module specification

The integration of technical, regulatory and professional aspects of design in brief formulation and of cultural and other contextual informants into the design decision-making process constitutes a composite competency for architects. Such skills are essential, contributory and cumulative dimensions of comprehensive design in the development of any architectural and urban design project. In the Integrated Project Study, you will cultivate and demonstrate key technical and professional skills through the development of a specialism or series of specialisms in your architectural design project(s) in AR7P49 Design Thesis Project: Specialisation, Proposition and Resolution. The module aims to enable you to engage in processes around your design(s) which account for many ethical and professional factors integrated with your project(s): the cultural setting and the theories or methodologies which guide you; interaction with audiences such as planners, clients and users; your duty of care to ensure health and life safety; the structure, construction and resources of your design processes; your professional responsibility to design sustainably; and your capacity to operate or participate in the business of architectural practice.

In this module, you will develop the technical, contextual, ethical and professional detail of your design thesis project, with support from unit tutors, specialists and technical staff. The module aims to teach skills pertaining to Health and Life Safety; Ethical and Professional Practice; Structure, Construction and Resources; Design Processes and Communication and Business Skills (‘Themes and Values’ from RIBA: The Way Ahead 2022). The module also aims to ensure that within your design thesis project you have knowledge, understanding of and ability within the following four key areas of professional competence (see 10. Indicative Syllabus for more information): construction, materials and structures; cultural context and communication; environment and sustainable design; and professional context (management, practice and law).

The module aims to help you incorporate these key fields of professional architectural knowledge in your design thesis project(s). It also aims to help you manage, coordinate and learn from a range of sources and this gathering of information will simulate the dynamic, interdisciplinary and fast changing nature of architectural practice. The module aims to provide a practical framework through which you can address the professional practice and academic discipline of architecture as outlined in the ARB/RIBA Joint Criteria ‘The Way Ahead, Education Themes and Values’ 2021 as well as ‘Guidance Notes to Institutions’ issued by the ARB in 2021 outlining the core competences expected at RIBA 2 relating to fire safety and environmental sustainability.

Co-requisite: AR7P49 Design Thesis Project Specialisation, Proposition and Resolution

The Integrated Project Study proceeds in two overlapping phases. Initially it is taught as a series of lectures exploring the four areas of technical and professional competence. Meanwhile, you will evolve a focussed project-based approach to your learning, developed within your design unit alongside the design project in AR7P49 Design Thesis Project: Specialisation, Proposition and Resolution. The syllabus is unique to you, guided by both the unit brief and your design thesis specialism. Your personalised learning will be undertaken in collaboration with appropriate specialists, which may include but are not limited to engineers, services and environmental experts or landscape architects, as appropriate to your specialism(s) and to the unit agenda. Despite the specialist nature of the Integrated Project Study, your own in-depth research alongside scheduled teaching will ensure your cover the four key areas of professional competence, as follows:

The first of the four areas of professional competence is construction, materials and structures. It includes structural and constructional strategies and theories employed by your design; the construction techniques and processes necessary to realise the design, appropriate to location, use and building economy; the appropriate use of traditional craft techniques, modern methods of construction, prefabrication and digital modelling and fabrication. It also consists of the qualities of construction materials and components, their origin, manufacturing, transport and eventual demolition or re-use in the context of a circular economy.

The second of the four areas of professional competence is cultural context and communication. It includes the social political economic and professional context that guides and supports your design; the histories and theories of architecture, urban design and the arts that have informed the design; the use of precedent and case studies in the development and resolution of the design; the influence and relevance of the practices, technologies and creative application of the arts on architectural design in terms of conceptualisation and representation; the relationship between the forms of communication used and different stakeholders (lay, professional and academic) involved in the design.

The third of the four areas of professional competence is environment and sustainable design. It includes the provision and integration of building services; the visual, thermal and acoustic principles which guide the design; the way building technologies, environmental design construction methods, materials and components have been integrated into the design in relation to human wellbeing, the welfare of future generations and the environment; study of natural ventilation, utilisation of daylight, passive solar energy techniques and relevance of intensive services provision; comfort and health in buildings; an appreciation of the techniques and circular design principles within in the context of global warming; autonomy and interdependence in architecture and the built environment;

The final of the four key areas of professional competence is professional context (management, practice and law). It includes the relationship between design and regulatory requirements including the needs of the disabled, health and safety legislation, building control and planning legislation; an understanding of fire safety and health and safety in the design, construction and operation of buildings; the role of the architect implied by the design; and the management, organisational and practice structures necessary to realise it.

Scheduled teaching provides the guidance and foundation to ensure that independent study is effective in addressing the module’s learning outcomes and assessment tasks. In-class activity makes use of varied student-centred approaches, so that a range of learning strategies is deployed and individual learning styles are accommodated. Information is provided through a range of means and sources to minimise and remove barriers to successful progress through the module. The course team seeks to embed the University’s Education for Social Justice Framework in fostering learning that is enjoyable, accessible, relevant and that takes account of the social and cultural context and capital of its students.

Activities foster peer-to-peer community building and support for learning. Reflective learning is promoted through interim formative feedback points that ask you to reflect on your progress, receive help where you identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes and make recommendations for future development. Throughout the module, you will progressively move along the pathway of developing your technical knowledge and design project, engaging in the content of learning while reflecting on your progress.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-based learning within the curriculum supports personal development planning. Through these initiatives, you are increasingly able – as you progress – to understand the professional environment of the discipline, the various opportunities available and how to shape your learning according to your ambitions and aspirations.

On satisfactory completion of the Integrated Project Study module, a number of Learning Outcomes (LOs) will have been addressed. Each is related to the Architecture RIBA 2 - MArch Course Learning Outcomes (CLO). You will:

1. be knowledgeable about and understand the four key areas of technical and professional competence: construction, materials and structures; cultural context and communication; environment and sustainable design; professional context (management, practice and law); (CLO 11(a) 1, 3, 4; 11(b) 1, 3, 4; 11(c) 4):

2. be capable of undertaking the transferable skill of self-directed research into the four key areas of technical and professional competence, from a range of sources including specialists, industry, participatory processes and other disciplines, appropriate to the specific specialism(s) within your design thesis project(s) (CLO 11(a) 1, 2; 11(b) 1; 11(c) 3; 11(c) 5; 11 (d) 2, 4);

3. have developed the subject-specific skill of integrating your knowledge of the four key areas of technical and professional competence to architectural design project(s) to make both strategic and detailed design decisions in relation to a range of parameters specific to your design thesis project(s) which may include political, economic, environmental and legal factors (CLO 11(a)1, 2, 4, 11(b) 2, 3; 11(c) 1, 3, 5; 11(d) 2);

4. be able to competently exercise your responsibilities as an ethical and professional architectural practitioner in relation to the four key areas of technical and professional competence (CLO 11(a) 1; 11(b) 1, 3, 4; 11(c) 1, 4; 11(d) 4);

5. have the transferrable capacity to communicate the technical and professional knowledge which has guided your strategic and detail design decisions to lay, professional and technical audiences (CLO 11(a) 3; 11(b) 2; 11(c) 2; 11(d) 1).

Assessment items will be based on:
• a 10-minute in class presentation (Component 1, 10%) of your design project in AR7P49 Design Thesis Project: Specialisation, Proposition and Resolution, defined by the brief issued in-year, covering each of the four areas of professional and technical competence with a particular focus on construction, materials and structures; environment and sustainable design;
• a report (Component 2, 90%) of 40 A3 pages and approx. 4,000 words or equivalent (drawings, diagrams, charts, photographs, sketches and graphic documentation), defined by the brief issued in-year, showing how the design project in AR7P49 Design Thesis Project: Specialisation, Proposition and Resolution has addressed and resolved each of the four areas of technical and professional competence.

The rationale for the development and use of these assessment items is as follows:
• Component 1: the process of organising, thinking through and delivering a presentation to peers and others, will provide for assessing your practical capacity to undertake appropriate research and to argue for your design decisions in a time-bound, intellectually orderly manner, which will prepare you for Component 2. You will show judgement and exercise transferable oral presentation skills likely to be relevant to your professional career.
• Component 2: producing a report which captures the development of the design project in AR7P49 Design Thesis Project: Specialisation, Proposition and Resolution offers you an opportunity to demonstrate and be assessed upon your knowledge and understanding of the four areas of technical and professional competence. With a focus on your self-selected and unit-focussed specialism(s), you can demonstrate the capacity to undertake research from a range of sources, as well as on your intellectual and design skills to frame design decision making at strategic and detailed scales. The capacity for research and integration of technical and professional knowledge into a design project and to rationalise and communicate decisions are transferrable skills.

The pass mark for the module is to be calculated as an aggregate of the components weighted accordingly, on the proviso that the Project Report must be passed.

http://AR7026 Integrated Project Study – Core Reading List