Featured Faculty
Mark Brus
Associate Professor, Interior Architecture & Design
Mark Brus finds inspiration in architecture that withstands time and trends—traditional Japanese houses, Gothic cathedrals, and Roman baths, for example. “They’re great interiors and achievements in culture,” he says. They’re also enduring testaments to interior architecture, a field that has existed since the days of empires past and finally has a name of its own.
“Interior architecture is an exciting integration between architecture and interior design,” he says. “Students react and critically respond to a building that is already there. They focus on reality, not theatricality.”
That reality includes incorporating principles of environmental design. Today’s interior architects must learn how to make buildings more energy-efficient and to intelligently manage the space and light within their walls. They also need to know how to turn their ideas into bricks and mortar, steel, glass, or other appropriate materials. When working with clients, Brus says, “You have to sell your vision.”
As his students attend his classes and venture forth on field visits to experience Boston’s array of historic buildings, they will benefit from his more than three decades of practice and teaching. Brus, now in his 11th year on NESAD’s faculty, is a principal at his own interdisciplinary design studio. His list of recent clients includes Nobel Prize– winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman.