module specification

Together with their Major Project Realisation module, this module is intended to prepare interiors students for independent practice, entry into the professional workplace, or for higher study.

Through synthesis of knowledge of processes and principles, using an appropriate range of intellectual, creative and practical skills, students will research, analyse, design and develop a self-directed project. This will naturally require in-depth investigation of a site, its cultural context, human inhabitation, activity and enterprise through a well-constructed design process involving practical and digital 2D and 3D methods of exploration and communication as a significant body of creative work for public exhibition.

A negotiated and approved proposal will confirm the individual project. Using creative exploration and experimentation, students will undertake research, selection, concept development, material investigation, modelling/ prototyping and visualisation. The final outcome will be produced in the course - specific Major Project Realisation modules, and will be distinctive to the course in approach, scale, communication and visualisation or making and modelling.

This module will ensure that students critique and reflect upon their own work and position in the creative sector. The module emphasises self-direction and personal focus whilst acknowledging external and professional expectations and constraints.

Completion and pass (120 credits) of previous level.

The module will provide opportunities to learn;
• problem exploration and definition LO1, LO2
• development of research programme LO1, LO2
• project demonstrating professional context LO3
• presentation and defence of proposals to a professional standard LO3
• refinement and presentation of personal professional creative identity LO4
• articulation of position in discipline context LO4

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to, and have the opportunity to, continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

At the end of this module, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding
LO1 present a range of site and contextual human centered knowledge on which to base proposals for the design development process, through demonstrating critical self-reflection and clear understanding of the professional and ethical context and presentation requirements;

Cognitive Intellectual Skills
LO2 integrate working methods, manage and continuously evaluate the project development process in a context of complex requirements, to successfully define and defend a design proposal;

Transferable Skills
LO3 present and communicate the design process and outcomes through a portfolio presenting analysis through to resolution, and as a reflective practitioner provide a rationale for the choices and decisions made in constructing a viable project proposal;

Subject Specific Practical Skills
LO4 design and undertake a professionally managed sustained design development process using an appropriate range of resources, techniques, studio and workshop skills, materials, media and discipline-specific knowledge, developing an innovative response to the given brief, identifying a personal design identity and creative direction.

At regular critiques or tutorials, students are expected to produce a coherent account of their project in progress, together with critical evaluation of successes and issues for further research, development or revision. Formative feedback will be given in response to the project plan.

The final mark is given at the end of the module, following assessment of a comprehensive portfolio of all relevant developmental and presentation work and the final proposal itself.

Work must be carefully organised and presented to indicate the development of work and the content clearly labelled. Students are required to attend timetabled studio and workshop sessions

Bairstow, J., Barber, R., and Kenny, M., (2000) Design modelling: visualising ideas in 2D and 3D, Hodder & Stoughton
Boyle, G., (2003) Design Project Management, Ashgate Publishing
Clarkson, J. (ed.), (2003) Inclusive Design: Design For the Whole Population, Springer
Cooper, R., and Press, M., (2005) The design agenda: a guide to successful design management, John Wiley & Sons
Erwine, B., (2016) Creating Sensory Spaces, The Architecture of the Invisible, Routledge
Reed, R. ,(2017) Color + design: transforming interior space, Fairchild
Schittich, C. (ed.), (2002) Interior Spaces: Space, Light, Material, Birkhauser
Ebook:
Schittich, C., (2002) Interior spaces space, light, materials, München, Institut für internationale Architektur-Dokumentation
Seidler, D. R., and Korté, A., (2010) Hand drawing for designers: communicating ideas through architectural graphics, Fairchild