Postgraduate Course: Architectural Design Studio E (Modular) (ARCH11296)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 40 |
ECTS Credits | 20 |
| Summary | The emphasis in this course is to give students the opportunity to initiate a major design project based on exploratory and creative work. It seeks to encourage projects that are investigative, poetic, theoretically and pragmatically informed, and that deal in a critical way with issues and questions of contemporary relevance. It looks for a sustained and rigorous process of study in all aspects of the student's work. |
| Course description |
The course's studio content, themes, methodologies, and approaches change on an annual basis and are determined by the studio leaders according to their research interests and expertise. Topics have previously included, for example, the use of digital sensing technologies to develop architectural proposals; the reuse, repair, and deconstruction of existing buildings and infrastructures; the development of low carbon and bioregional approaches to architectural materials and components; and the development of urban interventions in charged environmental and socio-political settings.
The brief topics, fieldwork methodologies and contextual concerns are introduced in Architectural Design Studio E (Modular) to initiate and ground an urban and architectural enquiry that will gain spatial and technical resolution over the course of the year, informing the projects designed in the linked Architectural Design Studio A (Modular) course in Semester 2. Studios have addressed a variety of national and international contexts, including, for example, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Berlin, Naples, Derry, and Tangier. The studio themes and methodologies will be described to students through briefing materials made available at the beginning of the academic year.
This course involves one routine studio day and, when needed, one additional half day for programme-wide lectures or for optional tutorials per week throughout the semester. The latter sessions also include additional lectures and workshops as determined by studio leaders and in accordance with the specific themes and context identified in the briefing materials. In addition, over the course of one dedicated week, students might visit a site and engage in fieldwork or participate in a multi-day workshop. Students are expected to engage by following the tasks and exercises in the briefing documents, which they will, individually or in groups, develop in advance of each studio tutorial.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | This Course requires additional costs to be met by the Student.
Travel and Accommodation: There are required travel costs associated with field-trips and site visits. Students will be expected to support the cost of travel and the cost of accommodation with an average cost of £500.These costs could be higher or lower depending on the specific brief and destination. The approximate costs associated with fieldtrips will be communicated to students during the studio presentations, allowing them to make an informed decision.
Equipment and software: Most equipment and software required will be provided by the School, but students will be expected to provide some specialist equipment [e.g. laptop headphones, SD cards].
Printing: Students are expected to fund the printing of drawings, as required for testing, presentations, and tutorials.
Materials: Students will be expected to fund the purchase of general art and design materials, such as sketchbooks, paper and pens. Students will be expected to fund the purchase of some specialist materials required by their course (e.g., timber, cardboard, and plaster for models). Course Organisers will support you in meeting intended learning outcomes while keeping material costs to a minimum, encouraging sustainable, responsible sourcing through Free Use Hub. but students will be expected to fund optional material costs as necessary for their own project work.
To fully participate in this course students are recommended to budget a minimum of £ 250. |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Working individually and in groups, formulate and act upon a productive conceptual framework and research enquiry for an architectural project or proposition, based on a creative approach and a critical analysis of relevant issues and precedents.
- Design an architectural, spatial, and material language that is considered at an experiential level, inclusive, and in dialogue with conceptual, contextual, environmental, and technological concerns.
- Strategically deploy differing forms of analogue and digital representation (e.g., drawing, modelling, photography, film and workshop techniques), to explain a design project.
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Reading List
Studio themes change on an annual basis and are determined by the studio leaders in dialogue with Course Organiser and Programme Director. Reading lists therefore change with each new thematic, with tailored reading lists issued as part of briefing documents.
Examples of the texts read in the course may include:
Haraway, Donna. Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press, 2016.
Hutton, Jane Elizabeth. Reciprocal Landscapes: Stories in Material Movement. Routledge, 2020.
Latour, Bruno. Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climate Regime. Translated by Catherine Porter. Polity Press, 2018.
Vannucchi, Jamie, Ozayr Saloojee and Sarah Dooling. Design Research for Uncertain Futures. Oro Editions, 2025.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
You will develop skills in research and enquiry through the creation of architectural design proposals that consider and address problems (problem-solving) by identifying and critically evaluating the relevant conceptual, contextual, and environmental information and evidence (critical thinking).
You will improve your personal effectiveness through setting objectives to formulate and evaluate design proposals (reflection) that respond to current knowledge in architecture, urban design, building construction, and the allied fields (adaptivity).
Your use of appropriate forms of representation to articulate and effectively explain an architectural design proposal will benefit your communication skills.
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| Keywords | Architectural design,architectural inquiry,architectural specialisms |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Simone Ferracina
Tel:
Email: simone.ferracina@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | |
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