MODULES
Foundation Year
CORE MODULES
Techniques for Designing
This module introduces you to a set of tools for designing (materials, methods, attitudes and techniques) involved in design generally in both 2 & 3D. It aims to develop your confidence and ability to use a range of methods and media in exploring, developing and presenting your ideas clearly and effectively, as well as an ability to evaluate and rework your output in response to feedback in terms of its technical, craft and aesthetic qualities. Briefs are introduced so that design ideas are explored both individually and in groups. These aim to introduce a suitable work ethic and the practise of design as an iterative process, and to support experiment and trial and error, through short design orientated projects and exercises that build confidence and competence.
This module works in partnership with the Design Project module (AR3002) in that it prepares you for exploring & practising the potential of selected media, materials, methods and techniques used in the development of your own design work in Design Project module (AR3002).
The module introduces safe and appropriate workshop practice.
Design Project
The module aims to provide you with a broad, varied, stimulating range of projects that introduce you to the skills, processes and practices involved in making design projects. The module intends to facilitate you to develop a critical, disciplined and productive approach to the act of designing and to support independent thinking, making and communicating.
This open ended interpretive and longer individual projects allow for fostering a personal perspective and sense of direction, reinforcing independence and commitment to generating and developing more self-motivated, innovative, enquiry based project work within a principal area of specialisation.
Through completing design projects set in this module, you will develop and evolve your portfolio of work in a distinctive way that is evidence of increasing subject specificity and an ability to make an informed choice of progression pathway.
A&D Design Workshop
This module introduces you to a broad range of Art and Design practical disciplines through a series of short workshop activities. It aims to develop your confidence and ability to use a range of methods and materials by synthesising methods and practice across art and design.
This module supports Design Project module (AR3002) in that it prepares you for exploring selected media, materials, methods and techniques used in the development of their own design work.
The module introduces safe and appropriate workshop practice.
Design Media
This module introduces a variety of contemporary media techniques that are relevant to design and artistic practice in its widest sense.
It aims to support the evolution of the creative habits of recording, collecting, documenting, reading, reworking and evaluating. It seeks to build broad understanding of the relationship between context and creative practice, first in analogue, then in digital formats. The complexity of the media employed and exercises set will increase as the module develops and depending on the ambition and skills of each student.
The projects will be organised in both individual and groups, and that support students in learning to articulate & share ideas, work effectively in teams and at pace, and to be able and organise and deliver projects.
History and Theory
The module introduces you to a basic understanding of History & Theory Studies in the subject of architecture and design, through engaging with selected histories and theories relevant to art, culture, technology and contemporary practice.
The module prepares you for helping you to structure and plan your research work and the communication outputs, for further critical and theoretical work in higher education.
As a result, you will begin to acquire a range of basic skills in observation, research & reviewing methods, critical thinking, writing and communication.
Mental Wealth Professional Life
Developing the key intellectual and practical skills, and the psychological and physical determinants of human performance are increasingly critical for successful graduate-level employment, entrepreneurship and career progression in the 4th industrial revolution.
This module will provide you with the opportunity to identify the skills, competencies and experience required for successful development prior to embarking on your university degree. It also aims to help to inform you about your future direction of study as well as providing useful insights into your potential and abilities. You will begin to recognise the areas for your own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activity.
Central to the developmental process will be for each student to cultivate the reflective skills, openness and self-awareness to enable themselves to assess what they are doing, identify areas for improvement, and confidently receive and give constructive feedback. You should also begin to acquire a range of skills in observation, research & reviewing methods, critical thinking, writing and communication.
Year 1
CORE MODULES
The Built Environment
The aim of the module is to appreciate the factors, organisation and professional disciplines involved in the planning, design, development and in-use of the built environment facility.
Construction Technology
This module involves exploring the choices for materials, systems and techniques used in the construction of typical domestic and industrial/commercial building. The module also looks at building design and performance particularly with respect to the selection of materials for construction purposes. It also covers sustainability issues affecting the condition of existing buildings, and their maintenance and adaptation. It will also enable the development of spatial skills in producing and understanding graphical forms of communication used in construction.
Design Investigation 1
The module aims to introduce you to the skills, processes and practices involved in a spatial design project. It engages you in a range of processes by means of which you can understand, think about and engage with the academic and practical design discipline of architectural design.
