module specification

This module provides a link between the completion of your undergraduate studies, and professional interior design practice. It establishes your ability to integrate and document the key areas of design knowledge within the context of your major design project and through this, a readiness for employment within interior design professional practice.

The coursework records and responds to key stages of professional practice delivered through a range of lectures including from specialist contributors. The module aims to enable you to demonstrate a knowledge, understanding of and ability to evaluate the following five areas of study in relation to your major project and that this is effectively and appropriately communicated:

1. cultural context;
2. professional and regulatory requirements;
3. environment and sustainability;
4. construction, materials and specification;
5. communication.

The module aims to provide you with the means to demonstrate, through and in relation to your own design work, the extent of your understanding and evaluation of these key areas of professional interior design knowledge that inform a design project. The employability and professional practice lectures offered will enable you to better understand the industry, allowing you to make informed choices and prepare a career strategy.

Pre-requisite: DN5022 Interior Practices and Techniques

The syllabus addresses the range of contexts and considerations an interior designer must be aware of, be able to make judgements upon and be confident in interpreting in the development of a complex design project.

The module’s output relates specifically to the major design project and is realised in a professional report document. It is supported by lectures, seminars and workshops, and through the use of specialists and consultants from within the School and externally to support, inform and test the your design process and final design proposal. (LO1-6)

Typically, there will be:
• a series of lectures, seminars and workshops on the five areas of study showing how these should be addressed in the report assessment component related to the major studio project;
• a series of lectures and seminars to develop the content and illustrate methods of communication for the report;
• specialist consultancy and industry lectures to address the relevant key technological considerations in the areas of construction, building services and sustainability;
• exemplar workshops to demonstrate and practice methods of reflection in relationship to personal student outcomes, and from employability specialists in readiness for industry;
• illustration of professional practice, planning for employment and career development.
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The five areas of study and professional criteria that form the report’s structure are typically focused around the following categories:
1 Cultural Context
1.1 engagement with social, political, economic and professional contexts;
1.2 the use of case studies, precedent, histories and theories in the development and resolution of the design;

2 Professional and Regulatory Requirements
2.1 the relationship between interior design and typical legal and regulatory requirements;
2.2 an understanding of how a design may be financed, procured and realised;

3 Environment and Sustainable Design
3.1 the relationship to interior design of a range of environmental concerns including the lifestyles of the anticipated users;
3.2 daylight, artificial light and the products needed to support this;
3.3 the provision and integration of building services;

4 Construction, Materials and Specification
4.1 constructional and material strategies and approaches;
4.2 construction techniques, processes and detailing;
4.3 the properties and characteristics of materials, components and products;
4.4 the use of specification documents to articulate the designer’s decision making;

5 Communication
5.1 visual, written, multimedia and participatory methods to communicate the design and enhance the quality of the submission;
5.2 appropriate communication for different stakeholders: lay, professional and academic;
5.3 the composition, editing and production of the report assessment component.

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 Interiors courses 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 6, you will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

1. demonstrate an understanding of the five key areas of the syllabus and how they have informed your design process and resolution;

Cognitive Intellectual Abilities

2. gather, process and make use of information, processes and strategies necessary to develop a complex professional document;
3. integrate knowledge acquired from taught sessions, professional  consultancy, industry and participatory processes into a career strategy and related materials;

Transferable Skills

4. make and communicate clear strategic decisions in relation to the wider political, economic, professional, environmental, industrial and legal context informing your design;

Subject Specific Skills

5. integrate knowledge of sustainability, construction, structures and materials into a coherent architectural interior design demonstrated through a professional document;
6. present a range of materials that support your strategy for future employment and career development.

There are two assessment components.
Each aims to provide the student with the opportunity to show different skills and knowledge:
1. the diary records the student’s continous design process throughout level 6 and records the issues and considerations that inform and affect this;

2. The report is a summary documentation of your studio project is a statement of the intentions, findings, and conclusions of your major design proposal. The report should be able to be read independently of your studio portfolio. It will summarise concisely and precisely the decisions you have made that demonstrate your professional and technical knowledge in relation to the five areas of study in this professional practice module, and your major project design proposal. The report will typically include visual information, analytical and technical drawings, and diagrams specific and pertinent to the criteria. Careful thought should be given to the design and balance of text, diagrams, and images throughout the report to achieve a professional level of communication. The report will also present a career strategy or rationale developed from information acquired through presentations and participatory events.

The requirements for the report will be set out clearly in a report guidance briefing document.

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