, Commercial Interior Designers are still struggling to be recognized legally as “design professionals.” Following the MGM fire, Nevada and Florida began to regulate Commercial Interior Designers, registering them as “Licensed Design Professionals”. Here in California, interior designers are not legally recognized as “design professionals.”

So how do we elevate our profession to illustrate the value of our extensive knowledge of health and safety standards in design? We start with a good foundation of education and relevant experience. Our profession also seeks to establish legal recognition through testing, certification or registration, and continuing education to maintain certification throughout one’s career. Currently across the country, the requirements for legal recognition and oversight vary greatly from state to state.

The most common testing for the profession is the NCIDQ (National Council of Interior Design Qualifications) exam administered by the Council of Interior Design Qualifications, which is recognized among professionals as by far the most authoritative, rigorous, and reliable. Here in California, the state instead relies on the IDEX (Interior Design Exam) created and administered by the California Council for Interior Design Certification.

The IDEX does include topics which are specific to California code, which the standard NCIDQ does not. However, many of California’s Commercial Interior Designers elect to take the NCIDQ, anyway, in order to establish their credentials within the industry and to demonstrate their adherence to this higher standard of understanding of commercial interior design principles, expertise, and best practices.

One of the biggest differences between the exam systems is in their approaches to updates — an important consideration in an industry that is constantly changing due to new technologies, new products on the market, and new trends that could easily run afoul of safety standards if followed blindly. To ensure the NCIDQ maintains its rigor, CIDQ regularly gathers a small group of professional interior designers from around the country to discuss the profession in detail and focus on the real world practice of interior design. This practice analysis, unlike anything in the IDEX system, examines how the profession has evolved and what new elements or significant trends need more focus in upcoming exams. As a previous participant in these sessions, I’m inspired by how this process ensures the NCIDQ exam provides up-to-date value to the profession — and therefore the public.

Commercial Interior Designers seek to learn from the past and prepare better for the future. We focus on design and the health and safety of those we are designing for. Our profession was born from disaster, and we look to protect against future incidents by arming ourselves with the best education, deepest expertise, and most up-to-date and consistent standards we can establish.

Headshot of man

Bill Weeman, IIDA, NCIDQ, CID

Associate Principal at AECOM in San Francisco

The COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on California’s Legislative Process and Interior Design Regulation

September 20, 2019 — International Interior Design Association’s 2019 Advocacy Symposium, held at the Massachusetts State House. Participants taking a tour. Photo by Caitlin Cunningham Photography.

Published  October 30, 2020

2020 has been a year like no other, COVID-19 has affected nearly every aspect of our lives. As humans do, we have adapted. We have developed new ways to work, to socialize and to practice self-care. Many of us have more time to spend with family, explore new hobbies, and tackle long overdue house projects. On the other hand, the uncertainty, upheaval and unrelenting concern about what the future will hold cannot be ignored. Our society’s institutions have also adapted. Businesses, schools and governments all have changed at least some processes, priorities and timelines. While IIDA’s membership of Commercial Interior Designers, industry partners, and students have all experienced the impact of COVID-19 in these personal ways, the pandemic has also affected the practice of Commercial Interior Design itself from the changing landscape of health and safety within interior spaces to California’s legislative backlog delaying the review of occupational oversight hearings for Certified Interior Designers.

The road from January to now has been dizzying. It was only 10 months ago that Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled his proposed spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. California’s cash reserves were high, the unemployment rate was low, and the Governor was positioned to work well with a heavily Democratic Legislature eager to enact progressive social policies. 

Fast forward ever so slightly to early February, when news outlets began reporting that the spread of the coronavirus was imminent, and then to March 11, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. A mere two months after rolling out a healthy and balanced spending plan, Governor Newsom issued a statewide stay at home order on March 19 that shuttered the state economy. California’s budget projections suffered the worst and most sudden loss in history. Seven months later, though the state’s COVID-19 data seems to be trending in the right direction, few among us are willing to declare that an end is in sight. 

