UDINDEDE - BA Interior Design and Decoration

BA (Hons) Interior Design and Decoration focuses on applied elements of interior design including for conservation environments such as historic and listed buildings. It focuses on the details, components and structures of spaces, ensuring that they are considered as an integral whole, including those aspects of the design installed or applied to, rather than being a part of, the building. For historic structures, this means considering how the requirements and responsibilities of conservation can be negotiated with the requirements of practicability and usability to synthesise historic and contemporary elements into a coherent whole. Using a broad range of research techniques students will investigate the inherent materiality and decorative qualities of existing built structures, exploring ways to restore, renew and repurpose them using traditional and digital techniques of research, design and production.
Students will learn the approaches needed to assess the qualities and limitations inherent in both historic and contemporary buildings and will apply their knowledge of materials, finishes and structures, including heritage examples, exploring contemporary approaches to renovation that align with the integral character of the space. Students will consider the sustainable, material and environmental considerations of contemporary and historic spaces, researching and proposing how to conserve, reuse, recycle, and repurpose those spaces for a future lifecycle. Cradle-to-cradle values and approaches to the use and application of materials, artefacts, and finishes will be adopted.
Students will themselves design and develop new surface patterns, treatments, inlays and components, exploring the range and history of applied decorative arts, analysing materials and artefacts both in situ and in museums and archives to better understand their material qualities. Testing and making samples in studios and workshops will enable the material understanding required to respect the ornament and character of the existing artefacts and elements of an interior, while embedding modern sensibilities and values in the space. Students will engage in a range of projects situated across the diverse sectors of the interiors industry, including historic assets, cultural institutions, public realm, residential, hospitality, retail and educational spaces.
The course operates within a unique programme of interior design undergraduate awards, bringing together best practice from a range of design perspectives. The three related awards, BA Interior Architecture and Design, BA Interior Design and BA Interior Design and Decoration enable students to explore diverse aspects of the interior design industry, through a range of scales and interventions in the context of communities and their environments. Students research and generate ideas through an explorative design process and then communicate their concepts through professional scaled modelling, drawing and visualisation techniques.

The course promotes individualised, experiential, active and enquiry-based learning offering student choice in curriculum and approaches to study. Independent and critical thinking is encouraged so that students understand the opportunity to identify and redefine problems, offering creative and original design that meets the needs of current and future society. The course specifically asks students to avoid established, conventional ‘business-as-usual’ responses to design challenges, instead encouraging them to become the highly skilled and well-informed change makers needed by society.

The course has been designed in consultation with students and employers in order to ensure that it meets the aspirations of our students and the demands of the contemporary employment environment in interior design. The course aims are aligned with the qualification descriptors in the Quality Assurance Agency’s Framework for Higher Education Qualifications. It aligns with the University’s Strategic Plan, the Education for Social Justice Framework and Student Partnership Agreement in promoting accessible and inclusive education in an environment that respects and values the identities of our students and accommodates diversity in all its forms. Consideration has been given to the QAA Subject Benchmark Statement for Art and Design (2019), the QAA Higher Education Qualifications Framework, and the University’s Academic Regulations.

Fundamental to the course’s approach is to engage students with primary research from the very beginning of the course. Students will make their own site and building surveys from direct observation, they will interview clients and users, physically test materials, and present their design proposals to live clients to ensure that their learning experience mirrors the professional practice of their discipline as much as possible. In this way employability is fostered through learning from direct experience and real-world contact with external partners and live project opportunities, building the vital ability to work effectively with others.

Each year, the course comprises four core 30-credit modules in the areas of design development, design realisation, interior design technologies and production, and contextual studies. Students work through assignments and projects, sometimes in teams reflecting real-world studio practice, steadily building on existing skills, developing their individual ideas into concepts and realised outcomes. This approach ensures that students are carefully guided through the acquisition of key knowledge, industry-specific skills and critical thinking ability as the course progresses. This process of discovery and progressive development through the stages and levels of their studies enables students to understand the demands and opportunities of their discipline and how their talents and interests equip them for a future role in professional interior design.

The course’s aims are aligned with the qualification descriptors in the Quality Assurance Agency’s Framework for Higher Education Qualifications

Graduates of the course will be able to use academic and other resources to build a detailed and coherent body of discipline-specific knowledge that together with analytical skills acquired through study will enable them to analyse problems, dealing with uncertain and ambiguous situations, and to propose solutions, sustaining argument convincingly. They will be able to work independently, pursuing self-development, managing themselves and others, able to communicate effectively with specialist and non-specialist audiences, and understand the transferability of their knowledge and skills.

