Course specification and structure
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UDIATDPS - BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design (with preparatory semester)

Course Specification


Validation status Validated
Highest award Bachelor of Arts Level Honours
Possible interim awards Bachelor of Arts, Diploma of Higher Education, Certificate of Higher Education, Bachelor of Arts
Total credits for course 420
Awarding institution London Metropolitan University
Teaching institutions London Metropolitan University
School School of Art, Architecture and Design
Subject Area Design
Attendance options
Option Minimum duration Maximum duration
Full-time 3 YEARS 6 YEARS
Course leader  

About the course and its strategy towards teaching and learning and towards blended learning/e-learning

The teaching and learning strategies applied in BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design aim to provide the students with an accumulation of knowledge and skill in preparation for entering the design profession in one of the following areas: interiors, commercial design and development, theatrical, exhibition or any form of spatial design and for entry into other architecture or interior design courses at MA level.

Consideration has been given to the following: the Subject Benchmark Statement (Art and Design 2017), the HE Qualification Framework, the University’s Strategic Plan and Student Charter, the University’s Undergraduate Regulations, the views and feedback of students, external examiners and employers/ clients, developments within the subject area, and the changing needs of the cultural/ commercial sectors and professions. Due consideration has also been given to inclusivity in course and assessment design.

Embedded in the Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design, the course draws on the strengths of teaching staff from across the School and the wide circle of academic and cultural contacts and collaborators attached to the School and University.

The course seeks to provide and foster:

• learning through direct experience, connecting academic and creative studies;
• student choice in subject and style of learning;
• a culture of independent and critical thought, encouraging the challenging of received ideas and practice;
• employability attributes, through live projects engaging with external partners, institutions and companies that create a realistic environment of professional expectations for students, preparing students for graduate-level employment;
• engagement across the School and University, providing opportunities for collaborative project work during study;
• individualised learning and study support opportunities, that cater for different learning styles;
• awareness of the duty of all to understand the impact of their decisions and actions as interior designers and to strive to act responsibly.

The course operates within a programme of related interior design undergraduate awards, bringing together best practice from related fields. Three cognate BA awards (Interior Architecture and Design, Interior Design, Interior Design and Decoration) enable students to explore the fundamental aspects of design for interiors, through the particular lens of the built environment, the client, and/or decoration and detailing.

The learning and teaching strategies of BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design aim to inspire vision and enable effective learning through progressive development of relevant practical and intellectual knowledge and understanding of industry practice and process, providing an environment that encourages critical engagement within a meaningful context. Our philosophy embraces experiential learning. This process of discovery and progressive development through the stages and levels of degree studies encourages students to fully understand their discipline through reflection, peer review and self-assessment.

Students work through assignments and projects, steadily building on existing skills, developing and realising new ideas and concepts. This approach ensures that the student is guided through the acquisition of key knowledge, skills and critical development, as the course progresses.

Each year, the course comprises four year-long (30 credit) modules in the areas of design concept and realisation, interior technologies and production, and cultural and contextual studies and professional practice.

The BA Interior Architecture and Design (with preparatory semester) course incorporates an additional two 30 credit modules at Level 3 in the autumn semester preceding a spring start to Level 4. These modules ensure that students who are sure of their interest in interior design, but who need some introductory study before commencing a BA at level 4, have the basic skills and contextual knowledge to be successful on the course.

As a common basis of engagement, the design studio encompasses lectures, seminars, study visits, critiques, workshop activities, group and individual tutorials with tutors, industry professionals and subject specialists. Project work and theoretical studies offer opportunities for presentation: visual, spoken and textual, using digital technologies, blogs, videos, photography and websites. The course seeks to foster development across a range of learning styles.
Teaching methods include: lectures, seminars, tutorials, external visits, live briefings and feedback from partners, group critiques, workshops and opportunities for studio practice. Teaching and learning adopts a student-centered approach that identifies individual learning styles and accommodates them.

