Undergraduate Course: Civil Engineering Design 2 (CIVE08030)
Course Outline
| School | School of Engineering |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Civil Engineers design things. The 'things' that engineers design range from mile-high skyscrapers to flood prevention schemes for informal settlements, bridges to 100-year city strategies. We design things that need to fit into and strengthen our existing infrastructure. Civil Engineering, therefore, is fundamentally creative, and Civil Engineering Design 2 helps to develop the skills needed to create a sustainable future for us all.
A key aspect of design is that there are no single correct answers. It is relatively straightforward to come up with a solution that works; the challenge for a good designer is to come up with the 'best' solution. That is not straightforward: some solutions might be impractical or unsafe to build, some might use materials that cannot be found locally, some will be very expensive or poor aesthetically. Designers often work with incomplete information, a Client who changes their mind part-way through the project, or contradicting
requirements. Iteration is always needed to find the 'best' design solution.
Civil Engineering Design 2 helps students to develop a 'toolbox' of strategies for tackling open-ended design problems. The course introduces the challenges of iterative design through group projects and tasks. The projects gradually build students' awareness of and confidence in tackling conceptual design problems, a thread that is fundamental through engineering degree programmes. |
| Course description |
The course covers:
- What is design? How do we iterate in Civil Engineering Design processes?
- Communication (drawings, group work, meetings, discussion)
- Self-led learning exercises
- Problem, Project, and Place-based group and individual work
- Reflection exercise on what you have learnt on this course.
As well as learning about the design process, students learn specific skills required by a designer: how drawings can be used at different stages of design; good team-working practices; and using simple tools to optimise solutions.
The course is taught through project work with discussion and critique of the various projects providing feedback to develop students' design skills.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
|
Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
|
Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 22,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 66,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 6,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
102 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Coursework %: 100 |
| Feedback |
Students receive feedback regularly through informal weekly workshop hours on their group work and on the individual parts of their learning and assessment.
Group and class feedback takes place within discussion and feedback sessions within the timetabled lecture and workshop hours.
Verbal feedback discussions for each group's design project submissions, and each group will be asked to keep a written record of this feedback and to share this among their group.
Individual assessments will have marking rubric comments with complimentary formative feedback. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Tackle the challenge of creative open-ended design, including iteration, compromise, conflict, uncertainty, optimisation, research, and engineering judgement, through developing good team-work and communication skills.
- Identify the explicit, implicit, and underlying drivers that govern a design problem and create conceptual design techniques to develop solutions that satisfy these competing demands.
- Apply engineering tools (such as basic programming, structural mechanics etc.) to tackle complex design problems, typical of those found in engineering design.
- Communicate using different styles of drawings (sketches, technical drawings, CAD) and verbal communication (within or outwith the design team).
- Develop reflective and self-led learning skills apply these skills in sensible, self-critical way, including conducting and recording engineering calculations and software.
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Reading List
Expedition Workshed website, http://expeditionworkshed.org
Draft and Craft with AutoCAD - LinkedIn Learning. http://www.ucl.ac.uk/drawing-gym/
Ibell T. (2016) Virtual by design, The Structural Engineer, 94 (3), 88-89
Wise C.M. (2008). The call of the wild: the next 100 years, The Structural Engineer, 86(14), pp. 146-153 |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Design,Groupwork,reflective learning,programming skills |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr David Rush
Tel: (0131 6)50 6023
Email: D.Rush@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Lorna Couttie
Tel:
Email: lcouttie@ed.ac.uk |
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