MFA Interior Design, Iowa State University, 2002
BFA Industrial Design, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea, 1992
 
Certified Interior Designer: NCIDQ® Certificate No. 022270
LEED Accredited Professional: LEED AP ID+C
 
 
Kyuho Ahn is an associate professor of interior architecture at University of Oregon. He is LEED-accredited and certified by the National Council for Interior Design Qualification and has significant professional design experience in space planning, design and project management, which includes supervising design and installation of more than 500 franchised retail stores in Korea and China, a free standing museum, and several trade shows. He teaches architecture and interior architecture studios, marker rendering, interior architecture foundation, and seminar courses on universal design and human/consumer behaviors.
 
Ahn believes that the built environment has a profound impact on human performance and quality of life. He studies how built-in environments influence human experiences and how these relationships inform design decisions. Currently, he has two major research areas:
 

1. Ahn’s research investigates human-near environment interactions through universal design platform that includes built-environments for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Ahn looks at universal design issues of architectural environments from a diversity point of view. This research tries to identify design issues that promote independency of both abled and disabled individuals based on disability profiles. His recent work includes design development of “SOAR,” adult daycare center for people with autism in Chico, CA and “Post-Occupant Evaluation Study of Ed Roberts Campus in Berkeley, CA.”
    
2. Ahn’s research interest also lies in the area of commercial design, particularly in retail and branded environment, with a focus on behavioral response to environmental stimuli and their correlations. Ahn developed a theoretical framework that he calls A2S Model that conceptualizes the typology of store stimuli and describes store stimuli-shopping behavior relationships within a shopping environment. This model offers a designer a systematic design method that supports evidence based design approaches while optimizing creativity for a better design solution to satisfy the business vitality of a store.  Current research project in this research is an empirical study, “Consumer Motivation, Arousal Quality of Lighting and its Relationship with Comfort in determination of Shopping Experience and Behavioral Intentions in a Servicescape,” for an empirical support of the theory.