The course aims to provide a design education relevant to commercial interior design and architectural practice equipping its graduates with attributes required for employment in the sector. It seeks to ensure that its graduates are knowledgeable, creative, flexible, culturally, socially and environmentally aware, technically proficient and therefore of value to future employers. The course aims to enable students to think independently, take risks, and work in an exploratory way to seek innovative solutions to design problems. Students are encouraged to understand learning as an iterative process, with apparent success and failure both being relative and valuable as part of the process, thereby becoming critically self-aware and developing resilience and self-reliance.

The course’s students will:

employ idea-generated risk-taking, exploratory and innovative strategies for designing spatial environments and control their narrative, function and experience;

conduct evidence-based primary research and analysis, developing a rigorous and professional approach to the practice and challenges of the interior design profession;

ensure responsible ethical practice in relation to cultural, environmental, material and social circumstances and the needs of peoples and communities;

understand the working practices, roles and regulatory environment of the sector;

understand 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;

develop curiosity, a habit of independent enquiry and the capacity to reason, critique and reflect upon their own practice;

through working with 2D and 3D materials in both traditional and digital processes and platforms, develop employment-ready design and realisation skills aligned with sector requirements;

develop confident and persuasive presentational and communication skills utilising multidisciplinary approaches and production techniques;

be able to work independently, manage their own time and tasks and those of others, reflect objectively on their own performance, understanding the opportunities for their talents and interests, and plan effectively for the future, including self-development for career advancement.

On completion of this course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding:

1. recognise and describe the relationship existing between design, culture, environment and society, and commerce and the economy (both historic and current) and the relevance of these relationships to the practice of design;
2. analyse and understand a range of interior design precedents and relevant contextual theories and utilise that understanding in their design process;
3. apply ethical and regulatory principles and standards that are required for the proper conduct of professional practice;

Cognitive Intellectual Abilities:

4. apply critical intellectual skills to interrogate design problems; utilising direct observation and primary and secondary research to enable independent critical analysis, reasoned and evidenced argument, and persuasive proposals;
5. make reasoned and considered judgements and decisions in situations where uncertainty, ambiguity and conflicting interests render simple solutions inappropriate and unviable, considering and balancing the needs of all parties and users as fairly as possible;

Transferable Skills:

6. independently and collaboratively communicate design proposals to colleagues, industry professionals, clients, invested communities and the general public, through the effective use of a range appropriate visualisation techniques;
7. as part of the design process, communicate ideas and proposals effectively by oral, written and visual means to others with clarity and confidence, using skills of persuasion and negotiation to secure the desired outcome;
8. exercise independent project management skills, including time and task management, team leadership and collaboration, self-evaluation and critical reflection;

Subject-Specific Practical Skills:

9. generate complex and detailed design concepts and proposals suitable for interior and multidisciplinary design projects, through analogue and digital drawing, modelmaking and visualisation techniques;
10. develop confident entrepreneurial and self-promotional skills to maximise employment and career opportunities;
11. understand the roles and associated expertise of the extended team members in interior design, conservation and construction industries and work effectively in that context;

Professionalism and Values:

12. demonstrate confidence, resilience, ambition and creativity and act as inclusive, collaborative and socially responsible practitioners and professionals in their discipline;
13. ensure that social, cultural, ethical, and environmental contexts are engaged in the design process alongside economic and business factors.

QAA Subject Benchmark Statement; Art and Design (2019)

The assessment strategy for the course has been designed holistically, to ensure fairness, accessibility and inclusivity as well as manageable timing, workloads and clarity of expectations for students, and to avoid duplication of assessment of learning outcomes. Where appropriate, students are engaged as partners in the design of their assessments.

The assessment regimes for the modules and tasks are designed together with the briefs, prior to the start of the year, considering 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.

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.

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. Additionally, the course engages in Subject and School parity exercises to ensure that assessment standards are consistent.

Work-based learning is embedded in the course through live projects, industry visits, visiting professional speakers and participation in public events.

Qualifying students will have the opportunity of a work placement in year 2, spending one or two weeks in a commercial environment, reflecting on their experience in a diary submitted as part of the assessment portfolio for one of the core modules on the course.