California’s state leaders have done their best to respond, but the work of the California Legislature was crippled by the virus. Even the fairly straightforward occupational oversight hearings known as Sunset Reviews were postponed for a year. The Commercial Interior Design Community was directly impacted by the postponement of the CCIDC Sunset Review, which was scheduled for early 2021. CCIDC is the private, non-profit board that administers the CID stamp that many interior designers hold. CCIDC’s hearing will now be held in 2022, giving the interior design community more time to engage with stakeholders and decision makers to influence some positive changes to the way interior design is regulated. 

The displacement of Legislators, staff and other Capitol employees has placed a microscope on working conditions and workplace health and safety. The Capitol, frequently referred to as the people’s house, was under stringent traffic control that stymied the normal flow of operations. A major Capitol renovation project is already underway, and though ground hasn’t yet broken, there will likely be a renewed focus on health and safety considerations that can prevent or mitigate illness. This conversation will not be unique to the Capitol. As the focus of policy-making turns away from COVID crisis response and to prevention and preparation, commercial interior designers have an incredible opportunity to impart their knowledge and inform public policy decisions. Your IIDA advocacy leaders have already started these conversations, and will continue to be at the table when the 2021 legislative session kicks off. 

The intersection of workplace and personal safety was highlighted on the last night of the legislative session when Assemblymember Buffy Wicks was denied the ability to vote remotely, and had to bring her baby to the State Capitol to cast her votes on paid family leave legislation in-person. While that story received national attention, millions of parents and guardians are balancing a need to work with a real concern for their health and that of their family members. In many instances, it is people of color and low income workers who don’t have the chance to work from home. There is a true social justice strand to the discussion on workplace safety, and it’s one on which the commercial interior design industry is poised to lead.

As has been the case for all of 2020, the only thing we know for sure is that the future remains uncertain. With only days until the presidential election, it’s possible that the year’s biggest twists and turns are yet to come. However, California’s leadership and elected officials will enter a new year with some lessons learned from a thoroughly bruising 2020, and will hopefully have the vision and the unity to steer California into a brighter, healthier future.

Christina Marcellus, Capitol Advisors Group
IIDA’s California Lobbyist

Commercial Interior Designers are Driving Innovation for Workplace Health and Safety During a Time of Pandemic

Navigating Unprecedented Times

Commercial interior designers across the country are grappling with the monumental issues of today and how they affect our work and public spaces. The COVID-19 pandemic, racial justice movement and climate change all have major implications for how commercial spaces function and how to make them safe, functionally efficient and aesthetically rich.

“At IIDA, we believe that commercial interior design plays a key role in protecting the health, safety and welfare of the public. That design has the power to heal and bring people together,” Yoko Ishihara, president of IIDA Northern California, recently wrote in a letter to members. “In respect to public health, racial equity and climate change, these are unprecedented times. As highly trained professionals, it is our responsibility to push the value of design beyond our current understanding to make a positive transformation through innovation.”

The advent of COVID: A new design challenge

The COVID-19 global pandemic has presented a new challenge to commercial interior designers. We must now address how commercial building design can help mitigate the spread of infectious diseases and balance that with the economics of managing a business. Factors to be reassessed include how to move people to and through their workspaces or other destinations; interior surfaces and how they can be kept clean with minimal human contact; air quality, filtration and freshness; and how to balance health-driven spatial requirements with ambience and experience in a hospitality space such as a hotel, restaurant or other entertainment venue.

Toro Toro in Fort Worth Texas | Wilson Ishihara 
Designing for changing work patterns

Designing for safety and health 

Health and wellness decisions are supported by materials choices, physical design and aesthetics. Designing for wellness includes such considerations as lighting, ventilation, water filtration, climate control and other aspects of the building itself. In the context of the pandemic, this list now also includes per person space allocation, navigation patterns and shared touchable surfaces.

At the same time, strictly clinical considerations must be translated for the varied usages of commercial spaces. 

“People come to restaurants for cultural experiences and to be part of a community,” says Ishihara, who is a principal at Wilson Ishihara in Sonoma and Oakland, CA. “The space has to feel hospitable—not like a hospital. So even within the context of a pandemic, we must focus on maximizing diner experiences—how it feels to sit at every table, and adjusting spaces so the customers feel safe, yet the experiences are still meaningful and delightful. That is what will ensure they return—and ensure the long-term health of the business.”


