Integrating performance-based design in beginning interior design education: an interactive dialog between the built environment and its context Qun Zuo, Faculty of Interior Design, Department of Human Environmental Studies, USA Wesley Leonard, College of Health Professions, USA Eileen E. MaloneBeach, Department of Human Environmental Studies, Central Michigan University, Mount Pleasant, MI 48859, USA This paper presents a new paradigm in interior design education in which building performance simulation was employed for decision making and design generation. Digital technology was intermixed with conventional paper-based media in the design process to explore formal, spatial and passive solar energy solutions. The intention of the study was to re-discover the value of computers in assisting design thinking and improving effective learning. The results indicated the Performance-Based Design approach resulted in an early awareness of sustainable energy for beginning interior design students. Further, it enhanced understanding of the mutual relationship between interior and exterior and between the built and natural environment. This paper acknowledged the achievements as well as limitations and future directions for the integration of Performance-Based Design into interior design curriculum. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: performance-based design, interior design, design education, computer aided design, design process E merging interest in sustainable built environment has been changing the way that architects, interior designers, and engineers design build- ings. Building performance is no longer a post-evaluation after the de- sign is ‘complete’ (Burger, 2008). Instead, its criteria are digitally simulated and analyzed during the design process and are used as guiding design princi- ples against which building form is evaluated and modified (Fasoulaki, 2008). This integrated approach has altered the traditional process of conventional design and has the potential to affect building energy use, improve spatial experience, and influence aesthetic decisions (Burger, 2008). A new framework for design pedagogy must be responsive to the emerging ap- proach in which performance-based design (PBD) is integrated as an effective process for design decision making. Various educational agendas have been Corresponding author: Qun Zuo juliezuo@hotmail. com www.elsevier.com/locate/destud 0142-694X $ - see front matter Design Studies 31 (2010) 268e287 doi:10.1016/j.destud.2009.12.002 268 Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.