Abstraction and Reflection of Seljuk Motifs in Interior Design Education

Various pedagogical methods are employed in interior architecture education to develop students’ problem-solving, interpretive, and creative thinking skills. Therefore, producing high-quality design outcomes is possible by structuring the design problem conceptually and guiding the process with an original concept. This study aims to present a design pedagogy approach that reflects Seljuk-period motifs in contemporary interior design through abstraction. For this purpose, this study was conducted with third-year students in the Department of Interior Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture and Design, Selcuk University, within the scope of the Interior Architecture Project III course during the Fall Semester of the 2023-2024 Academic Year. During the studio process, students conducted design studies on the “Konya Culinary Arts Center” involving 30 students organized into 10 groups. The studio process was structured as a systematic four-stage method based on analytical understanding and creative decision-making, in line with Salama’s “Process-Based Model in Studio Teaching,” consisting of the steps of discovery, information gathering and analysis, interpretation, and schematic design. Based on this theoretical framework, the study examined how the formal characteristics and geometric structures of Seljuk motifs, transformed through abstraction, were reflected in different design scales, including spatial organization, interior elements, and corporate identity design. The findings indicated that defining boundaries and conceptual frameworks positively influenced students’ creative decision-making during the design problem-solving process. Using Seljuk motifs as design data created a conceptual context for students in the formation of function, shape, and form and in relating cultural heritage to contemporary design. This approach enabled the reinterpretation of cultural heritage within the design process while integrating it with contemporary spatial needs.