Digital Visual Culture in Interior Architecture Education: Aesthetic Codes and Spatial Narratives in Student Renderings

This study investigates how digital representation practices shape spatial meaning-making, aesthetic coherence, and narrative construction in interior design education. Responding to a notable gap in the literature regarding the limited examination of student-produced visuals as visual–cultural artifacts, the research analyzes how emerging designers employ digital tools to construct spatial identity and atmosphere. The dataset consists of 816 images produced by 34 fifth semester interior design students within a design studio project focused on the adaptive reuse of a standardized school building. The study adopts a hybrid methodological framework that combines Gillian Rose’s multi-sited visual analysis with Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis, alongside a semiotic interpretation informed by Kress and van Leeuwen, Barthes, and Manovich. The analysis reveals three recurring themes across the projects: a fluid spatial identity articulated through guided circulation and rhythmic compositional strategies; digital nature abstractions developed through software-mediated organic metaphors; and institutional comfort atmospheres characterized by symmetry, tonal neutrality, and controlled relationships between material and light. Overall, the findings demonstrate that digital visualization tools function not only as technical means of representation but also as mediating environments that interact with students’ design intentions, visual culture exposure, and pedagogical frameworks, shaping spatial thinking and aesthetic coherence. In this respect, the study provides critical and timely insights into the evolving pedagogical structure of digital interior design education.