Title: Creative Practice
Credits: 10
read more »This studio-based module introduces many key approaches to creative visual representation. The student is encouraged to experiment and build confidence in self-directed image-generation so as to showcase their interior schemes. Emphasis is on the process and informal methods where students will learn the development of creative problem-solving techniques. Through exploring basic skills it will give the learner the ability to accept taking risks and potential failures in the pursuit of innovative solutions and design ideas. The nature of the exercises will encourage familiarity and fluidity in the way students use creative methods for communicating concepts.
Three-dimensional awareness in design, form, and order of the built environment, using scale and proportion, shape, texture and pattern will also be investigated. These various elements will be explored using an array of drawing, rendering, modelmaking, and presentation techniques, so students can freely represent ideas.
A foundation of behavioural practice will be established in the students which will be encouraged and monitored in other modules throughout the duration of the BA programme.
Title: Design Fundamentals
Credits: 20
read more »Interior Design Studio 1 introduces the student to space and place, including the composition, elements, and principles of interiors, and their application to the built environment. This studio-based module will incorporate stages of the design process of conception, investigation, formulation, processing, and definition of interior ideas, involving both individual and teamwork.
Within a creative studio atmosphere student’s abilities in spatial thinking and perceiving will be explored through a series of structured skill blocks, giving them a solid foundation in interior design. These design challenges will develop in complexity with new elements being added as the module progresses, allowing learners to develop their own creativity and imagination.
Through lectures and hands-on two and three-dimensional exercises, learners will explore basic design theory becoming familiar with the process of designing interior space at an elementary level. Students will also engage in designing practical applications of course content through the setting-up of store and window displays, or other similar vignettes in the studio, or on-site.
Title: Design Illustration and Communication
Credits: 10
read more »Words on their own are often not enough to communicate an idea. The use of a range of graphic communication techniques are considered a primary design skill in communicating design ideas. This module will teach the student how to express and communicate both manually and with the use of design software to current professional standards in interior design.
Title: Draughting
Credits: 5
read more »This module introduces students to the principles of drawing, using manual draughting and sketching techniques as its main tools. Different spacial representation techniques will be introduced and explored in the studio, such as orthographic projection, axonometric, isometric and perspective view. The module will equip students to produce 2D and 3D plans using pencils, markers, pens, scales, drawing boards, set squares, and dividers — necessary to create precise and accurate drawings. As students use these tools, they are obtaining valuable experience and practice in creating appropriately scaled designs, accurate line work, letter work, layout and paper sheet presentation.
Title: Furniture Design
Credits: 5
read more »The aim of this module is to equip the learner with the knowledge, skill and competence necessary to characterise, select, and utilise materials and finishes within the context of furniture design while developing an appreciation of furniture design, development, and progress, in a historical context together with an awareness of the underlying principles which influence contemporary furniture design.
Title: Interior and Architectural History
Credits: 5
read more »This module builds an understanding of the origins and the development of architectural and interior design movements, and styles, throughout Western History, from the antiquities until the 19th Century. The main aim of the module is Greek and Roman antiquities, the Renaissance period, the Enlightenment and all the revival movements until late 19th Century. Through a series of lectures and the analysis of different case studies, the studio will focus on the emergence and evolution of different civilizations, their influences, and innovations in architecture, construction techniques and materials, and art and interior expression. The analysis and investigation of different architectural movements, the concepts underpinning them, as well as the architects, designers, and engineers that created them, will play an important part in the curriculum.
More in particular, the study of architectural movements and influences, the history and the evolution of city planning, the understanding of different styles and the conception of Art for the different civilizations, such as in Ancient Egypt, during the Ancient classical Greek period, the Hellenistic Period, the Etruscans and the Romans, the Byzantium, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and the Enlightenment.
Title: Introduction to Materials and Finishes
Credits: 5
read more »This module is an introduction to finishes and materials for interior design. It aims to provide a good foundation of the understanding, knowledge, and appreciation of the properties and characteristics of commonly used materials and finishes within an interior design context. Issues of affordability, current trends, sustainability, appropriateness of materials and finishes, including installation, durability, cost, life-cycle cost, and cradle to cradle ideology will be explored, in both a domestic and commercial setting. Consideration for how the current Irish building regulations can influence material selection will also be looked at. This will enable the student to develop a better understanding of the various factors that should be considered when specifying products.
The student will learn the fundamentals of material specification, and selection factors for specifying materials and finishes along with the introductory processes for estimating them. Material and finishes information and application are taught through investigation of design case studies and through a series of discovery-based exercises using actual products and specifications from the interior studio material's library, as well as external sources.