THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2021/2022

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Edinburgh College of Art : Design

Postgraduate Course: Connecting Interiors (DESI11112)

Course Outline
SchoolEdinburgh College of Art CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryUsing an existing public institution, this course aims to develop your ability to respond to complex briefs relating to complex social and institutional relations. You will have access to information from specialists and stakeholders to establish an understanding of the client and the challenges to overcome in adapting their environment. Starting by researching elements of the institution, you will be required to review the current context of the host institution in relation to its current physical location, and the wider built environment surrounding it. Then using skills associated with architectural and interior design master planning, you will formulate your own brief in relation to a series of interior and spatial responses.
Course description Academic Description
Public institutions often operate under a degree of stasis, especially in relation to their interior environment. Logistical, budgetary, historical and bureaucratic constraints are often at play, making spatial changes low on the list of priorities. In this course you will approach these established organisations with a fresh pair of eyes, and using various research and investigations methods untangle where spatial changes could improve and evolve current user experience. You will be challenged to question and expand on what the clients brief may be, formulating your own rigorous evaluation and solution.

Course Content
In this course you will encounter not just an existing institution, but the professionals who work with it. By engaging with information about the client and site in Edinburgh, you will formulate a full idea of its history and aspirations. You will then be asked to analyse the physical environment the organisation currently in habits, and propose a brief for the master-planning of this within its wider urban context. Through research into current relevant interior, spatial and usage theories you will required to define your own narrative for the interior, architectural and spatial response as a masterplan for the site. You will be asked to represent this in written and drawn form.

Student Experience
Working initially in groups, and then individually, you will research, investigate and question current theory relevant to the particular institution and client you will be working with. You will then learn and develop concepts of urban master-planning and transpose these to a series of interior and spatial solutions. The resulting proposals will form a master-planning document, supported by drawings and text, showing how you will develop the current site. Working on this macro scale, you will experience the 'bigger picture' of interior and spatial design, by understanding how a number of spaces interconnect at an architectural level to create a cohesive environment for the development of an institution, whereby user experience is improved. LEARN will be used for course delivery.




Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs There will be material costs associated with this course in relation to drawing and model making materials. You will also be expected to produce a professionally bound edited portfolio booklet for final submission. This is likely to be in the region of £100.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2021/22, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  20
Course Start Semester 2
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 2, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 28, Formative Assessment Hours 1, Summative Assessment Hours 1, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 164 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 100% coursework to contain :
-an edited PDF portfolio booklet (max. size 20MB) containing a critical reflection on the journey taken through the course. This booklet should include written and visual material and include information on client, review of relevant theories and precedents, development of ideas around chosen narrative, development of ideas towards formulation of brief, master-planning evaluation and proposals and final outline design solutions.
Feedback Feedback on Discussion Forums and/ or group verbal feedback from peers and staff on a weekly basis.

Mid way through the semester you will submit a draft of your edited portfolio on work to date. You will receive written formative feedback from staff and indicative grades. At the end of the course you will submit your final edited portfolio booklet for summative assessment and grading.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Apply varying interior, architectural and spatial theories, through a range of special research techniques and enquiry in the formulation of a brief for a given interior.
  2. Exercise autonomy and initiative in developing masterplan responses to complex problems in a given interior.
  3. Communicate to a range of audiences a cohesive creative solution of outline scheme design.
Reading List
Alwaer, Husam. Illsely, Barbara & Al Waer, Husam
Rethinking masterplanning: Creating Quality Places
ICE Publishing 2017

Hillier, Bill
The Social Logic of Space
Cambridge University Press, 1984

Gehl, Yan
Cities for People
Island Press, 2010

Higgins, Ian
Spatial Strategies for Interior Design
Laurence King Publishing, 2015


Jacobs, Jane
The Death and Life of Great American Cities
Modern Library, New York 2011
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills 3 :Generic Cognitive Skills
- Apply critical analysis, evaluation and synthesis to forefront issues in interior, architectural, and spatial design.
- Develop original and creative responses to problems and issues.
- Critically review, consolidate and extend knowledge, skills, practices and thinking in interiors.

4 : Communications, ICT and Numeracy Skills
- Use a wide range of routine skills and a range of advanced and specialised skills as appropriate to interior, spatial and architectural design:
- Communicate project problematisations, proposals, and solutions, using appropriate methods, to a range of audiences with different levels of knowledge/expertise.
- Communicate with peers, more senior colleagues and specialists.

5 : Characteristics of Autonomy, Accountability and Working with Others
- Work in a peer relationship with specialist practitioners.
- Demonstrate leadership and/or initiative and make an identifiable contribution to change and development and/or new thinking.
- Practise in ways which draw on critical reflection on own and others¿ roles and responsibilities.

KeywordsInterior Design,Masterplanning,Spatial Design
Contacts
Course organiserMs Rachel Simmonds
Tel: 0131 221 6130
Email: Rachel.Simmonds@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Jane Thomson
Tel: (0131 6)51 5713
Email: jane.thomson@ed.ac.uk
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