Architecture - BA (Hons) - ARB/RIBA Part 1

The module introduces the student to the ‘design project’ and how to interpret and analyse a brief. The project will investigate spatial concepts, and will examine various types of spatial enclosure, scale and function.

Building on their experience gained in the autumn term this module deepens students' understanding of the design of interior and exterior space by the investigation and design of environments that confront the senses and where the integration of the sensory range is paramount. The potential of different materials within a design proposition is addressed. The module addresses the further awareness of the integration of function, aesthetics, technology and comfort within a design proposal. It also addresses the incorporation of vertical movement within a design proposal

Aspects of the Technology & Environment curriculum covered in this module include the fundamentals of the external envelope, the thermal environment, human comfort, artificial light, and natural ventilation. An important aspect includes the weathering of materials, and an introduction to building services-plumbing, electrical, etc.

Students will explore these technical and environmental aspects in the context of a design project, providing students with the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with the complexity of technical integration in architecture at a small scale. Moreover, students will experience the relationship between theory and practice and technical/environmental design

The concept of building type is crucial in developing an understanding of the built environment as a coherent endeavour. Recurrent plan types are important in establishing order in architecture and interiors. Equally, divergence from the norm is important in rethinking established spatial types. The most ubiquitous building type is the house, and its analysis comprises the essence of this module. We shall be studying the house as an example of vernacular design, as a response to the particular environment of a region, as well as analysing key examples of the modern house. By this means, the key periods and events in the development of modernism may be charted. Students will gain an understanding of the modern house by reading relevant literature and architectural drawings and photographs, in addition to making scale models of particular houses, and writing illustrated essays.

This module teaches the principles and skills of orthographic and metric projections, perspective drawing and rendering of drawings to communicate design aspirations. The acquisition of skills to make 3D models, from conceptual to finished scaled presentations is started in this module. The module will develop various skills in recording the observed environment through appropriate drawing, modelling and a whole range of graphic systems. Emphasis will be placed on the use of the sketch book and the development of freehand drawing, but the module will also develop students' skills in visual communication and presentation dealing with 3D computer modelling. Students enhance their modelling skills to develop high quality rendering skills.

This course provides stage one students with an introduction into ancient and medieval architecture, predominantly Western. It will include a series of weekly lectures based on different key episodes in architectural history, supplying the students with both the historical information that will form the foundation for their future studies, as well as with a grasp of basic architectural concepts and ways of discussing and presenting them. Typical forms of historic building technologies will be discussed, together with their relevance to current technologies.

The key concepts of sustainable design are introduced. An awareness of the distinction between structural and non-structural elements in buildings is taught. Lectures and workshops on structures and basic constructional techniques are also introduced along with the study of the environmental factors of natural light, with reference to their impact upon building interiors. The palette of building materials is outlined, conveying both their sensory impact as well as their physical properties. An awareness of the prime means of placing and fixing different materials in addition to the aesthetic and technical aspects of joining materials.

This module introduces students to urban design, focussing on housing as a building type. It takes place in two stages, the first being to plan a group of buildings, possibly in an urban context, and the second to develop the design of one of the individual housing blocks comprising multiple units. Students will examine the various typologies of collective dwellings and investigate alternative ways in which these can be combined to form urban blocks. In preparation for this module students will explore some of the principles and theories of urban design and apply some of these in their projects. The principles of sustainability will be examined in the context of energy and environmental assessment methods, and the use of appropriate construction techniques will be explored. Students will develop both digital and hand-drawn presentation and communication techniques.

Students will explore passive means of environmental control to achieve comfort in different climates. Vernacular precedents of passive design will be examined and distinguished from the cultural influences on design in different cultures. The concept of exterior and interior climates will be critically investigated and students will develop a good understanding of the microclimate created by cities, landscapes, groups of building and individual structures. The influence of materials, form and construction on environmental performance will be examined with reference to precedents and benchmarks. Specific techniques and methodologies for climate analysis and environmental design will be learned and applied.

The assignment concerns the development of environmental design strategies that are to be integrated appropriately into the design work of the concurrent module Architecture and Landscape. Students will demonstrate how they have provided for fresh air to move through the main building of Architecture and Landscape, as well as how they have exploited passive resources for cooling, temperature control, solar gain and the control of solar gain, both in the summer and winter and for the daytime and night-time. The integration of these into the main building of Architecture and Landscape will take heed of the functions of the spaces and their disposition and be arranged for good efficacy. Students will concisely describe the rationale of the environmental strategies and explain the operation of any technology used in realizing these strategies and illustrate this with appropriate plans and cross-sections.

