module specification

Within this module students develop a design proposition and prototype, which allows them to test and refine their design research, established within the context of the MA Digital Architecture & Manufacture.

This module aims to:

• Enable students to realise a coherent, holistic and sophisticated design project.
• Develop, test and refine ideas within a particular circumstance, in the context of their design research and the particular specialism of digital architecture & manufacture.
• Build creatively upon the knowledge acquired within other modules and to apply it to their own interests, in order to develop clear strategies and a critical position, in relation to the particular area of study.
• Assist the student in considering how the development of a particular knowledge and expertise interfaces with and augments the student’s understanding of broader design issues.
• Develop students’ computational control and their increasingly precise and sophisticated ability to understand how the particularity of circumstance, within a design project, can refine a conceptual proposition and vice versa.

The MA Digital Architecture & Manufacture Programme offers the opportunity for specialised areas of study to be undertaken, within the context of the broader subject. It is taught primarily within the specialism of Digital Architecture & Manufacture. The individual specialism and the various parameters of this module is outlined in a comprehensive briefing document. The brief set out the manner in which particular interests will be addressed through the course of the academic year. The briefing document is underpinned by the formal teaching of the individual specialist modules and which are co-requisite to this module. Courses of specialised study within the MA Digital Architecture & Manufacture Programme result in an award of MA Digital Architecture & Manufacture and (Specialism), as defined in the relevant course specification.

The student will learn and be taught through the following:

• Discussions and seminars, within the studio environment.
• Talks and workshops, involving the student group, tutors and external input.
• Individual and group work, developing design scenarios and resources
• Site and other visits, relevant to the specialism.
• Critical evaluation, individually, in discussion with the tutors and in the context of the group, examining the effectiveness and value of processes, methods of working, means of representation and the overall qualities of the resultant outcome.
• An individual reflective and iterative process of evaluating the relationship between the process of design development, undertaken within this module and the developing research and conceptual processes within the parallel Design Research and Techniques module.
• Individual development of the design project, drawing upon the work undertaken above and in accompanying modules.
• Individual development of a comprehensive design portfolio, that fully addresses the range of investigation and resultant production, during the course of the year

On successful completion of this module, the student will be able to:

1. Develop and evaluate appropriate, relevant methods of interpreting, engaging, integrating and otherwise, using design research material, in order to establish design parameters that can intervene in, adapt to and potentially transform particular situations or processes.
2. Test the rationale for design proposals, in the context of design research, the course and the particular circumstances of the project, and adjust and develop the design as necessary.
3. Establish an appropriate and thorough design process in order to achieve a convincing design proposal to demonstrate the ability to manipulate and synthesise spatial, material, formal and organisational systems within a well understood context.
4. Demonstrate an appropriate level of intellectual ambition within the design project.
5. Effectively communicate the ideas, intentions and resolution of the design proposal, in its own terms.
6. Demonstrate an understanding of its development in relation to the accompanying design research and the wider body of knowledge encompassed by the specialism, alongside an awareness of how this might be adjusted or transformed by wider social, political, economic and physical contexts.

The students are assessed in verbal seminar presentations of their design portfolio and associated design project with invited guest critics. The design portfolio is assessed by

1. The MA Digital Architecture & Manufacture tutors
2. A panel of AAD tutors
3. The MA Digital Architecture & Manufacture External Examiner

The following are indicative only.
Pask, G. (September 1969). The Architectural Relevance of Cybernetics. Architectural Design. London
Peters, T. (2011). Experimental Green Strategies. John Wiley & Sons London
Raymond, G. (2006). Industrial Design Techniques and Materials. Flammarion, France
Umemoto, R. +. (2006). Atlas of Novel Tectonics. Princeton Architectural Press
Crouch, C and Pearce, J. (2012) Doing research in design, Berg, Oxford
Laurel, B. (ed), (2003) Design research: methods and perspectives, MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass.
Simonsen, J. et al, (eds), (2010) Design research: synergies from interdisciplinary perspectives, Routledge, London; New York

Refereed journals in different subject areas:  issued according to programme
Refereed or equivalent journals in the built environment:  issues according to programme
Articles relevant to design research in refereed or  equivalent journals:  issued according to programme
Electronic sources relevant to design:  issued according to programme

Further reading is included in the briefing documentation provided by the course tutors at the beginning of the course. The readings include both historical and contemporary titles.