module specification

This module introduces Level 3 students to discipline-specific ways of working in the research, design development, realisation and delivery of interior design projects.

Students will respond to briefs, generating and developing ideas through basic research methods for interior designers, undertaking evaluation followed by conceptual and material design and development processes. Students will be expected to respond flexibly to related issues that may be discovered through the research undertaken. Students will produce 2D and 3D outcomes that will communicate the concept development and outcomes using standard industry conventions and techniques. The project proposals will be evaluated in relation to the briefs set and the context as revealed by the research and development process.

The module is supported by the accompanying module DN3001 Interior Design: Industry and Context which will deliver the specific techniques and contextual understanding that professional practice requires.

Students will be expected to accept and demonstrate responsibility in relation to their ideas, their management of the project process and to reflect on and evaluate their progress. They will begin to understand their interests and abilities in the field, so that their progression to Level 4 modules after semester 1 is accompanied by confidence and self-direction.

DN3001 Interior Design: Industry and Context (co-requisite)

The syllabus covers basic skills and key concepts in various aspects of the subject; providing an overview of methods and approaches to a range of creative practices. Skills and design development will be taught through a series of workshops and lectures. Students will be taught skills and methods they can use independently in order to enable self-directed study.

The Introduction to Interior Design: Practice module is closely aligned with and complementary to the Interior Design: Industry and Context module.

Key Areas:

• investigation through contextual research (LO1);
• understanding concept development (LO2);
• testing and experimentation to develop ideas working towards a design proposal (LO1, LO2, LO3);
• description, evaluation and critical reflection through sketchbook and portfolio (LO2);
• developing a portfolio of project work (LO3, LO4).

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
As above, the required creation of portfolios, including in 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. gather information in order to explore, analyse and describe elements of interior design to enable clear understanding of set briefs and design choices available;

2. analyse information gathered and relate understanding to the brief set, communicating a viable project proposal;

3. show growing confidence and ability in discipline-specific drawing and modelling techniques, related 2D and 3D media, materials, processes and techniques;

4. manage the project process, exercising self- and time management, awareness of own capabilities and ability to plan self-development.

Assessment for the Project module involves the submission of a portfolio of work as detailed in the brief set. All learning outcomes are assessed within the portfolio. Work presented must be carefully organised and labelled to indicate the project’s development and outcomes.

Students are expected to produce a carful and coherent presentation of their project development and proposals, together with individual critical evaluation of relative successes and failures, and to communicate and debate this with others.

Formative feedback and feedforward is provided in class, in tutorials and at set review points. This provides opportunities to reflect on progress to date and discuss strategies for further developing skills and discipline knowledge.

Students must attend and engage with all timetabled studio and workshop sessions and tasks set both in-class and as self-study.

Introductory projects aim to cover as broad a range of subject practice as possible. Project handouts include additional research and reference material for students to follow up. Later projects become increasingly subject specific and students will be directed through such reading in taught sessions and through Weblearn.

Adobe Photoshop tutorials: <http://www.tutorialized.com & www.lynda.com>
Bachelard, G. (2014) The Poetics of Space, Penguin Classics
Buxton, P. (ed.), (2015) Metric Handbook Planning and Design Data, Routledge
EBook:
Metric Handbook : Planning and Design Data, edited by Pamela Buxton, Routledge, 2015. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/londonmet/detail.action?docID=1983462.
Ching, F., (2007) Architecture: Form, Space and Order, John Wiley and Sons
Ebook:
Ching, F., (2007) Architecture: Form, Space and Order, John Wiley and Sons
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
Elam, K., (2011). Geometry of design: studies in proportion and composition, Princeton Architectural Press
Erwine, B., (2016) Creating Sensory Spaces, The Architecture of the Invisible, Rouledge
Panero, J. and Zelnik, M., (2005) Human dimensions & [and] interior space: a source book of design reference standards, Whitney Library of Design
Ronin, G., (2010) Drawing for Interior Designers, A& C Black Publishers
Tanizaki, J., (2001) In Praise of Shadows Vintage Classics
EBook:
Tanizaki, J. (2001) In praise of shadows, Vintage. http://catalog.hathitrust.org/api/volumes/oclc/46333462.html.