module specification

This module introduces the idea of communication through drawing. You will become familiar with what are commonly termed the ‘industry conventions’ for describing architectural details, including those for heritage and conservation sites. You will be taken through a series of workshops relating to your studio project to identify the differing and diverse types of drawings, diagrams, and related regulations that you would encounter within the design process and how these are used to communicate to varying audiences. You will also gain an understanding of how to devise and communicate sustainable and environmental approaches and will explore inclusive design methods and principles, investigating the historic and contemporary contexts in which a building is located and its social, cultural community connections.

Through a series of set tasks and lectures you will acquire key knowledge and understanding of scale, proportion, anthropometrics and ergonomics and principles of geometry, materials, colour and light linked to requirements for design. You will learn orthographic drawing methods, analysing building construction, for exterior and interior contexts. The module will use a range of learning and teaching methods to establish this knowledge, including site visits and surveys, case studies, hand and digital drawing workshops, including developing vital CAD skills.

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Typically, the syllabus will include the following:

Role and responsibilities of the designer:
an introduction to the role and responsibilities of the designer within the wider planning and construction team, developing an approach to employment.

Interior drawing communication:
an introduction to drawing conventions for interior spaces; plans, sections, elevations, axonometric drawings, annotation at a range of scales, hand and digitally drawn at a range of scales.

Sustainable and environmental approaches:
an introduction to the performance and selection of materials, understanding their sustainable properties and environmental impact within an interior space; an evaluation and reflection upon existing conditions within a building environment to establish key design proposals linked to a concept.

Inclusive design principles:
an analysis and evaluation of the cultural and area context, proposing meaningful and appropriate ways to design and inhabit the space.

Building structure and construction:
an outline of historic and contemporary design structure and detail and techniques within a given building.

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 such as active, flipped and blended learning, 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 students to reflect on their progress, receive help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including written reflections on progress and achievement.

The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-based learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal and career 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.

On successful completion of the module, to the standard expected at Level 4, you will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

1. understand the diverse range of drawings and diagrams needed to communicate proposals in line with industry conventions to principal stakeholders including historic and conservation materials and details;
2. describe the position of the designer’s practice within the interiors industry, working towards developing an initial approach to employment;

Cognitive Intellectual Abilities

3. employ a variety of referencing, annotation, research and recording methods in your practice journal to communicate the relationship between your ideas and the building demonstrating a careful, methodical, and imaginative approach;

Subject Specific Skills

4. devise a strategy for the sustainable use of materials demonstrating appropriate selection and understanding of environmental impact;
5. identify environmentally sensitive and inclusive design approaches to a given space;

Transferable Skills

6. employ precise and appropriate drawn techniques using industry conventions to communicate the concepts involved in a design proposal.

The ‘Practice Journal’ records your progress through each element and activity of the module. The understanding and critical enquiry demonstrated in the journal is key to its success. The consistency of the record of learning, the care with which the journal is produced and the consequent effectiveness of its communication of the knowledge and skills acquired will be assessed.

A series of materials and modelmaking experiments will demonstrate your skills in material understanding, environmental and sustainability strategies and your understanding of the use and purpose of different forms of drawing communication to convey ideas and information to a variety of audiences.

The set of scaled drawings will demonstrate your development in using drawings as a tool for analysing an interior through the clarity with which you are able to identify the subject of your analysis. The annotated drawings will demonstrate your understanding of the use of different drawing types and the use of symbols and the integration of textual information.

You will be expected to show an understanding of the position of an interior designer within the built environment industry and begin initial development of strategies for your future career.

You must attend and engage with all timetabled studio and workshop sessions and tasks set both in-class and as self-study.

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