With the sudden shift to working-from-home that the pandemic shutdown required, the very nature of work has shifted in ways that are likely to endure. According to researcher Jennifer Magnolfi Astill in a recent interview with Harvard Business Review, “This event will mark a permanent change in our perception of workspace …. [and] new ways of working together will emerge, at first in the form of innovation in digital work tools,  – and later in innovation in physical space.”

With many companies delaying a return to their offices, Northern California commercial interior designers are already generating possible solutions for both short- and long-term needs of the new work dynamic. San Francisco-based design firm RMW modelled its New Office Paradigm on the assumption that shared workspace is vital for full team collaboration and creativity, even while physical distancing and hygienic practices must be maintained.

New Office Paradigm | RMW

Designing for flexibility and sustainability

Commercial interior designers are experts in understanding the required quality and durability of materials selected to meet the projected needs, resources and usage of the space.  With that very usage undergoing rapid transformation, flexibility is critical as well.

For a new shared laboratory facility that houses biotech start-ups actively researching COVID-related healthcare solutions, the interior design team at MBH Architects of Alameda, CA, reworked the large common spaces into seating areas that offer numerous options and are completely changeable. The designers’ deep relationship with furnishings vendors yielded the “energizing” colors that the client sought, even while meeting the health needs that require non-porous, completely cleanable surfaces.

Bakar BioEnginuity HUB in Berkeley, CA | MBH Architects 

Ensuring the health of the environment and mitigating the impact of climate change are growing world-wide concerns. Regulations, clients and the public are demanding that commercial buildings be constructed using environmentally sensitive materials and practices so that they function in a sustainable way. With some of the strictest and most progressive building codes in the nation, Northern California’s commercial interior designers are increasingly applying LEED certification and WELL building standards to create “healthy buildings” for all.


Three IIDA Efforts to help Interior Designers Meet the Moment

Close up shot of green I Design Button

Published October 08. 2020

It has certainly been an unprecedented year – unlike anything we’ve ever experienced—with a pandemic gripping our nation, a movement to fight systemic racism, and numerous historic wildfires raging across our state. These difficult times have also given us the opportunity to reflect and rethink what is important to our community and how to best support our industry in order to continue to advance the commercial interior design profession. 

Our collective minds can overcome any obstacles. Together, let’s continue progress so we ultimately come out stronger on the other side.

This year, we at IIDA NorCal are focusing our efforts and resources in three primary ways:  

1. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

We believe interior design plays a key role in protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public. Design has the power to heal and bring people together. However, we must collectively take action in order to make progress. Therefore, we have launched a series of equity initiatives to fight for diversity, equity and inclusion throughout  our society –  and particularly in the interior design field. 

Our Dignity, Equity & Justice by Design series of conversations is underway, bringing together both compelling speakers and lively participation by attendees. Session 2 is coming up on October 21, and I encourage you to register and participate in this important work.

2. Mentorship, Training and Resources

In order for our industry to thrive, it is critical that each and every one of us takes the time to inspire, teach, and mentor the next generation of professionals. For this reason, we are launching a new website and a virtual mentorship program this fall. Each of these are new vehicles that will generate opportunities for our community to connect and learn from one another. Mentorship, of course, is deeply connected to our goals of dignity, equity and justice, so emphasizing the creation of tangible opportunities to diversify the voices, backgrounds and talents of our industry will greatly inform all of these efforts.

3. Nurture the Culture of Innovation

Our industry is shifting as we have endured many life-changing experiences in the last several months. As designers, we’re trained to think creatively and to approach each challenge with fresh thinking. It is also our responsibility to push the value of design beyond our current understanding, in order to make a positive transformation through innovation. 

Supporting these efforts is a fully redesigned website, launching next month, as well as our ongoing and proactive advocacy efforts. Despite challenges with the state’s legislative calendar that the pandemic has imposed, we’re forging ahead to ensure our industry receives the recognition and regulatory status it needs. The  above work cannot happen without the continued support and involvement of our community. Please join us and let’s make progress together.