The School of Constructed Environments (SCE) is one of five schools within Parsons School of Design at The New School. SCE is one of the five established in 2008, when Parsons restructured and consolidated previously independent departments into “schools.”

The department of Environmental Design, which existed at Parsons from 1970 until its disaggregation in 1998, preceded SCE and offered an interdisciplinary curriculum focused on interior design, urban design, and product design. The Environmental Design program faced consistent pressure to disaggregate following criticisms that its interdisciplinary approach did not provide concrete skills or sufficiently prepare students for a vocation. These criticisms intensified during the period of The New School’s pivot away from adult education programs and toward “professionalization” in the 1980s and 1990s. This shift emphasized the need for greater cooperation between design disciplines and led to the reorganization of Parsons into “schools” containing distinct disciplinary degree programs but often sharing administrative and academic staff, resources, and courses of study. According to a document outlining the revised academic plan for Parsons in 2006, “Constructed Environments” was the proposed name of an interdisciplinary graduate degree program. A graduate program in Interior Design was created in 2008, alongside the reorganization of Parsons and the creation of the School of Constructed Environments.

As of 2025, the SCE website describes the mission of the school as follows: “Encompassing a unique confluence of design disciplines, the School of Constructed Environments nurtures and guides tomorrow’s leaders in socially and environmentally sustainable, technologically innovative buildings, interiors, lighting, and products. In a time of unprecedented change, we foster the skills, values, and vision vital to creative thinking and the realization of a more integrated, equitable and delightful world.” It offers a variety of degree programs in architecture, product and industrial design, interior design, and lighting design. Graduate students also have the opportunity for interdisciplinary study as part of the SCE joint degree programs in architecture and lighting design, interior design and lighting design.

Sources:

Parsons Academic Plan, 2006 May 24. Parsons School of Design Office of the Executive Dean records (PC.01.02.02). The New School Archives and Special Collections, The New School, New York, New York. https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/2023PC04.PARSONS_ACADEMIC_PLAN

“Parsons School of Design-History”. The New School. Accessed October 9, 2024. https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/history/

Radical Shifts: Reshaping the Interior at Parsons (1955-1985) exhibition catalog, 2011. New School Archives records (NS.08.01.03). The New School Archives and Special Collections, The New School, New York, New York. https://digital.archives.newschool.edu/index.php/Detail/objects/NS080103_000002

“School of Constructed Environments.” The New School. Accessed April 16, 2025. https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/constructed-environments-school/