Lectures provide and encourage a critically informed view of a topic, contextualising the subject and illustrating applied approaches. Lectures provide students with a managed introduction to a theme, enabling them to continue with suggested or directed self-study.

Seminars enable students to debate and explore subjects, questions and assignments with peers and tutors, encouraging an open and collaborative approach to shared learning.

Tutorials support individual learning, allowing for individual approaches to study, and catering for individual interests. Tutorials can be diagnostic or can support specific assignment or project-related questions, and support differing student paths to achievement of learning outcomes.

External visits offer opportunities for vital direct experience with objects and sites of study, and to communicate with and learn from experts and specialists attached to partner institutions and bodies.

Live briefings and feedback are an important aspect of work-based learning, exposing students to experience of professional ways of working, of professional expectations of standards, and of the most current professional practice.

Critiques allow students to benefit from feedback on their own and others’ work, to contribute to that feedback, and are a valuable part of the peer-to-peer learning that is a core expectation and reason for University study.

Workshops offer students opportunities to engage in creative practice. Opportunities will be available to students to undertake workshop and studio practice relevant to their assignments or collaborative projects. The objective is to apply knowledge and/or acquire technical competence, to think critically and creatively, to master technique and develop the capacity to work independently and within teams.

Blended learning utilises the University’s VLE platform to support and reinforce reflective learning, to monitor progress through assignments, to foster peer-to-peer communication and collaborative research activity ,and to facilitate tutorial support for students and flexible approaches to learning

Project briefs develop from year to year in accordance with contemporary practice and opportunities for engagement with external partners that arise. Disciplinary research skills are embedded at the beginning of the course, and are built upon each academic year to ensure the maximum exploitation of the learning opportunities that projects and assignments offer. Students will graduate with a portfolio of work that will include written work and outcomes that exhibit analyses through the creation, manipulation, examination or curation of artefacts.

Critical and Contextual Studies run in parallel to the design and creative industry practice modules. These modules focus on transferable graduate skills in the field of academic scholarship and writing (alongside professional practice). Students need to be able to retrieve, analyse, interpret, articulate and structure information and knowledge for different purposes and audiences. These modules frame key skills of research within the specific context of art/ architecture/ design history and theory, taking into account the practice requirements of the industry, and its professional, legal, ethical and institutional contexts. Intensive blocks of learning in seminar and lecture presentations, alongside site visits, image analysis, case studies, and workshops aid acquisition of skills in presentation, visual and textual analysis and representation.

Digital Literacy is embedded in the curriculum through the use of the VLE and in curriculum delivery and expectations of digital capabilities as appropriate to task set and the level of study. Students make use of digital platforms alongside traditional approaches to research, develop and communicate their projects.

Course aims

The overall aim of the course is to enable students from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences to develop their full potential as interior designers, designers and self-directed learners. We aim to provide a high quality design-based education that integrates the development of appropriate creative, technical and academic abilities and introduces students to professional skills and to the cultural, ethical and social context in which they will operate. This position facilitates students to become fluent in both the creative act of design and its expression whilst also supporting the student in becoming fully conversant with all aspects of professional practice. Furthermore, the School is committed to design practice that is actively engaged with the socially orientated and ethical dimensions of design through linking with local and wider communities in design activity.

Interior architecture and design is a distinct, rigorous practice that requires a specialist way of thinking about how we occupy complex spaces and how the elements and materiality of these spaces are brought together at a human scale both to accommodate and to delight, however it is rarely carried out independently. Specifically, by studying in close proximity with designers, architects and other disciplines we open up opportunities and provide an atmosphere where students can become creative partners and gain insights about how it will be to practise as specialists in their field whilst actually encouraging multi-disciplinary design practice as a flexible, adaptable, and creatively rich route for delivering design projects.

The course will prepare students to develop specialist skills in the areas of observational and spatial drawing, computer drawing, model making, and technological and material investigations. They will develop individual lines of enquiry, unique creative approaches, abilities in critical thinking and a deep understanding of the design process. We teach students how to comprehensively research, analyse and articulate the culture and context in which their design thinking is being applied. We encourage students to combine intellectual and creative ambition with detailed resolution and to test the communication of their ideas for interior spaces and the re-configuration of existing buildings effectively with their peers and in the wider world.

