Design education is evolving in response to the exponential growth of technology and the complex, multifaceted challenges it presents. This paper examines how integrating Human-Centred Design with emerging technologies provides a novel pedagogical approach for Interior Design students to address real-world challenges.

The project was developed for a third-year studio course focused on reimagining a large, underutilized hospital atrium adjacent to the college. Students were challenged to transform waiting from a passive, negative, and isolating experience into a dynamic and engaging opportunity. This transformation emerged through a collaborative, iterative problem-solving process that incorporated multiple experiential practices. The process involved hand sketching, modelling, precedent practice, 2D and 3D renderings and was later refined with AI-enhanced videos and VR walkthroughs. Students, professors, and guests explored design solutions through these diverse approaches, which reframed the designs in multiple formats, creating opportunities to develop creative ideas and solutions from various perspectives and deepen their understanding of how communication techniques influence audience engagement in complex environments.

A shared research Miro board became central to the design thinking process, which began as a collaboration across three course curricula. This board enabled students to cross-pollinate ideas and develop design thinking strategies, forming the foundation for their ideation sessions on reimagining the waiting experience. The results of this work were presented in traditional PowerPoint presentations, accompanied by detailed 3D models and 2D renderings. Building on critical feedback from peers and instructors, students advanced their approach by prototyping and testing the design with AI storytelling and VR experiences. These presentations combined animated walkthroughs, static visuals, and AI-generated scripts and narrations to convey the benefits of their redesigned spaces. Guests first viewed the marketing video and then immediately participated in an immersive VR walkthrough, transitioning from a passive conceptual interaction to an embodied exploration.

Student feedback indicated enhanced spatial understanding and improved presentation confidence, as well as elevated critical thinking, which transformed traditional design methods and created a transferable model for integrating experiential learning with digital tools. By embedding technology tools into a human-centred design process, the course fostered rapid problem solving, radical creativity, and technological fluency while preparing students to address wicked human-centred challenges.

This interdisciplinary approach demonstrates how emerging technologies can transform traditional design methods by creating a transferable model for integrating experiential learning with digital tools in design education. The three-stage framework of a conventional presentation, AI-enhanced storytelling, and an immersive experience offers a transferable model that other design educators can adapt using accessible technologies, such as basic VR headsets, free AI tools, and standard 3D modelling software.

Keywords: Experiential, technology, design, innovation, education.