VCU news

By Malorie Burkett

Buie Harwood, FIDEC, professor and chair of VCU's department of interior design, is the recipient of the only national book award for the interior design profession. The American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) chose her book, "Architecture and Interior Design through the 18th century: an Integrated History," for the 2002 ASID Educational Foundation/Joel Polsky Prize.

Harwood co-wrote the book with long-time friends Curt Sherman of Winthrop University and Bridget May of Marymount University. The idea to write the book originated from the trio's aim to fulfill a need in interior design education. Intended for college interior design students at the sophomore through graduate level, the book provides an overview of architecture, interiors, furniture and decorative arts dating back from ancient times through the 18th century. The authors place the different time periods within a cultural, historical and social context allowing readers to make connections between the different aspects of design. Some of the other topics covered in the book also include space planning, color, motifs, textiles, interior surface treatments and lighting.

Presented each year by the ASID Educational Foundation, the prestigious award recognizes authors who have made significant contributions to design research and literature. Harwood will travel to Arizona for an awards ceremony in March where she and her co-authors will be honored by ASID and Norman Polsky.

In addition to students, the book is useful to interior design practitioners, furniture designers, design consultants, theater and film set designers as well as historical societies, preservation groups, and the layperson with interest in design.

Illustrations in the book, which depict structures and furnishings from residential, commercial and institutional projects, come from a variety of trade catalogues, magazines, books and journals.

Harwood and her team began research for the book in December 1996 with a book proposal organized in mock-up form containing 8-10 chapters. With editing finalized in the Fall of 2001, the book was ready and on shelves by December of that year.

"Going through all of the old books and finding a lot of old images was the best part about writing this book," said Harwood, who added that her biggest challenge was producing the book while being a professor and chair of the department of interior design.

Norman Polsky, founder and former chairman of Fixtures Furniture in Kansas City, Mo, is the award's benefactor. When his son Joel died in 1982 at age 26, Norman founded the Joel Polsky-Fixtures Furniture Endowments to ASID and two other organizations, including the International Interior Design Association and the Foundation for Interior Design Education Research.

Harwood and her team of co-authors are working on volume two of the book, which is due for publication in 2003.