Through methods of teaching, learning and self-directed work, the course enables students to become increasingly self-reliant and motivated through their studies; to gain the organisational and self-management skills to work effectively both on their own and with others, and to reflect on their progress and make choices about future directions for themselves within the context of the profession.
The course aims to:

1. promote risk-taking, exploratory and innovative strategies for designing interior architectural environments and control their narrative, function and experience, through evidence-based design;
2. encourage penetrating research and analysis, developing a rigorous and professional approach to the practice and challenges of the interior design and architecture profession that will develop entrepreneurialism and career opportunities;
3. ensure responsible ethical practice in relation to cultural, environmental, material and social circumstances and the needs of peoples and communities;
4. develop understanding of the working practices, roles and regulatory environment of the sector;
5. foster critical enquiry and understanding of the cultural, psychological, emotional, political, technological and economic factors related to the design, production, and use of aspects of the built environment and its component artefacts;
6. develop curiosity, independent enquiry and capacity to reason, critique and reflect upon practice through an integrated approach to practice and theory, research and analysis;
7. through working with 2D and 3D material/s in both traditional and digital processes and platforms, develop design and realisation skills for professional practice aligned with sector requirements.
8. combine intellectual processes, personal creative vision and technical skills in detailed design resolutions to test proposals for interior architecture spaces with peers, clients and agencies;
9. develop confident and persuasive presentational and communication skills utilising multidisciplinary approaches and production techniques;
10. produce graduates who can work independently, manage their own time and tasks and those of others, reflect objectively on their own performance, and plan effectively for the future, including for their careers;
11. support the growth of the individual; fostering self-reliance and commitment to personal and professional development, ensuring that graduates remain well-informed about current and developing thought and practice, and therefore maintain their employability.

Course learning outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will:

Subject Specific Skills:
be able to:
1. create well-crafted designs for interiors that satisfy both aesthetic and technical requirements (CA 1,7,8);
2. integrate in their spatial designs constructional and structural thinking, environmental strategies as an awareness of the regulatory requirements that apply (CA1,3,8);
3. sustain a conceptual and critical approach to their spatial designs that balances its aesthetic, technical and social demands (CA 2,3,5).

Knowledge and Understanding:
be able to demonstrate knowledge of:
4. professional, legislative and statuary regulatory processes (CA 3,4);
5. building technology, environmental design, construction methods, processes of specification and assembly, in relationship to human well-being and sustainability (CA 3,4,8);
6. architectural, artistic and design culture and history, their influence, the methodologies and ideologies involved in their theories, criticism and interpretation (CA 5,6);
7. a range of contexts, particularly relating to the existing building; but also to urban and social contexts, and more generally contexts of knowledge including ideas and techniques at the forefront of design (CA 2,4,5).

Cognitive Intellectual Abilities:
be able to:
8. evaluate and analyse the ethical and professional issues involved in the design, construction and occupancy of the building (CA 2,3,5);
9. communicate through verbal, written and visual representations, design propositions at a range of scales and to different audiences (CA 7,8,9);
10. apply appropriate theoretical concepts to studio design projects (CA 5,6,8);
11. devise and sustain arguments whilst appreciating the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge (CA 6,8,11).

Transferable Skills:
be able to:
12. work individually or collaboratively to seek, handle and interpret visual, written and verbal information for the purpose of proposing realisable and coherent solutions (CA 8,9,10);
13. be flexible and adaptable in approaches to, and the development of, an issue, problem or opportunity (CA 1,6,10);
14. manage learning, make use of original, scholarly and professional knowledge, and relate it to wider personal and career goals (CA 10,11).

