MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University interior architecture major Annalise Phillips of Nolensville earned top honors at the 29th annual Planning and Visual Educational Partnership, or PAVE, International Student Design Competition.
Phillips was one of three finalists for the prestigious PAVE Global competition in 2024 that drew entries from 107 educational institutions across 28 countries, representing a wide variety of disciplines like interior design, retail planning, graphic design and industrial design. The competition is sponsored by retailer Ulta Beauty.
“In this year’s competition, students were asked to design a new concept for Ulta stores that aligns with Gen Z’s interest in immersive experiences,” explained Carrie Pavel, assistant professor of interior architecture.
Each winning submission in the student competition was awarded $5,000 with an additional $1,000 granted to their respective schools, along with a free trip to New York City in mid-December to attend the PAVE Gala with industry luminaries. The gala also spotlighted other design award winners as well as educators and scholarship winners.
Phillips’ submission included a complete overhaul of the Ulta store floor, including the design of new fixtures and beauty experiences that center on eco-conscious products. She said she focused on two main ideas: sustainability and personalization.
Goals: sustainability and personalization
“One of my main goals was to highlight and raise awareness of some of the existing features that Ulta already offers, but that many people aren’t fully aware of,” said Phillips, who is slated to graduate in May. “For example, the Conscious Beauty section and the recycling stations are great ideas that Ulta has introduced. But when I asked people their thoughts on these features, many didn’t even know Ulta had them.”
Phillips created a design to make the beauty and recycling stations more visible and integrated into the store design to encourage customer engagement.
“I also incorporated interactive sustainability and ingredient analysis screens to allow customers to engage with the products more deeply by learning about the ingredients, their sourcing, and the sustainability practices behind them,” she said.
In addition to elevating the existing Conscious Beauty sector, she enhanced the overall store experience by adding a Curation Studio that focused solely on store brand products.
“This exclusivity gives the store a more high-end, personalized feel,” Phillips said, “while also offering something special that makes the shopping experience feel more luxurious and memorable.”
To bring her ideas to life, Phillips created renderings using a 3D modeling software she learned to use through her coursework at MTSU to create realistic visual representations of the space.
“I then compiled these renderings into a presentation that detailed my design concept and submitted them to the competition. All entries were evaluated based on design concept, space solution, interior/architectural design, branding, and overall quality and professionalism,” Phillips explained.
Although the competition opened in January 2024, Phillips didn’t begin work on the project until the fall semester began in August.
“She only had around eight weeks to move from ideation to production within the scope of her half-semester IDES 4120 Portfolio Design project,” Pavel said. “Annalise not only edged out students competing from other majors — including retail planning, visual merchandising, architecture, branding, graphic design, UX/UI design, and industrial design from universities across the world — but she completed this project in record time.”
Founded in 1992, the nonprofit, PAVE Global supports branded environmental design, mentorship, scholarships, design competitions and networking. Each year the competitions open in January and culminate in December with an awards gala.
Additional accolades
The PAVE competition isn’t the first big win for Phillips. She was part of the winning team of MTSU Construction Management students who took top honors at the National Association of Home Builders Student Competition held in February 2024 in Las Vegas.
The home builders team was mostly comprised of construction management majors, along with Phillips and fellow design student, Allison Lampley, who were brought in to focus on design elements.
“I also took charge of the visual design for our final submission, crafting a 50-page book to ensure our presentation conveyed the value of our work — something MTSU teams in previous years had felt they were lacking,” Phillips explained. “We went to Las Vegas to present it and ended up winning first place amongst 40 other teams, including graduate programs.”
To learn more about the Interior Architecture undergraduate program in the College of Behavioral and Health Sciences at MTSU, visit https://www.mtsu.edu/program/interior-achitecture-b-s/.
— Nancy DeGennaro (Nancy.DeGennaro@mtsu.edu)
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