The module enables you to develop an understanding of space and materials. It familiarises you with methods for fabricating models, prototypes, 2D and 3D drawings, sketches, diagrams, collage, photographs and mixed media representations, and to practice their use in generating and communicating ideas.
The module supports experiment, trial and error through short projects and exercises that build confidence and competence. It introduces you to the role of representation in design and links with art practice as well as an understanding of the materials, processes and techniques that apply specifically to spatial design.
Design Integration 1
This module provides an understanding of the climate and environment as an integral part of the design process. It seeks to help you develop an understanding of the role that environmental design plays in facilitating occupants' satisfaction and comfort in the indoor environment.
The module aims to create an awareness of the issues influencing the environmental and technical considerations of building design.
Technical Studies and Representation 1
The module aims to prepare you for the task of visualising and communicating their work at all stages of its development, and setting their work in relation to the final design project Design Investigation, Design Resolution and Design Integration and the technical demands of the design proposal.
In this regard, drawing ability is a necessary skill for observation, recording, analysis, visualisation, evaluation and communication of different technical aspects of the design project.
This module aims to develop your repertoire of practical, technical and computer-aided skills that can keep pace with your growing knowledge of the design process.
Mental Wealth: Professional Life 1
Developing the key psychological and physical determinants of human performance are increasingly critical for successful graduate-level employment, entrepreneurship and career progression in the 4th industrial revolution.
This module will provide you with the opportunity to develop skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to, and in, a range of potential future career areas.
Herein you will begin to recognise the areas for your own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activity.
Central to the developmental process is for each student to cultivate the reflective skills, openness and self-awareness to enable themselves to assess what they are doing, identify areas for improvement, and confidently receive and give constructive feedback. Students will additionally develop knowledge of strategies to advance their own physical intelligence through 'life style' and 'self-care' approaches to inform their health and wellbeing.
Having acquired understanding of the key developmental areas, you will have opportunity to pitch a small scale design project to a panel of practitioners, and be mentored and supervised by students from higher years. In this position you will learn and begin to apply the cognitive, cultural and social intelligences developed elsewhere in your studies (and from external activities) as required in the workplace, namely cognitive flexibility, emotional resilience, motivation, ethical decision-making, managing your audience, coordinating with others, negotiation, creativity, active listening, attention, problem solving, research, synthesis and analysis.
Year 2
CORE MODULES
Tendering, Estimating and Cost Control
To provide you with an introduction to financial control of construction projects and the procurement process by accessing knowledge based on information produced from tendering, estimating and financial procedures.
Allow to enable you to understand deliverables, time constraints, budgets and to implement best value best practice.
Contract Procedures
- To provide an understanding of the UK legal system, legal process, institutional structures in application to the construction process in terms of contract performance, obligations, tort and statutory requirements, in the professional environment of construction management, surveying and information management.
- To comprehend the legal obligations and procedures associated with contracts, letting, employment, equality, design, development and health and safety, and to apply legal principles to practical problems.
Design Investigation 2
The module provides a forum for you to develop a creative, inventive and productive design process in relation to a design project or projects. In particular to raise your awareness and understanding of the occupants and users and their physical, social and psychological needs through the design of both objects and environments at appropriate scales, as well as exploring key characteristics of design projects.
There is a particular focus on investigations of site and context that may involve the gathering of empirical data, making analytical studies and conducting observations of people, place, context and materials that are appropriate to the project.
By setting one design project, the module aims to engage with the practices, protocols and conventions that apply to the design and delivery of projects within the design and construction industry. The module fosters the development of a personal position and working methods as part of the attributes required by a professional architect.
Design Integration 2
This module focuses on the application of knowledge of environmental principles into your design projects, using relevant methods of environmental strategies as part of the design process.
The module aims to encourage integration of environmental design from the outset of a project, giving you the ability to reflect on appropriate environmental design strategies and explore these in a creative and rigorous manner.
Technical Studies and Representation 2
The module aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills to engage with the technical demands of the main design project in Design Investigation 2, Design Resolution 2 and Design Integration 2, and to represent this appropriately.
This module builds upon and extends the knowledge, skills and understanding gained in Technical Studies and Representation 1 in that it continues to develop your repertoire of conceptual, practical, technical and computer-aided skills in order to be able to inform, support and describe their architectural design development.
