module specification

This module introduces a range of historical, cultural and industry contextual knowledge and practice. It enables students to carry out their creative practice in associated modules with a secure understanding of basic historic and cultural contexts, and interior design industry practice and expectations.

The module aims to motivate students to be enquiring and to engage critically in the practice and culture of interior design: students will be encouraged to ask questions and shown how to conduct information gathering and basic research in order to construct their answers. They will begin to acquire discipline-specific skills in designing and visual recording and communication, using industry standard techniques. In this way, the module will help students begin to shape their future direction of study as well as providing useful insights into their individual potential and abilities.

DN3000 Introduction to Interior Design: Practice (co-requisite)

The module has two strands of study:

• an introduction to the historical and cultural contexts of interior design, and the practice and design process of contemporary industry;

• an introduction to industry-specific typologies and details and the recording of them, to enable an understanding of the built environment, communicated through observational techniques, drawing, annotation and critical reflection.

In the first strand, students will be introduced to a carefully chosen range of exemplar historical periods, movements and examples of interior designed environments. Students will study the planning, elements, material choices, details, treatments and contents that together create the individual scheme. Students will be asked to consider how the design reflects the particular social and historical contexts and how individuals may interact with the space, demonstrating their understanding through documenting their findings. In order to do this they will be shown how to ‘read’ a space, and discover how to search for information that may help them to do this.

Students will also conduct case studies of contemporary interior designers and interior design companies. They will seek to discover how the practice of interior design is conducted and the range of practice and outcomes that exist in the contemporary field. Particularly, they will arrive at an understanding of how teams are constructed and work, how responsibilities are shared and how consultants and other specialists are engaged to fulfil the project.

In the second strand, students will be introduced to a range interior design processes and practices, including communication skills and drawing styles, orthographic conventions and modelling. This will support and enable the work undertaken in the associated module, DN3001 Introduction to Interior Design: Practice.

WebLearn is consistently used to deliver information and assessments, to feed back to students and to foster student to student communication. All students will engage with the digital archiving and presentation of their work, using a range of means and platforms, including for assessment, peer assessment and peer to peer learning. The required creation of portfolios, including digital formats and content, is a preparation of employability skills for professional life.

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 through the 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.

On successful completion of the module, to the standard expected at Level 3, students will be able to:

1. demonstrate knowledge of selected key movements and exemplars of interior design and show with some critical understanding, how they reflect their context;

2. know how to locate, access and use a range of information sources (in libraries, collections, exhibitions, journals, e-resources) and be able to write and otherwise communicate effectively;

3. have an awareness of the design development process of interior design commercial practice and how the sector works in a multi-disciplinary context;

4. describe and record the elements and the materiality of an interior-designed space using industry standard techniques at a basic level;

5. apply simple industry standard practices and conventions in 2D and 3D visualisation and modelling, both analogue and digital, to interior design tasks;

6. show evidence of self-reflection and an emerging awareness of their own interests and abilities, and how they might relate to the interior design sector.

There are two assessment items.

1. Essay and Case Study

Students will submit an illustrated essay (1200-1500 words) on a topic chosen from a list reflecting the areas of historical and contextual study studied. The essay will use academic apparatus, including referencing.

Students will submit an illustrated case study (800-1200 words) of a contemporary interior designer, interior design studio or practice, examining and describing the practice in terms of how it functions, the type of work it undertakes, how it promotes itself and constructs its practice image and reputation.

2. Portfolio

Students will submit a portfolio of 2D and 3D practice demonstrating their ability in a range of industry standard techniques and conventions.

Detailed requirements will be published in briefs at the start of the semester.

Core Texts:

Ashby, M.F. and Johnson, K., (2014) Materials and Design: The Art and Science of Material Selection in Product Design, Butterworth-Heinemann
Brown, R. and Farrelly, L., (2012) Materials and Interior Design (Portfolio Skills), Laurence King
Ching, F.D.K., (2014) Architecture: Form Space and Order, John Wiley & Sons
EBook:
https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/9781118745199
Ching, F.D.K. and Binggelli, C., (2012) Interior Design Illustrated, John Wiley & Sons
EBook:
Ching, F. D. K. and Binggeli, C., (2012) Interior Design Illustrated, Wiley
Available from:<http://www.myilibrary.com?ID=362100> 5 April 2018
Farrelly, L., (2009) Construction and materiality, AVA Academia
Gagg, R., (2011) Texture and materials, AVA Academia
Massey, A., Sparke, P., (2009), Designing the Modern Interior. From the Victorians to Today, Berg
Massey, A., (2008), Interior Design Since 1900, Thames and Hudson

Other Texts:

Berger, J. 1972, Ways of Seeing, London: Penguin

Websites:
• Design Indaba (web)
• Dezeen (web)
• inhabitat.com (web)
• www.didb.ac.uk (Domestic Interiors Database
• Design History Society Journal

Electronic Databases:
JSTOR (n.d.). Available at: http://0-www.jstor.org.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/ (accessed 21 March 2018)

Credo Reference (n.d.). Available at: https://0-search.credoreference.com.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/ (accessed 21 March 2018)

Bridgeman Education (n.d.). Available at: http://0-www.bridgemaneducation.com.emu.londonmet.ac.uk/en/ (accessed 21 March 2018)