The majority of tutors and lecturers contributing to the course are practitioners who share their knowledge and experience with students throughout their course of study. The flexible practice-led model of delivery for the course means that evolving opportunities for work-related learning through collaboration with external companies, agencies, institutions, competitions and professionals are taken up as they arise.

Students’ understanding of professional standards and expectations builds as they progress from level to level. During their final year, students work towards completion of interview-ready professional portfolios of project work, exhibited at the annual summer show and associated events.

Part-time Course Structure

Year 1 – DN4019 & DN4009

Year 2 – CP4015 & DN4018

Year 3 – DN5004 & DN5002

Year 4 – CP5015 & DN5022

Year 5 – DN6020 & DN6019

Year 6 – CP6015 & DN6029

All modules on the course are core and compulsory, interim awards are therefore defined by the course structure. The part time route is prescribed within Course Specific Regulation section.

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.

Careers advice is integral to the course and supported by tailored input from the University’s Careers Office who support the review of student CVs. Portfolio surgeries are carried out in which students are given specific advice about their presentational focus in relation to their career aspirations. Students have contact with 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 students are encouraged to develop their public professional profile.

Students leave with a high-quality interview-ready portfolio of work and a range of practical, professional and academic skills, providing an excellent basis for both employment and further study. Most of our graduates go on to practice in interior architecture and interior design, or are employed by design studios or architectural practices or progress to postgraduate study. The course also provides graduates with 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’.

As an interior decoration specialist, you’ll have the skills and expertise to work in all sectors of the interiors industry, from private clients to high-end residential, hotel and retail work. Following graduation, many of our students have gone on to work for some of the best interior design, furniture and architecture practices in London.

Recent graduates have been employed by design companies including Design International, Swarovski, Seen Displays, Turner Bates, Areen, Ayllot van Tromp, Green Room and Lumsden Design. Many graduates have gone on to work in TV and film set design, animation, lighting design, art gallery curation and journalism.

You'll have the opportunity to do a work placement in the 2nd year at some of the best leading design practices in the UK, here are 50 companies that we work closely with:

• Conran and Partners
• Sundae Design Studio
• TP Bennett
• Green Room
• Acrylicize
• Jestico and Whiles
• Foster + Partners
• BDP
• Gensler
• Turnerbates
• Eight Inc
• Seen Displays
• Areen
• IDS
• Wanda
• Nugget
• MKV
• IA: Interior Architects
• Woods Bagot
• Morpheus
• Aedas
• B3
• I am Online
• Carlisle Design Studio
• Aukett Swanke
• Casson Mann
• Jack Morton
• Spiers and Majors
• Jonathan Tuckey
• BDG
• Weston Williamson
• MCM
• Your Studios
• Scott Brownrigg
• Andrew Letts
• Silver Birch Design
• Cousins and Cousins
• Universal Design
• Bisset Adams
• IID
• JHR Interiors
• Alexander Waterworth
• HLW
• Allies and Morrison
• Allidad
• Block One Design Studio
• Oliver Laws
• Piercy and Company
• Lawson Robb

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

• a minimum of grades BBC in three A levels one of which comes from a relevant subject area such in the arts, humanities or social sciences (or a minimum of 112 UCAS points from an equivalent Level 3 qualification in relevant art and design subjects)
• a portfolio review
• English Language GCSE at grade C/grade 4 or above

We encourage applications from international/EU students with equivalent qualifications. We also accept mature students with diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Suitable applicants living in the UK will be invited to a portfolio interview. Applicants living outside the UK will be required to submit a portfolio of work via email.

If you don't have traditional qualifications or can't meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing our Interior Design and Decoration (including foundation year) BA (Hons) or Art and Design (including foundation year) BA (Hons).

Portfolios and interviews

Your portfolio should be selective but contain enough work to show the range of your interests, skills and talents. We are interested in seeing how you develop a project within your sketchbooks from beginning to end, not just your finished work as we will be looking for those who enjoy exploration and experimentation and are able to show us design thinking through a range of media and materials.

Please bring any models, 1:1 sculptures, products or furniture. If these items are too large please bring photographs to the interview. We always want to see traditional drawing whether observational, life or concept generating, so please include this, even if you already have good computer-aided design (CAD) skills.

Finally, be ready to talk about your work and how you see your future as an interior designer. The interview day includes a general introduction to the course and the interiors areas of interests and expertise, a tour of Calcutta House where you you'll have the chance to meet a variety of staff and talk to students.