Creativity and critical thinking at Savannah College of Art and Design
- A wealth of degree programmes puts SCAD at the top of the list for students choosing to embark on creative careers
The entrance to the Hong Kong campus of SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design) is imposing. The stark, neoclassical frontage of the seven-storey heritage building, formerly the North Kowloon Magistracy, in Sham Shui Po looms over its bronze-studded doors, providing a contrast to the welcoming environment within.
A private, non-profit university, SCAD offers more than 100 bachelor’s and master’s degree programmes tailored to the art and design industries. It has campuses in Hong Kong, France and the United States, with online e-learning options for remote students. The Hong Kong outpost offers one of the highest concentrations of art and design degree programmes in the city.
While the building’s exterior is impressive, its interior is no less important. Interior design is an intangible part of SCAD’s story and identity – it was one of the first eight degree programmes offered at the original SCAD in the US and remains one of its most popular and acclaimed courses four decades later. There are more than 800 interior design students across the four SCAD locations.
It’s fitting, therefore, that the renovated SCAD Hong Kong campus is a tribute to the power of interior design. While honouring the legacy of this heritage-listed building, SCAD converted the site into a leading educational facility, complete with library, computer labs, digital studios, an art gallery and classrooms. Signs of its former life have been preserved: a prisoner’s dock remains intact in the old Court No 1 (now a lecture theatre), along with public gallery seating and a magistrate’s bench. University offices sit in prison cells, original bars still in place.
In October 2019, the interior design programme at SCAD was ranked number one by DesignIntelligence, a respected ranking system of academic excellence focusing on interior design, architecture and landscape architecture. It marks the seventh time in the past eight years that the programme has received this accolade. Although students must go to Savannah to study SCAD’s master of fine arts, interior design, the college’s design bachelor of fine arts (BFA) degree is accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation and is acclaimed in the industry. Moving to the US for postgraduate studies is straightforward as all SCAD campuses, from the US to France and Hong Kong, retain extremely close links.
Khoi Vo is a professor of interior design and has been the vice-president of SCAD Hong Kong since 2018. He previously chaired the interior design department at SCAD’s campus in Georgia.
