Our board members Thomas Seifert (President) and René Pier (ambassador for ECIA Charter of Interior Design on Interior Architecture training) were representing ECIA at the third National Conference on Interior Design in Sofia, Bulgaria, organised by the Association of Interior Designers in Bulgaria.
After the introduction by Gena Sabaeva, the President of the organisation and overview over the day, Thomas addressed in his greeting speech from the board of ECIA the benefits of being part of the ECIA family, especially having access to all the knowledge and experience of the other members. He pointed out that the spider model research can be a good starting point for Bulgaria to strengthen the position of defining the guidelines for a process towards a protected title and a defined training of interior architects.
Education as he mentioned was the bridge to René's speech about the impact of interior architecture in the field of education.
The speech consists of three parts, giving firstly an overview about education as one of the key elements of solving the world’s wicked problems and moved on with the insights we all can taken from the ECIA charter of interior architecture training from 2020. Many participants were very grateful to hear about the structure of setting up guidelines for education but also for the discipline itself. The introduction of the three levels of space was very inspiring to the audience and very well received. René rounded up the theme by presenting an example out his office work, showing the adaptive reuse of an department store of the fifties into a center for education. This center is a place where teachers are trained and where the future of livelong learning finds it place.
The conference continued by two podium discussions with Bulgarian professionals in the field of public and private spaces.
It is always very interesting to understand that some main challenges like the perception of our work and communication with contractors and clients are very similar in all Europe. Facing challenges together is the best way of creating a proper toolbox, wich is beneficial to all of us.