Our Department was founded in 1983, becoming the first department of design to be established by a Taiwan university. The Department Building formally was a section of the girls’ dorm, which consisted of three buildings: Faith, Hope and Love – of these three, Love was remodeled to house the department. The department’s founding director was Mr. Ze-hai Chung , who hired renowned teachers to fill the teaching posts. In 1991, he also applied for the establishment of the Master’s Seminary. In 1992 Mr. Chian-yeun Chang took over and became the second director of the department. In the same year the Department merged with the departments of Architecture and Business Design to establish the first College of Design in the country. In 1993 the Department formally established its Research Institute, becoming the first master’s interior design seminary in the country. In 1994, Mr. Chie-peng Chen became the third director of the Department and during his term he implemented the partitioning in the offices and renovated the lecture hall, materials room and the practice coffee bar. In 1999 the Master’s Program for Working Professionals was established allowing the industry’s elite to return for studies and receive training in humanities, local experience and concepts of technological integration; thereby emphasizing the equal importance of the role design talent play in professional training and academic research.
In 2001 Mr. Hu-bao Lin became the fourth department director. Director Hu ambitiously collected funds to implement major renovations to the Department, focusing on such spaces as the building`s public square, side-entrance patio, grass area, ecology pool, badminton court, tutorial room, dance stage stairs, and practical coffee bar lecture hall. He also initiated the education goals of “community ascetics” and “stepping outside the classroom”, to unite with education and get involved with building projects in the Taoyuan area; taking part in rebuilding efforts in disaster areas and establishing a community creation center to transform the cultural environment of Taoyuan and the community.
In 2002 the College of Design established the Cultural Resources Research Institute and in 2004 it established its PhD Seminary, drawing on Faculty resources from the Department and using combined resources for mutually benefit. In 2005, Faith and Hope buildings were vacated and the Department increased its space by occupying two floors of the Hope building. In 2004 the wall of the large courtyard was removed and work was commenced to make a green space; which, together with the Department of Business Design, Cultural Resources Center and Department of Landscaping forms the largest courtyard space on campus.
In 2005 Professor Hsiu-tyan Chuang became the fifth department director and proposed the “not only step outside the class-room, but step outside yourself” motto – uniting the “Taiwan Interior Space Design Association” together with the strength of other related groups. In addition to promoting an interior design national examination with full strength, he also expanded the scale of academic seminars to the national and Asian level; thereby raising the standards and influence of the Department. In August of 2007, Honorary Professor Wey, Joseph churong became the sixth department director.
There are a total of four undergraduate classes in the department and the Research Institute is divided into Master’s A group, B group and Working Professionals group, with a total of approximately 340 students. The faculty, which is comprised of of graduates from American, British, Swiss, German and Japanese schools, possesses comprehensive global field vision and together with universities in Japan, Paris, Vienna, San Francisco, Fuzhou and Chengdu conduct academic or student exchanges. Every year scholars are invited from abroad to offer lectures at the Department and groups visit Europe, America and Japan for travel studies. The Department as a whole, including faculty and teachers, has cooperated to realize outstanding accomplishments; however we are not simply satisfied by this, and we will continue to pursue greatness and constantly march forward towards new objectives.