module specification

Module title: Design Thesis Project: Resolution
Description: This module develops from the context established with the design thesis project:
Specialisation and Proposal, and is concerned with the development and "closure"
of the thesis design project.
Semester: Autumn/Spring
Prerequisite:  Design Level 4: Subject and Context;   Design Level 4: Process and Proposal
Corequisite:   Design Thesis Project: Specialisation and Proposition
Assessment: 100% Portfolio

Prerequisite: ADP021N, Design Level 4: Subject and Context;  ADP030N, Design Level 4: Process and Proposal
Corequisite:  ADPP24N, Design Thesis Project: Specialisation and Proposition
 

This double module represents the last performance of academic design, completing five years of full-time architectural education or its equivalent. It is, therefore, a summative stage of academic development but a formative one in professional qualification.

The module rehearses the student's ability to deliver a coherent architectural design that integrates theory and practice with the aim of launching them on the last stage of your professional training, as architects capable of designing the structure of their practice as well as the structure of their buildings. The module demands that they should be clear about their proposed role as an architect in framing and realizing their major design project.

The module is also practical in its demand for performance. The student should be able to demonstrate a command of the knowledge and different conceptual, professional and technical skills that they have learnt in a highly resolved architectural design which should work as an integrated solution to a clearly defined set of issues.

The emphasis of the module is on the detailed resolution and critical assessment of a complex architectural design. This process is supported by the Level 5 Integrated Design Study module. This module requires specific and highly detailed evidence and demonstration of the integration of cultural, professional, technical and environmental issues, into the design project and must be completed in parallel with the resolution module.

Students doing this module will continue to study within a design unit but will be expected to work with a high level of independence in developing their final architectural design. The detailed syllabus will therefore be generated primarily by the student within the overall context and with the support of a design unit. The outcome for the module will focus on the design of a complex building. However, the final project may be weighted towards a strategic scale as found in urban design or a more detailed scale as appropriate to a technologically focused design. It is the responsibility of the student to demonstrate an equivalence in output between their project and the requirement to undertake a complex architectural design as part of a strategic understanding of their role as architects. Students wishing to take this option can do so only with the prior agreement of their unit tutor and the Head of Department.

Teaching and Learning methods include:
· A studio project developed from an outline brief or theme; site or theme related visits; talks by/discussions with parties involved in project or related issues; reference to primary and secondary sources of material;
· Individual or group work developing a design scheme in detail using a range of media and techniques;
· Individual or group work developing a design scheme through tutorials, seminars, participatory processes, direct action, crits and presentations on work in progress involving peers, tutors and subject specialists;
· Individual or group development of a portfolio that documents the final design scheme.

On successful completion of this module students will be able to:
1. Propose a role for the practice of architecture within a specific and well described political, economic, social and professional framework.
2. Advocate a coherent architectural design that respond convincingly to complex cultural conditions;
3. Construct a coherent architectural design that is explicit about how it may be realised technically, politically, economically;
4. Integrate an advanced knowledge understanding and ability of design, environment and sustainability, construction, materials and structures, cultural context and management , practice and law into a well resolved coherent architectural design.
5. Understand the influence of budget on the design process.
6. Propose a coherent architectural design that navigates a route through ethical issues: environmental, cultural or economic;
7. Present and communicate a complex architectural design efficiently;
 

Module assessment will be based on the presentation of a portfolio, which will demonstrate through appropriate modes of documentation and presentation:

· A well devised and coherent architectural design
· A well resolved architectural design that integrates an advanced knowledge understanding and ability of design, environment and sustainability, construction, materials and structures, cultural context and management , practice and law into a well resolved coherent architectural design.
· Evidence of professional awareness and care in the way the scheme responds to the political, economic, social and professional issues identified;
· A coherent relationship between the design and the proposed role of the architect in procuring the scheme;
· Evidence of response to ethical considerations raised by the scheme;
· Ability to make a coherant presentation of the design in portfolio and through oral presentations.

Modes of documentation may include: drawings; photographic material; multi-media material; quantitative data; qualitative data; 3D models or prototypes; web-based material. All 3D and multi-media work should be recorded in graphic form and explained to a standard suitable for assessment purposes.

Provided by the unit tutor and specific to the project briefs.