The module aims to:
- Provide an overview of the principles of architectural structures, material construction and sustainable design.
- Provide you with a range of representational and descriptive skills in order to record, analyse, visualise, develop, evaluate and communicate architectural design and observations.
- Allow you to learn and apply representational skills to a design project across a range of drawing scales and details.
Mental Wealth: Professional Life 2
Developing the key psychological and physical determinants of human performance are increasingly critical for successful graduate-level employment, entrepreneurship and career progression in the 4th industrial revolution.
This module will provide you with the opportunity to apply several of the skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to, and in, a range of potential future career areas.
Herein you will advance the areas identified at level 4 for your own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activity.
This module will help you develop: an understanding of job market forces and influences; required skills to enable you to make successful applications for a job in the architecture sector; effective representation in interviews; opportunities to gain work experience in an architectural practice (as a placement) to learn more about how to apply your knowledge and learning in practice.
Through engagement with the Career Passport, you will reflect on the success of the strategies that they employed to further develop your reflective skills, self-awareness, 'life style' and 'self-care' approaches and where necessary improve their approaches.
You will use a design project chosen and set by the academic staff. This may be a competition or a live project. In so doing, you will apply the cognitive, cultural and social intelligences you have learnt elsewhere.
Optional Placement
Year 3
CORE MODULES
Project Management
- To further explore the disciplines, theories and tools associated with the successful project management and delivery of construction-related activities.
- To develop skills in establishing project requirement in terms of client / stakeholder needs; procurement of human and technical resources; planning and coordinating work and phase activities; motivating the team; monitoring cost and quality and managing change; delivering desired outcomes and gaining feedback.
- To discuss human resource management theories in construction-related project-based organisations, including issues associated with development of individual & group competences, creating effective project teams, the management of conflict, the role of stakeholders, and experiential learning.
Design Investigation 3
The module consolidates skills and knowledge gained at Levels 4 and 5. Together with Design Resolution 3 and Design Integration 3 which requires highly detailed reflection on the integration of cultural, professional, technical and environmental issues within the design project, this set of 3 modules is intended to prepare you for independent practice, entry into the professional workplace, or for higher studies.
Whilst improving your practical skills and refining your ability to use them productively, the focus of this module is on developing a depth of knowledge and understanding about research and project development, appropriate to graduate level. It also aims to help you to offer evidence of self-management in respect of planning, monitoring, recording and evaluation within the portfolio work that is produced.
Design Integration 3
This module builds on the knowledge gained from the two pre-requisites above. It further explores the role that key environmental variables inform a low energy building design. It helps you to reflect on appropriate environmental design strategies that respond to occupants' needs, design brief, and climate.
This module allows you to explore, identify and evaluate the interrelationships between the various environmental mechanisms and address them in a rigorous manner by developing design strategies that deliver comfortable environments for building users.
Integrated Technology
This module establishes your ability to integrate the key areas of your technical design knowledge within the context of the final design project Design Investigation 3, Design Resolution 3 and Design Integration 3.
The module provides an overview of the necessary design skills required to meet building users' requirements within the constraints imposed by cost factors and building regulations.
Research in Practice
This module develops your skills of independent academic research, review, analysis, argument and self-expression in a field of study. You will explore your critical knowledge and understanding of research and develop your personal skills when managing a moderately large project. This module will enable you to integrate skills of analysis, judgment and communication in order to present results both orally and in the form of a structured scientific or philosophical thesis.
Mental Wealth: Professional Life 3
Developing the key psychological and physical determinants of human performance are increasingly critical for successful graduate-level employment, entrepreneurship and career progression in the 4th industrial revolution.
This module will provide you with the opportunity to apply the full range of skills, competencies and experience required for successful development to, and in, a range of potential future career areas.
Herein you will advance the areas identified at level 5 for your own personal professional development (including emotional, social, physical, cultural and cognitive intelligences) through taught and workshop activity.
This module will help provide: an overview of professional responsibilities of the profession, the regulations and procedures involved in the approval and construction of designs, and the relevant context of the construction industry; and a framework within which you practice the integration of Professional and Technical concerns within a design proposal.
Through engagement with the Career Passport, you will reflect on the success of the strategies that you employed to further develop your reflective skills, self-awareness, 'life style' and 'self-care' approaches and where necessary improve your approaches.
