UDINDEDE - BA Interior Design and Decoration

BA (Hons) Interior Design and Decoration course focuses on the manipulation or treatment of single volume spaces or a sequence of spaces, where the emphasis of the designer’s response to a space’s use and function is on the surface of the environment. Changes to the space are made through the application of colour, light, texture and the addition or subtraction of material, objects, art and furniture. The objects and finishes that make up the interior can be either bespoke or specified from existing designs.

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 course enables you to embrace material exploration for decorative interior environments. It will draw upon the wide range of contexts within the interiors industry, covering domestic, retail, exhibition, hotel, leisure and public spaces. Through design projects that investigate private, community, commercial and sustainable interior environments, you will consider the spatial and material relationships within a building envelope of surface, furniture, artefacts and textiles. You will develop both graphic and applied decorative making skills to enable the testing, sampling and representation of your ideas. Using the Cass workshop facilities and expertise, you will work with different materials (hard and soft), materials and mark-making approaches to experiment and collaborate with students and experts across a range of related disciplines (including furniture, upholstery, textiles and metals) utilising a breadth of material techniques with traditional and digital workshop processes.

Historically, decorative designers have expressed through their work the latest technological and fashion advances, in step with vogues and trends that colour our material culture and vernacular history. Important archives are kept with institutions such as the V&A, Geffrye Museum and RIBA which allow us to research sources, methods and approaches for contemporary practice.

Learning and teaching on the course is rooted in a studio structure that allows students to engage with different design projects within contemporary multidisciplinary design positions. The studios provide opportunities of live briefs and real settings. These will provide the context for students to develop material, graphic, tactile and proportioning skills and attributes. The effect and impact of pattern and applied decoration (2D and 3D), and the properties and performance of materials and components of both the ephemeral and the permanent structural built environment will be investigated and researched.

Each student will have the opportunity to explore and develop ideas for historic and modern contexts, acquiring knowledge of graphic skills and composition, fabrication techniques, manufacturing processes, mark-making, material exploration and practice for the intimate and private, or public scales of interior decoration. As developing designers students will use this knowledge to develop sensory and aesthetically sophisticated decorative environments that communicate emotionally, culturally, socially and physically with their audiences.

All significant materials will undergo a sustainability evaluation relating to national and European associations, governing environmental and ecological processes and material specification. Students will be asked to explore material libraries, taking into account a circular economy through ideas of using sustainable resources, recycling, upcycling and reuse. Graduates will be able to articulate a clear personal position in relation to sustainability and other ethical considerations attaching to the industry.

The decorative interior designer typically works closely with other designers (in furniture, upholstery, textiles, ceramics, architecture etc.), manipulating the qualities and effect of surfaces, commissioning and/or designing furniture and artefacts, to create meaningful, impactful and significant spatial experiences, creating, manipulating or augmenting the extant atmosphere of the space. The studio system will simulate this context, encouraging students to explore and collaborate with relevant design professionals to secure coherent and assured design outcomes.

Throughout the course, students will be asked to consider and position themselves and their skills and interests in relation to the industry to develop a portfolio that expresses their individual practice.

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 weeks, 30 credit) modules in the areas of design concept and realisation, interior technologies and production, and cultural and contextual studies and professional practice.

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 pr

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

The course aims are to provide a high quality, specialist undergraduate education in design as applied to commercial and public interiors including retail, exhibition and residential interior decoration practice. It seeks to ensure its graduates are knowledgeable, creative, culturally and environmentally aware, technically able and of value to future employers, as a part of a design team. The course fosters curiosity and a sense of enquiry, competence in research, analysis and presentation, independence of thought, self-reliance, confidence and openness to professional development.
The course aims are to:

1. promote risk-taking, exploratory and innovative strategies for designing decorative spatial 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/ decoration 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 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.

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

Knowledge and Understanding
1. recognise the relationship existing between design, culture, environment, manufacture and the economy both historically and contemporaneously and its relevance to choice, decoration, pattern, symbolism, design motives and theories (CA5,6);
2. describe, explore and challenge a range of theoretical positions associated with the interior, and the design process (CA1,2,5);
3. know and assimilate into practice, the necessary professional and disciplinary principles, codes and ethics of practice that apply (CA3,4).