This module addresses the developments in architecture from the early fifteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The cultural context of the time will be studied by outlining the socio-economic conditions, the new attitudes to knowledge, arts, history and architecture. Architectural treatises of the early Renaissance and the related developments in the practices of painting and sculpture will be brought into the consideration in order to highlight specific innovation and dynamics of architecture. The underlying conditions of the movements known as Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Rococo and Neo-classicism will be addressed and relevant buildings, objects of art, architectural texts and dominant narratives will be studied. Landscape design will be discussed through the comparative analysis between the formal landscape design and the phenomenon of the picturesque. The architecture of symbolism and utopianism is also considered. The eighteenth-century organization of life and labour, the emerging spaces of production, as well as the establishment of the academies, museums, and other institutions will be addressed, in order to highlight the way in which these phenomena contributed to the rise of the architectural profession and the building guilds. Typical forms of historic building technologies will be discussed, together with their relevance to current technologies.

This design module integrates concerns for structure, construction and form in the process of architectural design. The objective is to help and to encourage students to design with each of these subject areas simultaneously informing the others.

A series of lectures and seminar group exercises will introduce students to the principles of structural design including structural typologies; loads and forces; simple beam bending theory; mechanics of materials; and structural geometry. Students will be presented with strategies and qualitative methods of structural analysis which will support the activities of the module. Basic structural theory and the study of form and construction will be consistently related to real buildings, structures and materials.

This course will enable the student to learn through a series of detailed thematic and historical investigations how a number of specific important aspects and events in architectural history have changed the way in which we experience the built environment and, also, to appreciate the responsibility of all architects and designers towards the societies in which they live. Its focus is the nineteenth century. Students will be assessed in the form of an examination which will draw on material researched through guided casework study. Typical forms of historic building technologies will be discussed, together with their relevance to current technologies.

This course focuses upon the relationship of landscape and architectural, particularly through the siting of a building, site planning, and elementary planting design and landscape detailing. The design project is treated as a totality, with architecture and landscape fully integrated both spatially and conceptually. The building brief is of moderate complexity, following sustainable principles relating to the Climate module. The history and theory of landscape architecture is covered in a series of accompanying lectures. Lectures and workshops with landscape architects and others introduce students to the contemporary profession of landscape architecture, techniques of landscape representation, and to the dynamics of professional team work with related disciplines. Computer drawing, 2D and 3D, is also taught in this module, and students present aspects of their design scheme using these methods.

This module engages students with the professional practice of architecture. Assignments will review and analyse a design project from the perspective of professional practice. A series of lecture and seminars introduce students to the subjects of professional ethics, planning and building law, practice management, and building information modelling (BIM).

This module focusses upon key buildings, sites, and urban designs beginning chronologically in the 1890s, and concluding at the end of the twentieth century. Students will be introduced to these key projects, their designers, and the relevant cultural and theoretical contexts through lectures and readings, primarily following a chronological order. The geographic scope will be international. There is one required textbook for the course, which will be used to structure the lectures and the final exam. Discussion sessions with students will aim to prepare them for the final exam, which will consist of short essay answers.

This module engages students in the re-design of an existing urban centre or locality in two parts, beginning with a master-plan and public realm study, and moving on to the design of a detailed building design adapting and/or extending the existing building fabric. Initial lectures and seminars will provide an overview of the theory of urban design, introducing distinctive urban plans in the contemporary world, as well as a consideration of their historical provenance. The second part of the course will combine architectural design with technological and environmental solutions on the basis of the adaptation of an existing building or structure with extensions or adjoining buildings. This practical design project is informed by lectures, seminars and tutorials dealing with the technical, environmental, ergonomic, regulatory, historical, theoretical and aesthetic considerations of architectural adaptation and extension, dimensional coordination, movement and expansion, sustainable design for existing buildings, artificial and natural light, learning from building failures, properties of materials, forming openings in existing structures, and external and internal elements of construction.

This module, the final one in the programme, will focus on the detailed design of a significant new building in an urban setting. The module assesses a student's capabilities, skills, knowledge and understanding that are brought to bear on such a design. The key design skill to be demonstrated is the integration of the conflicting demands surrounding a proposal that successfully balances the requirements of client, user and the public with the cultural, technical and environmental pressures encountered. The design and integrated technical proposals must therefore be contextual and developed with reference to historical and social aspects of the existing built environment. It will be expected that the final project will successfully demonstrate a critical and reflective awareness of process across a wide range of indicators, including awareness of fine art theories and methods of production as applied to urban and building design. The proposals will be submitted as documents online and presented in a final critique.

This module offers students the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and understanding of a particular aspect of architecture. The topic to be studied is agreed with the Module Convenor and an appropriate supervisor is nominated from the teaching staff. Moreover the dissertation will provide students with the opportunity to develop more advanced academic research and writing skills. It forms part of the research strand within the architectural curriculum, which complements the design strand of the studio.