Architecture (ARB/RIBA Part 1) – (B.A.)

Contents

Syllabus (11/12*)

Year 1

You are introduced to the main teaching and learning methods used across the course and the facilities available on campus. You gain sufficient knowledge to complete and present a simple design programme, drawing on a variety of cultural and technical influence and various techniques of communication.

* Bodyscape 1,2 and 3 - these initial projects focus on design in relation to the human body. This topic includes the immediate needs of the body for protection from the physical environment and the means by which a controlled dialogue between body and society might emerge through the properties of a design.
* Cultural context: house - introduces the subject area through the broad notion of design discourse: the historical, theoretical, cultural, and critical interrogation of space. You are invited to take an analytical approach to the ways that thought and language apply to building.
* Technology and environment: material - through the use of materials, the component gives an introduction to some aspects of technology associated with the built environment and their relationship with design as both a process and an outcome.
* Communication: surface - you are introduced to a range of techniques in the context of a design project, supported by lectures and seminars which provide cultural and technological contexts for production.
* Terrain - through the design of small buildings, this component focuses on relationships between architecture and time.
* Synoptic - you focus on light and lighting, explored through a project that focuses on the creation of contexts for the display of objects or human activities.
* Public works, public space - you address the nature of public spaces - be they institutional, religious, cultural, etc.
* Environment - introduces you to the basic fundamentals governing the relationship between the natural and man made environments.
* Datascape - addresses the composition of multiple pieces of graphic and textural information into a single composite. You are introduced to computer aided design (CAD) techniques employed in contemporary architecture and interior design.

Year 2

During this year of the course you increase your confidence and engagement with the course and its facilities. You gain sufficient knowledge to address a reasonably complex design programme with elements of self selection. The potential for specialised learning and the implications of different choices of direction will be becoming clearer and some personal preference will be emerging.

* Urban - introduces the discussion of urban and natural landscapes
* Terrain - addresses the concurrent analysis of location, on this occasion addressing the design of a small building and of a surrounding landscape.
* Cultural context: discourse - concerned with architectural discourse. It offers a course of lectures and seminars about architectural theory and leads to you preparing a presentation that discusses an aspect of their own work in relation to the wider discourse.
* Technology: sustainable - is an introduction to sustainability in the built environment. The use of low impact design strategies will be the main focus of the unit.
* Communication: surface - in this unit you will gain a greater understanding of 3D Modelling, together with a basic concepts of keyframe animation. There will be an introduction to digital video editing to enable the presentation of a constructed piece of work which as a minimum will include the cutting together of animated sequences.
* Systems and performance - provides you with the opportunity to use technology as a generator for an engagement with cultural objectives, contextual study and communication through design development.
* Synoptic - you undertake a synoptic project where the main emphasis is on the integration of different design preoccupations and resolve these together to present a well considered design.
* Text - aimed at the further development of your skills of discussion, evaluation, writing and presentation through a tutor-led engagement with texts that will widen understanding of the theoretical background to contemporary art and design practice.
* Systems - provides an opportunity to develop design strategies that enable the specification of components and evaluation of your performance as part of an overall performance of what's being designed.
* Flux - introduces parametric digital design through two key strands: Generative Geometry, which can be based on utilising systems to generate structures that incorporate space-form and force-form relations. And generative perception which can be based on time-based material effects performing on pre-defined geometries. In this case the morphologies are revealed over time by animating objects, systems or networks.

Year 3

You gain sufficient knowledge to resolve a complex design programme with a substantial quantity of self determined direction. You establish preferences and viewpoints that you can express in verbal and written design discourse, within each subject area, and relating subject areas to design. You study some topics more generally related to architecture in detail and gain an appreciation of the means by which architecture might become more significant in today's world. Your communication skills will have gained sophistication in all respects such that a project can be presented coherently to the public or to other professionals outside the school.

* Terrain - you are presented with a particular issue effecting global politics, social conditions and/or economics for study.
* Urban - you take a field trip to a European city and are guided to establish the prevailing cultural conditions in that city before selecting and surveying a relevant site for the project in which these conditions may be addressed.
* Synoptic - you evolve a personal brief for the project which addresses a self selected aspect of this issue in a provided location.
* Dissertation - you undertake a period of self-directed research on a subject that is related to the historical, theoretical and critical concerns of architecture.
* Management, practice and law - outlines the roles and responsibilities of the architect and other professionals within the construction industry and introduces the student to the design process and the legislative requirements.

* Please note the syllabus content is for the academic year indicated and is provided as a guide. The content of the course may be subject to change.