Cognitive Intellectual Abilities
4. employ a range of intellectual skills that contribute to both convergent and divergent forms of thinking, observation, investigation, research and analysis, independently appraising and articulating reasoned arguments to select, organise, structure, reference and formulate responses developing researched and evidence-based reports, briefs and developmental narratives (CA 2,6,8);
5. develop and challenge ideas by understanding the context and critical issues that surround them and make decisions based upon social, ethical, environmental and economic issues (2,3,8);
6. consider the needs and views of the client, user, brand, community, culture and wider public and assimilate them in relation to specific projects, investigating the physical, practical, functional, experiential and sensory needs of people within interior spaces (3,8).

Transferable skills
7. independently and collaboratively present and communicate ideas and design proposals through the use of appropriate oral, visual, material and written skills and techniques to other designers and associated industry professionals, to the client and invested community, as well as to the wider public (7,9,10);
8. communicate ideas, principles and concepts effectively by oral, written and visual means with clarity and confidence (CA 4,9);
9. exercise self-directed management skills, including time management, team negotiation and collaboration, employing reflective practices and self-promotion (10,11).

Subject-Specific Practical Skills
10. generate concepts, design narratives and proposals, expressing ideas relating to spatial, interior, furniture and other multi-disciplinary design projects, through drawing, material sampling and modelmaking using both traditional and digital techniques (CA1,7,8);
11. develop industry-led and entrepreneurial skills to effectively communicate, present, publish and exhibit project work used within the interior design profession understanding the roles and expertise of the extended team within the design and construction industries (CA2,9);
12. exhibit understanding of the roles and expertise of the extended team within the design and construction industries and work effectively in that context, enabling continuous self-development (CA 4,10,11).

Module Title Module Code Learning Outcomes
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 Design and Decoration DN6019 LO2, LO3, LO6 , LO7, LO9, LO10, LO11

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

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.

Work- related learning is embedded in the course both formally in (module/s XX) 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 the 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.

ACADEMIC PROGRESSION: As a condition of progressing from 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.

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
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 pattern of study in CASS degrees shall be as follows:

Year 1 – DN4015 & DN4009
Year 2 – CP4015 & DN4008
Year 3 – DN5010 & DN5002
Year 4 – CP5015 & DN5004
Year 5 – DN6020 & DN6019
Year 6 – CP6015 & DN6029

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

• Spatial Design Development
• Interior Materials & Technologies
• Design Principles for Interiors
• Critical and Contextual Studies 1 (Interiors)
• Interior Technologies & Production
• Design Details
• Critical and Contextual Studies 2 (Interiors)
• Human Scale
• Project Design & Development for Interiors
• Major Project Realisation: Interior Design and Decoration
• Critical and Contextual Studies 3: Dissertation (Interiors)
• Integrated Design Practice

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.

British Institute of Interior Design Code of Conduct and Professional Ethics

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 Design and Decoration 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’.

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.

To boost your practical skills, experience and contacts, you’ll also have the opportunity to undertake a work placement at a leading London design practice. In 2016 students were placed at 50 design companies including Foster + Partners, Gensler and turnerbates.

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 do not have traditional qualifications or cannot meet the entry requirements for this undergraduate degree, you may still be able to gain entry by completing the Art and Design Extended Degree (with Foundation Year).

All applicants must be able to demonstrate proficiency in the English language. Applicants who require a Tier 4 student visa may need to provide a Secure English Language Test (SELT) such as Academic IELTS. For more information about English qualifications please see our English language requirements.

Portfolios and interviews

Your portfolio should be selective but have enough work to show the range of your interests and talents. We are interested in seeing how you develop a project from beginning to end, not only finished work.

Your portfolio should have a range of 2D and 3D design and material sampling, and demonstrate a keen interest in working directly with materials within workshops, and visualising and problem-solving techniques.

If there are elements you can't bring to your portfolio interview, take photographs and include them.

We always want to see traditional drawing whether observational, life or concept generating, so please include this, even if you already have good CAD skills.

Finally, be ready to talk about your work and how you see your future as an interior designer.