DEVELOPING A NEW ELECTIVE COURSE IN BOAT INTERIOR DESIGN: Educational Targets and Process

In the growing tourism industry worldwide in recent years, production and renting of sailboats are experiencing their culmination. The global yacht charter market is set to expand with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.4% throughout the forecast period to reach US$ 15.86 billion by 2026. Thus, there is a justified need for educating interior design students in the field of passenger boats especially yachts. This education applies to the Mediterranean region where there is a tradition of manufacturing sailboats. For instance, Gulet is a traditional boat design of a two-mast or three-mast wooden sailing vessel particularly built in the western coast of Turkey. Bodrum and Marmaris are the main production centers for that boat design. In terms of craftsmanship and sustainability, Gulet is one of the last survived authentic wooden boats in the world. To preserve this tradition, computer-aided design (CAD) and other tools such as computer numerical control (CNC) need to be applied to interior design education. This may also provide leverage to the Turkish yacht industry among the other competitors. This study deals with the research and analysis of the creation of an elective course called "Leisure Practices and Spaces" IAED 426 that was thought during the spring semester of 2018 at the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. Moreover, the research addresses the course design process, educational targets, applied methods and examines the achieved results of the students that include the industry collaboration with one of the important yacht manufacturers in the Mugla region.