module specification

Critical and Contextual Studies (CCS) Level 4 aims to orient and critically engage students in the history and theory of their discipline, its extent and conventions, and its broader social and material context in culture and contemporary practice.

The module helps students to reflect on what they see, and to read connections between different ideas that have shaped their discipline. In particular the module investigates how thinking and articulating ideas about practice in their field might be framed – for example in relation to history, the economy, society and the environment, or through theory and practice.

The module introduces students to a range of academic skills needed to produce a graduate-level study in their final year. It helps students to develop their own interests, and to reflect on and take responsibility for the development of their own learning. This includes surveys in the history of their discipline, research and writing workshops, seminars, library sessions, visits and tours in addition to guided independent learning.

This module is part of a study abroad programme not available to home students. Only to be taken together with DN4008A, DN4009A and DN4015A.

The History of Interior Architecture, Interior Design and Interior Decoration

This provides a survey introducing the history of interior design in the context of architecture and society. It charts the professionalisation of interior design and architecture from the eighteenth century to the present, in parallel to the gathering pace of modernity. As far as possible, teaching is conducted in the form of visits, using London as an extended classroom. Visits are supported by readings and lectures which take a broad view, concentrating on well-known examples and setting them broadly in their artistic, social and political context. In addition to encouraging growing confidence with exploring and interpreting different text-based sources, students are introduced to using visual material for research through classroom and self-guided work. A number of research and writing exercises (patchwork) help students to become familiar with the common stock of examples drawn upon in theoretical and critical writings, to develop critical thinking skills, and to learn how to express ideas clearly. Students will be introduced to political, social, architectural and interior design histories from which to draw as repository for understanding and information for their studio practice.  LO 1-5

Case Study

Students (with guidance) will select a building or site in London or its environs, visit, research and record it through drawing, photography or collected/ assembled images and produce a short (700-1,000 word) case study demonstrating their awareness of the social, historical, political, economic or other context of the chosen site. LO 1-5

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to, and have the opportunity to, continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice.

The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek 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 reflections on progress and achievement.

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.

On successful completion of the module students will be able:

1. to use information retrieval systems and develop appropriate methods for collecting, organising and deploying knowledge;
2. to read and interpret different kinds of written texts and other key sources of documented knowledge, such as recorded sound or images, objects and artefacts;
3. to demonstrate some familiarity with the scope of their discipline and that it has broader ethical, historical, social, cultural, economic and practice-based contexts;
4. to articulate a basic critical understanding of the objects of their study, noting specific terms, languages, references, genres and audiences;
5. to effectively respond to and reflect upon feedback on their own work in order to develop and improve their learning.

Students receive formative tutorials before submission of final work, and feedback during the course. This helps students to build and improve skills as the syllabus progresses.Assessments comprise::

1. Patchwork assessment and short written exercises (900–1,200 words) and Learning Reflection submission (500–700 words)
2. Case study (700-1,000 words)

Module assessment criteria:
1. application and engagement;
2. quality of content (research, accuracy, relevance, scope);
3. quality of presentation (English, references, terminology, literacy, protocols);
4. effective structure (clarity, links, synthesis);
5. deployment of critical and analytical skills (argument, interpretation, discussion).

Core Readings
• Massey, A., Sparke, P., (2009), Designing the Modern Interior. From the Victorians to Today, Berg
• Aynsley, J., Grant, C., McKay, H., (2006), Imagined Interiors, Representing the Domestic Interior Since the Renaissance, V&A Publications
• Massey, A., (2008), Interior Design Since 1900, Thames and Hudson

Further Readings
• Berger, J., (2008), Ways of Seeing, Penguin Classics
• Breward, C., Fisher, F., Wood, G., (2015), British Design. Tradition and Modernity after 1948, Bloomsbury
• Cornforth, J., (1978), The Quest for Comfort, English Interiors, 1790-1848, Barrie and Jenkins
• Fisher, F., Sparke, P., (2016), The Routledge Companion to Design Studies, Routledge
• Fisher, F., Keeble, T., Lara-Betancourt, P., (2011), Performance, Fashion and the Modern Interior: From the Victorians to Today, Berg
• Forty A. (2002) Objects of Desire; design and society since 1750, Thames and Hudson
• Fowler, J.(1974), English Decoration in the Eighteenth Century, Barrie and Jenkins
• Gere, C., (1989), Nineteenth Century Decoration. The Art of the Interior, Weidenfeld and Nicholson
• Maffei, G., L., (2013) Design at Home: Design Advice Books in Britain and the USA since 1945
• McKay, H., (2016) in Keeble, T., Martin., B., Sparke, P., (2006), The Modern Period Room, Routledge
• Millon, H. A. (1963), Key monuments of the history of architecture, Prentice-Hall
• Muthesius. S., The Poetic Home. Designing the Ninetheenth Domestic Interior, Thames and Hudson
• PEVSNER, N. (2009). An outline of European architecture. London, Thames & Hudson.

• Saumarez-Smith, C., (2000) The Rise of Design, Design and the Domestic Interior in the Eighteenth Century
• Sparke, P., (2008), The Modern Interior, Reaktion
• Sparke, P., (2005), Elsie de Woolf, Acanthus
• Walker, J., A., (1990), Design History and the History of Design, Pluto Press

Journals, Websites and Databases
• Design Indaba (web)
• Dezeen (web)
• inhabitat.com (web)
• www.didb.ac.uk (Domestic Interiors Database)
• Design History Society Journal