Course learning outcomes / Module cross reference

Module Title Module Code Learning Outcomes

Introduction to Interior Design: Practice DN3000 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO5, LO9, LO10, LO12, LO13

Interior Design: Industry and Context DN3001 LO4, LO5, LO6, LO7, LO8, LO11, LO14
CCS 1 CP4015 LO1, LO5, LO8

Interior Materials and Technologies DN4008 LO3, LO4, LO7, LO8, LO12

Spatial Design Development DN4015 LO1, LO2, LO4, LO7

Design Principles for Interiors DN4009 LO1, LO2, LO7, LO10, LO11
CCS 2 CP5015 LO1, LO5, LO6, LO8

Interiors Technologies and Production DN5010 LO2, LO3, LO4 ,LO6, LO7, LO8, LO12

Human Scale DN5002 LO1, LO2, LO3, LO5, LO9, LO10

Design Details DN5004 LO3, LO9, LO10, LO11, LO12

CCS 3: Dissertation CP6015 LO1, LO5, LO8, LO9

Integrated Design Practice DN6029 LO3, LO4, LO6, LO8, LO12

Project Design and Development for Interiors DN6020 LO1, LO2, LO4 ,LO5, LO6, LO9, LO10

Major Project Realisation: Interior Architecture and Design DN6017 LO2, LO3, LO6 ,LO7, LO9, LO10, LO11

Principle QAA benchmark statements

Subject Benchmark Statement: Art & Design (2017)
Subject Benchmark Statement: History of Art, Architecture and Design (2017)

Assessment strategy

The assessment strategy for the course has been designed holistically, to ensure manageable timing, workloads and clarity of expectations for students, and to avoid duplication of assessment of learning outcomes.

The assessment regimes for the modules and tasks are designed together with the briefs, prior to the start of the year, taking into account student, external examiner, professional collaborator and colleague feedback from previous instances. The requirements of briefs and their components, the assessment criteria, grading scheme and descriptors are published and explained to students at the start of the year and are designed to be used as consistently as possible, to avoid unnecessary complication. Assessment is related to the achievement of learning outcomes; qualification frameworks and subject benchmark statements are consulted to ensure clear language that is appropriate to level of study. Students are informed of the procedures for first, second and parity marking, and external examiner scrutiny of the assessment process and marks, to ensure that they understand and have confidence in the probity of the process and security of the final marks.

In every case, there is required formative assessment and feedback prior to summative assessment at set points. This is recorded so that it can be used by both students and staff to track further progress and engage support where it is required. Feedback follows good pedagogic practice in that it is constructed as ‘feed-forward’, with a focus on specific actions and strategies as to how to improve, not only on what requires improvement. Challenge to students is managed, so that students performing well in-year are encouraged to strive for excellence, while those performing less well experience clear, targeted and structured guidance, including notice of where they are doing well or are showing potential.

The course adheres to the University’s requirements for assessment and feedback turnaround times and to academic regulations for marking and second making sampling. Additionally, the course engages in Subject and School parity exercises to ensure that assessment standards are consistent. This is especially important in relation to studio delivery through which students on the same modules will be undertaking differing projects.

• Assessment and feedback practices are informed by reflection, consideration of professional practice, and subject-specific and educational scholarship.
• Staff and students engage in dialogue to promote a shared understanding of the basis on which academic judgements are made.
• Students are provided with opportunities to develop an understanding of, and the necessary skills to demonstrate, good academic practice.
• The volume, timing and nature of assessment enable students to demonstrate the extent to which they have achieved the intended learning outcomes.
• Formative assessment supports students in developing for summative assessment.
• Feedback on assessment is timely, constructive and developmental.
• Processes for marking assessments and for moderating marks are clearly articulated and consistently operated by those involved in the assessment process.

Organised work experience, work based learning, sandwich year or year abroad

Work- related learning is embedded in the course both formally in DN5010 and throughout the course through live projects, industry visits, visiting speakers and events such as ‘Making a Living’ and ‘Celebration’ weeks.

Work-related learning is an integrated and mandatory part of the course, in line with the University’s policy of securing a work related learning opportunity for each undergraduate student during their studies, with at least 70 hours working on live projects for real organisations delivered through placement, live briefs, real entrepreneurial activities or short in term work placements built into the course. Students will experience a competitive recruitment process or pitching for opportunities, and they will be required to reflect on their experience of the project or placement and undertake forward career action planning.

