Diana Wubbena
Iowa State University
2nd Year Interior Design, Associates Degree
1. Why did you choose the design/construction field?
Interior Design is a second career for me. Prior to my decision to pursue this degree, I was a CPA specializing in taxation and a stay at home parent for 10 years. I enjoyed my years at home with my kids and I also spent countless hours volunteering for various organizations during those years, however, my oldest child is a senior and my years as a stay at home mom would soon be coming to an end. Also, a job change for my husband provided an opportunity for me to pursue going back to school. Rather than move back into public accounting to do taxes, I decided that this would be a wonderful opportunity to pursue a lifelong interest in construction and residential design. I grew up surrounded by blueprints and visiting construction sites with my dad when he ran framing crews and then started his own custom home building company. I wanted to be an architect but for a myriad of reasons, did not pursue that field. My husband and I built our home seven years ago, and I was involved in every aspect of it, from creating a custom floorplan that met the needs of my family to working directly with designers, contractors and suppliers and choosing all the finishes and furnishings. The process reignited the interest in residential design that I had as a child and I started researching different ways in which I could pursue this field as a nontraditional student. I never even realized that Interior Design was a field of study - I was looking more into construction management or drafting. However, after learning more about the field, and discovering the Interior Design Program at Kirkwood Community College, I decided this would be the best route for me to pursue my goal. It hasn’t been easy. I live an hour from campus, I have a husband, three teenagers who are involved in well, everything, and it keeps me on my toes. I had an opportunity to do an internship with a local custom homebuilder, and I was thrilled to be asked to continue to work with them after I graduate next year. I love being able to work with clients throughout the entire process of building a custom home - concept, design, drafting, estimating, choosing finishes and, when I get more experience, project management. Trying to find creative solutions to clients’ needs, within the constraints of a project - whether budget, size or any other limitations - is a challenge that I enjoy every day. I also hope that my family, friends and children are inspired to pursue their dreams, whether it is choosing a college major that they are really passionate about or pursuing a late career change. I am so glad I started this journey, and I look forward to completing my degree in May 2021.
2. What is the most unusual medium you have used for a model, and what did it represent?
I have to admit that modeling is not my favorite part of Interior Design. I really prefer research into design styles, concepts or codes to actually making a model. I think that my lighting design project was my most interesting model. My concept was druze crystals - think of the inside of a geode. I liked the idea of the rough surface of the glass refracting the light from a lightbulb while functioning as a useful light source. Ideally I would have loved to pursue using some type of molten glass combined with crushed glass to achieve the concept, but settled for using resin and crushed glass beads to develop a prototype. I had never worked with resin, and I’m sure that I developed well over 20 different prototypes before I settled on a clear resin with a touch of pearl mica color and crushed clear glass. I worked with a local welder to create the design for the frame. Recently, I was thrilled to run into a lighting design company at KBIS in Las Vegas, Hammerton Studios, that actually uses the combination of molten and blown glass and crushed glass to manufacture the most striking light fixtures. I thought that their lights totally embraced the concept that I had for my own, and at that moment I realized the benefit of modeling to develop a concept. My light fixture was a model rather than a final product, and that made so much more sense to me.
3. What has been your favorite studio trip so far?
Oh there are so many, I can’t just pick one, how about a top three? I love to travel, so any trip is a new adventure and I am always very eager to learn new things about the places I travel. In the fall of 2019 we traveled to Minnesota for our first design trip and visited stadiums, museums, historic homes, churches and the International Market Square. This past fall/winter, I was part of the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) student competition team representing Kirkwood Community college for the associate program competition. We spent a week in Las Vegas and were able to attend the International Builder’s Show and KBIS after our presentation. It is difficult to describe exactly how big the convention is and how much fun it was to stroll through lighting, plumbing, cabinet and building product displays. I felt like a kid in a candy shop with my bag of spec books and samples. Our team also took first place at the competition, and working with construction management, architectural technology and other interior design students as well as local contractors and suppliers during the project was an invaluable learning experience that I will never forget. However, my favorite trip hands down was the international study trip to Italy last summer. To see and feel architectural and design history first hand is breathtaking and although the schedule was rigorous and I dropped into bed exhausted every night, I will never forget the feeling of seeing the things that I studied in my design history books with my own eyes. I strongly encourage any students who have an opportunity to do an international study to do so, it brings your studies to life. My prayers also go out to the people of Italy during the current corona virus pandemic. There is not a more cheerful and full of life group of people, and my heart breaks for the suffering that they are currently enduring but is encouraged by the viral videos of spontaneous music, joy and sense of community they display even in such dire circumstances.
4. What is the best advice you have received from a professor or mentor?
When I told my dad that I was going back to college so that I could get a job in residential design, he told me “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” This really hit home for me because it is the exact reason why I decided to go back to school. I could have returned to public accounting, I was good at it and I did like it. But I didn’t love it. As I work through the college application process with my very motivated, ambitious smart daughter who decided to change from an engineering major to a theatrical lighting design major, I can only keep that advice in my mind. Pursue your passions, even if it seems crazy. Seize the opportunities that are presented to you, even if they are hard. Also, I hope that I can inspire people to pursue their passion. Do it now, or do it later. Just do what you love, and it won’t feel like work.
5. How has Iowa Women in Architecture influenced you?
I enjoy taking the opportunity to speak with a group of women of various ages and various stages in their careers in a relaxed atmosphere with a great cup of coffee. It is an opportunity to collaborate with other women and colleagues on design challenges that we face in our careers or our education. But this group also addresses the challenges we face in our personal lives - balancing family and work or school, fiscal responsibility, self care, social responsibility. These are topics that go beyond what we do and get into who we are and who we want to be. They are about setting realistic expectations for ourselves and pursuing our work and our lives in ways that allow us to pursue our goals while being true to ourselves. Having pursued so many different paths over the past twenty plus years, I have had many of these conversations with myself, and I really appreciate that this group of women takes the time to focus on these topics. I also enjoy the perspectives of women in all different design fields - students, teachers, engineers, architects, landscape design - women who are working hard and doing big things, and also juggling all the other stuff that comes along with life - family, children, parents, community. I’m so glad that our professor Jillissa Moorman encourages our students to be a part of this group.
Hand Rendering
As I mentioned above, I really don’t like making models, but I do like to draw. The ability to sketch is pivotal to your ability to quickly convey an idea, so I think this is a really important skill to develop. I’ve attached some of the hand rendering that I have completed as a student and that I am particularly proud of.
