CSUN Interior Design Student Pozdnyakov on $10,000 Awarded Team

On Saturday March 22, the IIDA (International Interior Association) held its annual Design Charrette, a one-day competition which was open to IIDA student chapter members from across Southern California. Four CSUN Interior Design students participated in the competition: Mojdeh Estejabi, Tina Farzanehkashani, Yulianna Lopez, and Alexey Pozdnyakov. CSUN Family and Consumer Sciences Interior Design faculty member Rodica Kohn, who is also the Student Advisor for the IIDA CSUN Chapter, nominated the students.

Teams are composed of students from various interior design programs coming together to compete. This critical element provides students with the experience of working under pressure with unfamiliar peers, mirroring the dynamics found in professional architectural firms. Once the groups were assigned, the students were provided with a workspace.

CSUN Interior Design student, Alexey Pozdnyakov was on the team that won the First Place Award, a $10,000 prize to be divided among the team members. That team also included students from other Interior Design programs: Nicole S. Taro from the Design Institute of San Diego, Sunny Chang from Mount San Antonio Community College, Brenna Gilligan from CSULB, and Tina Le from Saddleback Community College.

The all-day event began with a welcome breakfast and a competition brief where students were given their project assignment. The competition presents unique challenges. A panel of judges, consisting of professional design industry members, evaluated the entries. Each team was assessed based on creativity and execution of program requirements, quality and craft, team dynamics, graphic presentation, and verbal presentation.

The first place team will be presented with the award on stage at the Calibre Design Awards on May 22, 2025. This event honors exceptional achievements and design excellence in commercial interior design within Southern California and celebrates the collaborative teamwork essential for achieving remarkable design innovations.

Also, members of the winning team will advance the next level of competition which can lead to the opportunity to participate in the National Design Charrette at NeoCon in Chicago, in June 2025. NeoCon has been the world’s leading platform and the most important event of the year for the commercial interior design industry since 1969.

The IIDA’s objective is to create opportunities for students to participate in professional-style competitions. Each year, a different architectural firm provides the place for the competition, and each year the event is held in a different location. This year LPA Design Studios in Irvine hosted the competition. Major financial support is provided by James Arakelian from ECC Environmental Contracting Corporation. This event would not be possible without the support of the IIDA VP for Student Affairs: Caroline Feran and Derek Chen.

The Design Charrette, along with the Innovation in Design and Best of Design competitions (all organized by IIDA), are supported by highly esteemed architectural and interior design firms, including Gensler; Perkins & Will; and HOK (Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum). These firms are invested in the next generation of designers and use these competitions to identify the best interior design students. For IIDA CSUN Chapter students, participating and winning in these events brings significant recognition to our Interior Design program.

This story was picked up by CSUN Newsroom. Read the story in CSUN Newsroom.

Sp2025
Rodica Kohn, Family and Consumer Sciences/Interior Design