The majority of tutors and lecturers on the course are practitioners and share their knowledge and experience with students throughout their course of study. The studio delivery of the course means that opportunities for work related learning through collaboration with external companies, agencies, institutions, competitions and professionals can be taken up as they arise, if appropriate to the programme of study.

Studios function as simulations of professional workplaces, with expectations of professional standards, conduct and delivery building as students progress from level to level. During their final year, students are expected to work independently towards completion of professional portfolio of projects, culminating in exhibition of these in the annual summer show and associated events.

Course specific regulations

ACADEMIC PROGRESSION: As a condition of progressing from level 3 to 4, level 4 to 5 and level 5 to 6, students are required to have gained 120 credits per level, that is, by achieving pass marks (40%) in all four modules in the preceding level of study.

Students must take, complete and submit all assessment components for DN3000 and DN3001, but do not need to have passed the modules to progress to level 5. The level 3 and level 4 modules are a single year of study with no exit award available on achieving the 60 level 3 credits, nor is there a progression point or requirement between the level 3 and level 4 modules and semesters.

Students must complete and pass level 4, 5 and 6 modules, gaining 120 credits at each level to gain the award of BA (Honours) Interior Architecture and Design. The 60 Level 3 credits are not required to progress.

COURSE COMPLETION
Level 6: In order to achieve an honours degree award on this course, students must have completed and passed each Level 6 module at 40% or above.

PART-TIME MODE OF STUDY
There is no part time mode of study available for the first year of the BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design (with preparatory semester) course.

Part-time study is defined as 60 credits per year. Consequently, in part-time mode, the duration of study for a 360-credit degree will be 6 years. The prescribed pattern of study in this instance shall be as follows:

Year 1 – DN4015 & DN4009
Year 2 – CP4015 & DN4008
Year 3 – DN5010 & DN5002
Year 4 – CP5015 & DN5004
Year 5 – DN6020 & DN6017
Year 6 – CP6015 & DN6029

Modules required for interim awards

All modules are core and compulsory for students to qualify for an award of BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design (there is no flexibility in choice or in the order in which modules may be taken). The part time route is prescribed (section 25).

• DN3000 Introduction to Interior Design: Practice
• DN3001 Interior Design: Industry and Context
• DN4015 Spatial Design Development
• DN4009 Design Principles for Interiors
• CP4015 Critical and Contextual Studies 1 (Interiors)
• DN4008 Interior Materials and Technologies

• DN5002 Human Scale
• DN5010 Interior Technologies and Production
• CP5015 Critical and Contextual Studies 2 (Interiors)
• DN5004 Design Details

• DN6020 Project Design and Development for Interiors
• DN6017 Major Project Realisation: Interior Architecture and Design
• CP6015 Critical and Contextual Studies 3: Dissertation (Interiors)
• DN6029 Integrated Design Practice

Arrangements for promoting reflective learning and personal development

The School’s studio system of curriculum delivery embeds reflective learning and personal development planning throughout the course.

Most summative assessment is at the end of year-long modules, with several formative assessment points formally instituted in the course of the year. At these interim formative assessment and feedback points, students reflect on their progress to date with their peers and course staff (with the benefit of feedback from professional partners), seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. The feedback and student reflection is recorded and forms an action plan for the next period of study.

This system is highly individualised, but also benefits from peer engagement in studio critiques. 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.

Throughout the modules and the course therefore, in this way, students build bodies of work, including reflections on progress and achievement, and planning for their future achievement of targets.

Other external links providing expertise and experience

British Institute of Interior Design Code of Conduct and Professional Ethics

Career, employability and opportunities for continuing professional development

Careers advice is integral to the course. Design related employment agencies are invited to lecture and support the review of student CVs and portfolio surgeries are carried out through which the student is given encouraging and specific advice in regards to their presentational focus. Students are mentored by industry professionals throughout their final year and students are encouraged and supported to seek internships and work experience. Competition, exhibition and publicity opportunities exist throughout the course and external exhibitions and trade fairs enable students to develop further career opportunities. Students are supported throughout to reflect upon their own practice so that they are able to progress successfully to their chosen field within the professional interior design sector.

