Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

This unit provides you with the opportunity to undertake projects at an advanced empirical and conceptual level and of practical relevance, appropriate for a beginning professional. It addresses the need for you to consolidate the skills, knowledge and attitudes you have developed in previous design studios in preparation for the complexities and responsibilities of practice, a context which often demands a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach.

Aims

The aim of this unit is to:

• Provide you with an understanding of advanced interior design theory and its application and relevance in professional practice.
  
• Consolidate and extend your knowledge and skills in preparation for entrance to the profession and associated fields.
  
• Provide you with a greater appreciation of the multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary nature of interior design practice.
  
• Provide you with an opportunity to develop a personal position in relation to the social and ethical resposibilities associated with professional design practice.

Objectives

Technical:
On completion of this final year unit you should be able to demonstrate at the level appropriate for a commencing professional:
1. Responsibility of an interior designer responding to cultural, social, environmental and personal requirements and goals.
2. Recognition of interior design practice as an interdisciplinary and collaborative activity.
3. The ability to undertake and resolve a substantial and complex design project in a deep, holistic way and to demonstrate continuing development and refinement of your individual design process.
4. Articulate graphically, orally, and in written form, the outcomes of your project-based research and development.

Content

The substantive and procedural aspects of the major projects, associated lectures and studio based tutorials constitute the content of the unit. Substantive content relates to:
1. The various ways in which people interact with each other and their environment;
2. The psycho-social theory that informs our understanding of this; and
3. The technological and technical aspects associated with designing a built environment encompassing the full range of interior elements and the relationship to the exterior environment within the greater social and physical context.

Integrally tied to substantive content is procedural content relating to:
1. How you will undertake and manage the projects; and
2. How you will integrate values, activities, site and technological constraints technically, aesthetically and ethically.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

Strategies to be adopted in creating learning experiences include: externalisation and explicit imagining, representing and testing of ideas and proposals for the projects; a focus on process as well as product; the requirement to acknowledge sources of information and inspiration in developing the design proposal; small group discussions and critiques where you can learn from each other; externalising and critically evaluating prior and current knowledge; conceptions and expectations; and involvement of both academic and practising designers as tutors.

The main vehicles for facilitating learning are project-based with interim presentations and critiques. Where appropriate the project will be situated in a real site necessitating visits and surveys. Studio sessions involving individual and small group consultation with a tutor will be supported by lectures. An online facility will be provided to support the content delivery and studio sessions through the provision of information associated with the unit, as a work in progress repository, and for uploading electronic copies of assessable submissions.

The projects will require you to move through the various stages of developing, documenting and presenting your design proposal. In doing this, you will be informed by methodological theory in design that will enable you to externalise and explain your design process. The projects at this stage in the course will be highly complex, requiring attention to a diverse and conflicting range of macro and micro issues at a sophisticated level.

Teaching Mode:
Hours per week: 4 hours
Lecture: 1 hour
Studio/Tutorial: 3 hours

Learning Approaches
Learning approaches will include the following:
Project-based learning, self-directed learning, team-based learning; experiential learning, reflective practice, exposition, and presentation.

Assessment

The assessment of this unit is based on a major group design project and individual project brief formulation in preparation for the final design semester. Assessment will be both formative and summative.
1. The requirements and program will be discussed during Week 1 of semester. The project objectives will be based on the unit learning outcomes.
2. Assessment criteria will be established to both guide and evaluate your project development process.
You will undertake the project in stages appropriate for the specific project undertaken with a submission at each stage. As is the case with summative assessment, each submission will be weighted as a percentage of the overall assessment for the project and the unit.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS
An assignment submitted after the due date without an approved extension will not be marked. If you are unable to complete your assignment on time, you should submit on time whatever work you have done.

Faculty Assessment Information
To access the Creative Industries Faculty Assessment Information please refer to the Blackboard site for this unit.As you progress through the project you will be provided with detailed formative feedback regarding strengths and weaknesses and suggestions for further consideration on a weekly basis. Your participation in this process is mandatory.

Both formative and summative assessment will be undertaken at identified stages. Formative feedback will accompany the CRA sheets and summative assessment results will be posted on-line, identified by student number only.

Assessment name: Project (applied)
Description: Fully Resolved Concept Design Proposition
Relates to objectives: 1, 2, 3, 4
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Group
Due date: Mid-semester

Assessment name: Design Research Application
Description: Proposed Design Project Synopsis, Consolidated Project Brief, and Site Selection
Relates to objectives: 1, 3, 4
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End of Semester

Assessment name: Project (applied)
Description: Conceptual Design Proposal (In-studio Design Charette)
Relates to objectives: 1, 3, 4
Weight: 20%
Internal or external: Internal
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End of Semester

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

There are no prescribed texts for this unit due to its project-based approach and the breadth of theory covered. A range of resource materials appropriate for the specific project including a list of readings and texts may be recommended at appropriate stages during the semester. You will be encouraged to reference materials from a range of sources from which you can draw conceptual, procedural, and substantive content to inform your design development.

Risk assessment statement

In this unit you will undertake lectures and/or tutorials in the traditional classrooms and lecture theatres. As such, there are no extraordinary workplace health and safety issues associated with these components of the unit.

Depending on the nature of the project, students in this unit may be required to undertake lecturer-led and/or self-directed site visits to building sites and/or partake in a field trip. These may be supervised and/or self-guided in nature. A risk assessment for such trips has been identified as of a low impact risk. You will be required to obey all safety guidelines and directions while attending such visits or trips. You should advise staff if you consider you will be at risk.

This unit may involve visits to construction sites for which you are required to attend a construction safety induction session and obtain a safety induction card. This safety induction session introduces students to the relevant workplace health and safety requirements of Queensland construction sites. A safety induction course is provided by the school in the first week of the first semester. This induction is mandatory.

Additional Costs
Costs for this unit relate to the normal costs incurred in the generation and presentation of a student design project.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 05-Oct-2012