Postgraduate Course: Architectural Design Studio D (Modular) (ARCH11090)
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 develop 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 urban and architectural enquiry initiated in the linked Architectural Design Studio C course (ARCH11089), and a shared set of thematic and contextual concerns, inform the design of projects at a larger scale and to a higher degree of complexity, spatial articulation and technical elaboration. 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 per week throughout the semester, and one additional half day for programme-wide lectures and tutorials about inclusive design, social sustainability, biodiversity and the life-cycle of built projects, or for optional tutorials. 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. 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.
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
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| Academic year 2026/27, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 85 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
400
(
Lecture Hours 4,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 96,
Feedback/Feedforward Hours 2,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 8,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
288 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
This course has 1 assessment component.
Portfolio, 100%, May exam diet.
The portfolio is inclusive of an installation in the studio (mixed media) and a digital submission (60-70 pages).
The portfolio is marked to all four Learning Outcomes, which are equally weighted. Coursework is assessed by Learning Outcomes, and presented in the form of drawings, models, digital representations, etc, as outlined in the studio brief and discussed with course tutors.
The Learning Outcomes are defined in relation to the ARB Part 2 criteria required to be demonstrated in the course. Please refer to the Programme Handbook via Learn for detailed information.
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| Feedback |
Formative Feedback
Formative feedback is delivered by studio tutors verbally during weekly individual or group tutorials, and in response to the drawn/built in-progress outcomes of design exercises. It is delivered verbally by studio tutors and by invited guests during studio reviews, which are organised by studio leaders to support students in the development of their projects, usually around the middle and the end of the semester. In response to reviews, written feedback is provided by course tutors, critically reflecting on the work produced in relation to the Learning Outcomes, and communicating specific areas for further investigation and development.
Summative Feedback
Written summative feedback will be provided by studio tutors to individual students on completion of their coursework. Summative feedback will be provided as per University regulations.
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| No Exam Information |
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 assemblage that is considered at an experiential level, inclusive, and in dialogue with conceptual, contextual, technological, and environmental concerns.
- Investigate, appraise and apply clear strategies for environmental decision-making in relation to an architectural design project in a nuanced contextual situation, with an emphasis on social sustainability, biodiversity and the life cycle of built projects.
- 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 across studio units might include:
Brand, Stewart. How Buildings Learn: What Happens after They¿re Built. Penguin Books, 1995.
Fleck, Julie. Are You an Inclusive Designer? RIBA Publishing, 2019.
Hamraie, Aimi. Building Access: Universal Design and the Politics of Disability. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
Kohler, Niklaus et al. A Life Cycle Approach to Buildings: Principles, Calculations, Design Tools. DETAIL Green Books, 2010.
Rowlands, Carys, et al. RIBA Ethical Practice Guide. RIBA Publishing, 2023.
Wall Kimmerer, Robin. Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants. Penguin, 2020.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
You will improve your research and enquiry skills through creating, identifying and evaluating the structural, constructional, environmental, material, and legislative aspects of a complex design proposal (critical thinking and problem solving).
Your personal effectiveness will benefit from setting objectives to formulate and evaluate design proposals (reflection) that respond to a nuanced understanding of a context, and to current knowledge in inclusive design, social sustainability, biodiversity, and the life cycle of built projects (adaptivity).
Your personal and intellectual Autonomy will be enhanced through taking the initiative to learn from relevant perspectives and disciplines (curiosity) and developing reflective awareness of the ethical, social, and environmental dimensions of architectural design (critical thinking).¿
In your use of appropriate forms of representation to articulate and effectively explain an architectural design proposal your communication skills will develop. |
| Keywords | Design,Architectural Specialisms |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Simone Ferracina
Tel:
Email: simone.ferracina@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr John Ethcuit
Tel:
Email: jethcuit@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
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