Successful completion of the course offers enhanced career opportunities in the design industry. Students leave with a high quality portfolio of work and a range of practical, professional and academic skills, providing an excellent base for both work and further study. Most of our graduates go on to practice in interior architecture and interior design, design more generally or are employed within architectural practices or progress to postgraduate study. Graduating from the BA (Hons) Interior Architecture and Design is the start of lifelong learning and an exciting and varied career in design. It provides graduates with core and transferable knowledge and skills that enable individuals to seek work in a wide variety of areas connected to the built environment and other related professions.

Students can also benefit from support and guidance from the Careers and Employability services and the University’s business incubator unit, ‘Accelerator’.

Career opportunities

This course is collaborative in nature as it prepares you to work as a specialist in design or architectural practices. Therefore you’ll find a range of opportunities within roles where you have to work across disciplines and rely on skills that are beyond the purely creative.

There will also be opportunities to study design or architecture at postgraduate level.

Entry requirements

In addition to the University's standard entry requirements, you should have:

  • a minimum grade of CC in two A levels in (or a minimum of 64 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification, eg BTEC National, OCR Diploma or Advanced Diploma)
  • English Language GCSE at grade C/grade 4 or above (or equivalent)

You will need to attend an interview with your portfolio of creative work. We encourage applications from international/EU students with equivalent qualifications. We also accept mature students with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

To study a degree at London Met, you must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. If you require a Tier 4 student visa you may need to provide the results of a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.

If you need (or wish) to improve your English before starting your degree, the University offers a Pre-sessional Academic English course to help you build your confidence and reach the level of English you require.

Official use and codes

Approved to run from 2019/20 Specification version 1 Specification status Validated
Original validation date 10 Jun 2019 Last validation date 10 Jun 2019  
Sources of funding HE FUNDING COUNCIL FOR ENGLAND
JACS codes
Route code IATDPS

Course Structure

Stage 1 Level 04 September start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
CP4015 Critical & Contextual Studies 1 (Interiors) Core 30 CITY AUT+SPR TUE PM
          CITY SPR+SUM THU PM
DN3000 Introduction to Interior Design: Practice Core 30 CITY AUT THU AM
          CITY AUT FRI PM
          CITY AUT FRI AM
          CITY AUT THU PM
DN3001 Interior Design: Industry and Context Core 30 CITY AUT WED PM
          CITY AUT WED AM
DN4008 Interior Materials and Technologies Core 30        
DN4009 Design Principles for Interiors Core 30 CITY SPR+SUM WED AM
          CITY AUT+SPR MON PM
          CITY AUT+SPR MON AM
          CITY SPR+SUM WED PM
DN4015 Spatial Design Development Core 30        

Stage 2 Level 05 October start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
CP5015 Critical & Contextual Studies 2 (Interiors) Core 30 CITY AUT+SPR THU AM
DN5002 Human Scale Core 30 CITY AUT+SPR WED PM
          CITY AUT+SPR WED AM
DN5004 Design Details Core 30 CITY AUT+SPR FRI AM
DN5010 Interior Technologies and Production Core 30        

Stage 3 Level 06 September start Offered

Code Module title Info Type Credits Location Period Day Time
CP6015 Critical & Contextual Studies 3: Dissertation (... Core 30 CITY AUT+SPR WED PM
          CITY AUT+SPR WED AM
DN6017 Major Project Realisation: Interior Architectur... Core 30 CITY AUT+SPR FRI PM
DN6020 Project Design and Development for Interiors Core 30 CITY AUT+SPR TUE PM
          CITY AUT+SPR TUE AM
DN6029 Integrated Design Practice Core 30 CITY AUT+SPR FRI AM