module specification

In this Project Realisation module students will resolve their projects to furniture industry standards of design and manufacture working to a high level of finish and professional presentation throughout.

The module requires attention to the full realisation and detailing of the project proposed. Projects will be developed through material and/or constructional investigation, experimentation and manipulation including full scale artefacts and/ or working prototypes as appropriate.

Materiality (choice and use of form, colour, surface and texture) affects meaning and value in all design. Students will consider how their analysis, understanding and experimentation with material selection and manipulation affect the function, perceived quality and significance of the object. Through in-depth practice-led research, they will consider the social, functional and environmental impacts of products, samples, material choices and the performance of these upon designed outcomes and their users. Students will realise relevant design solutions to studio briefs in response to end users and/or sites, managing their own practice, working to deadlines and within the constraints of the project.
. Students will develop a logical and creative approach to the identification and solving of realisation issues appropriate to the needs of users and clients in the context of professional practice.

Students will engage in responsible design with awareness of relevant social obligations, environmental and ethical concerns as well as the end-user’s personal, physical and sensory wellbeing.

Through studio projects, students will normally develop knowledge and experience of aesthetics and user or market demands relating to material and process selection alongside 2D and 3D production, realisation and presentation techniques.  

Students will research and practice construction prototyping and production methods and practices found in commercial environments specifying methods and approaches to making and production. They will explore sustainable approaches to materials and process through the consideration of environmental material issues: scarcity, sustainability, recycling and social impact.  

Students will discover technical conventions of professional drawing and/or outworking appropriate to industry standards for relevant subcontracting industries.

Students will experiment with varied production techniques and technologies through prototyping and sampling methods leading to a final outcome.

Learning Outcomes 1 - 4

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 the module, students will be able to:

1. Knowledge and Understanding
realise sound material, construction or process choices for a defined context positioning choices in the context of sector-specific professional practice;
2. Cognitive Intellectual Abilities
evaluate the complex and competing demands made by the practical, ethical, economic and aesthetic issues linked to material, construction or process selection through analysis of options and choices;
3. Transferable Skills
specify and accurately express intentions in respect of material, process and construction, using a range of industry standard professional communication techniques appropriate to the users, client and context;
4. Subject Specific Practical Skills
practice and apply appropriate realisation techniques, resolved to a professional standard, in material, process and construction.

This module will entail the production of project development work and the satisfactory completion of relevant technical/ workshop activities and continuing independent practice (and associated health and safety procedures) through a regularly updated portfolio of research and records. All students are required to undertake interim presentations with evidence of continuous reflective journals responding to studio critique and tutorial guidance.
At regular reviews, students are expected to produce a presentation of their project development, together with evaluation of progress and plans for further work. This will inform final assessment marks and must be considered and acted upon by the student.
The final mark is given at the end of the module, assessed through a portfolio of project work as specified in set or approved project briefs and the final outcome.
For assessment students are expected to produce a coherent exhibition and presentation, demonstrating project development, process and findings, together with individual critical evaluation of relative successes and failures, and to be able communicate and debate these with others.
Work must be carefully organised and presented to indicate the development of work and the content clearly labelled.
Students must attend timetabled studio and workshop sessions.

Portfolio and practical work submission to include:

exhibition and presentation, demonstrating project development, process and findings, critical evaluation ;

communication and evidence of continuous reflection on design intentions through a range of industry standard realisation and communication techniques;

portfolio of project work demonstrating appropriate realisation techniques and technical competence;

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Fuad-Luke, A .(2003) The Eco-Design Handbook, Thames and Hudson
Jackson, A. & Day, D. (1995) Collins Good Wood Handbook, Harper Collins
Milton, A. and Rodgers, P. (2013) Research Methods for Product Design, Laurence King
Papanek, V. (2003) The Green Imperative, Thames & Hudson
Thomson, R. (2007) Manufacturing Processes for Design Professionals, Thames and Hudson
Ursprung, P. (2006). Studio Olafur Eliasson, Taschen
Bosoni, G. (ed) (2008) Made in Cassina, Skira
Imrie, R. (2001) Inclusive Design, Spon Press
Lefteri, C. (2007) Making It: Manufacturing Techniques for Product Design, Lawrence King
Peters, A. (1986) Cabinetmaking: the Professional Approach, Stobart & Son
Smith, P. (2003) Sustainability at the Cutting Edge, Architectural Press