Architecture (with Integrated Foundation Year) - BA (Hons)

Norwich University of the Arts

In this intermediate unit, you will encounter architectural design in collective space beyond a simple situated habitat with considerations of the wider impact of technology, environment and purposeful spatial design. This will necessitate strategic consideration as they are many forces that impact on the architectural outcome; most of these will be intangible considerations involving sociology, anthropology, cultural histories, the economy, and the contemporary conditions of collective living. You are expected to propose your designs with formative positions to address the question of architecture connectivity in collective inhabitation.

Architecture and Ideology continues the sequence of your educational pathway. You will confront architectural design and thinking within the legacy of contrasting systems: rural/urban, political/private, and personal/cultural. Networks are explored in design, in the humanities, professional studies and technical/environmental studies and students consider the frameworks and paradigms that determine architectural output. Historical and theoretical studies cover contemporary issues and debates.

This first unit of your third year is concerned with the public realm. One major city will be chosen for spatial exploration and research; the design project will involve either an intervention within an existing neighbourhood or the design and master-planning of a new neighbourhood. You will also develop a 5,000- word Research Report that engages critically with current architectural and cultural theory.

This unit synthesises all the constituent, elemental and contributory streams of teaching and learning. You are tested with a holistic design project capable of addressing overlapping agendas and issues present in the contemporary metropolis and you are expected to work on an integrated design project to a high degree of resolution. Projects are expected to be considerate of culture, public life, technology, climate and environment, and be situated in contextual understanding.

This unit is designed to help you to develop the practical skills and awareness of processes and research methods that are fundamental to developing a sustainable creative practice. You will be encouraged to develop a questioning and experimental approach to both your practice and thinking. Adapting to the working patterns and the level of enquiry, required for University study, can be difficult and this Unit will enable you to establish the tools and methods to navigate your studies successfully. Key to the success of this Unit is the ability to test, question, record, and develop responses to the projects set, and to allow ideas to emerge from a process of experimentation, reflection and editing. Seldom is the first idea the best idea and you will be encouraged to explore your work from multiple directions, allowing you to arrive at the best solution for any given problem. You will also be introduced to the mapping skills that will allow you to develop an understanding of the context of your emergent work that will lay the foundation for further studying and career goals.

Within this Unit you will use and build upon the skills acquired within BA0a to begin to develop your creative language, continuing to use key techniques of research, questioning, ideas development and realisation. You will be asked to consider what it is that you would like your work to communicate and how you can use process, media and context to manipulate modes of communication. It is at this time that you will either, further ally yourself within you chosen area of study, or seek to move into course areas that best reflect your interests. You may begin to wonder whether your initial choice of course was the right one. If this is the case, it is within this Unit you may negotiate with tutors your future specialism, as you enter into the next Specialist Study Unit. Should you seek to renegotiate your course of study you will need to satisfy the course team of your chosen course that you are in good academic standing and that your work supports the case for course transfer. The option for course transfer will not be available in unit three, Specialist Study.

This unit continues to build upon the skills and knowledge initiated in BA0a and BA0b. You will continue to work with staff and students from your chosen course of study. In this respect, the Unit focuses upon specialist aspects of arts, design, architecture, performance or media practice. You will be asked to pose your own research questions, map your practice thematically and contextually and navigate set projects from you own areas of specialism. At this stage you will have begun to establish the early building blocks of your creative practice, utilising practical skills, skills in reflection and contextualisation. You will be encouraged to engage iterative processes from within your chosen specialism, demonstrating a willingness to test, edit and refine your work through to resolved outcomes. You will also be asked to make good use of self-evaluation and feedback to support you through the process of development and improvement as you seek to best express your ideas.