3.0 Context
27/09/15 - 08/08/16 3.1 Over vie w
The MA Architecture and Interior Design course allows you to systematically develop your practice in both project work and writing. Each semester you will be asked to undertake a specific research and writing task. As you move through the course the research and writing should become increasingly entwined and implicated in the project work. In semester one, a series of written assignments will be developed and presented during thematic seminars and can be understood as brief stand alone texts, but you are encouraged to think of them as coming together in semester one as a ‘literature review and position statement’. This work will serve as the basis for your thesis research and writing, which will be developed in semester two. Ultimately, over semesters one and two, you are systematically building up a coherent document that will be produced as a book or pamphlet, which can be both presented in your portfolio and exhibition and submitted for conference, publication or disseminated to particular audiences. In term three, the design project and thesis are synthesized, refined and distilled into a final report, a Research Folio. By establishing a knowledge base and framework, you will be able to situate your own ideas in a literature review and position statement (semester one), thesis (semester two) and Research Folio (semester three). Success in this unit will depend on you actively engaging with the seminars, reading extensively, visiting projects and exhibitions and studying closely the projects that you select as objects of study for your literature review and thesis. [continued...] UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Architecture // MA Interior Design // 2015-16
The learning hours for this unit suggest that you should be spending on average 20 hours per week - think of that as 2-3 hours of reading, research and writing per day. These activities should be supplemented by visiting, drawing, discussing texts. Anticipate some intensive writing towards the end of each semester. 3.2 Assessment
Semester 1 - CARC 7001 & CIND 7008 This first semester is structured around thematic, student-led seminars. You will responsible for becoming knowledgeable of the content of the weekly reading (available on MyUCA), seeking out at least one complementary text through individual research and writing a 300 word comparison of the texts. Each week, you will present your research findings for class discussion. Assessment this semester takes the form of a literature review and position statement, submitted in written form. The literature review and position statement should draw on the class readings and bibliographies and construct a rigorous reading of a work or body of work of architecture (1950 - present), a particular theory, writer of specific texts, social process or phenomena using clearly defined and referenced critical and analytical frameworks. The literature review and position statement should be 3000 to 4000 words in length, illustrated and fully referenced using the Harvard System. You should consider carefully the graphic design of your literature review and position statement, and are encouraged to explore the relationships between text, image and diagram.
3.3 Duration
The literature review will run from the 27/09/2015 until the final presentation of the position statement on 11/01/2016. Meetings will be held from 930 to 1230 in the MA Seminar space.
3.4 Key Dates
27/10/2015: Introduction 10/11/2015: Student-led Thematic Seminar w/ Wilson Theme: The senses Seminar Reading: Pallasmaa, Juhani, The Eyes of the Skin, pp. 43-9. Assignment: Seminar Reading + Research Reading + 300 comparison 17/11/2015:
Student-led Thematic Seminar w/ Wilson Theme: Perception Seminar Reading: Gregory, Richard, Eye and Brain, pp. 170-93. Assignment: Seminar Reading + Research Reading + 300 comparison
24/11/2015:
Student-led Thematic Seminar w/ Wilson Theme: The user Seminar Reading: Dunne, Anthony, Hertzian Tales, pp. 69-81. Literature Review Draft Submission Assignment: Seminar Reading + Research Reading + 300 comparison
01/12/2015:
Student-led Thematic Seminar w/ Wilson Theme: Emotion Seminar Reading: Norman, Donald, Emotional Design, pp. 35-60. Assignment: Seminar Reading + Research Reading + 300 comparison
08/12/2015:
Student-led Thematic Seminar w/ Wilson Theme: Thought Seminar Reading: Brooks, Rodney, Cambrian Intelligence, pp. 133-86. Assignment: Seminar Reading + Research Reading + 300 comparison
05/1/2015:
Written Submission, PDF MyUCA + physical copy Registry Office, due between 1400 and 1500
11/1/2015:
Final Presentation of Position Statement
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UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Architecture // MA Interior Design // 2015-16
3.5 Assessment
Semester 2 - CARC 7003 & CIND 7009 This semester you are personally responsible for adding depth, complexity and richness to your studio work through original research, public speaking and academic writing. In this way, reading, writing and speaking will underpin or perhaps help to substantiate the products of the studio environment. Assessment will take the form of a 6,000 word thesis. It should include an abstract, introduction, condensed literature review, case studies, conclusion and complete bibliography. You should ensure that you attend all Library seminars and that you are familiar with the Harvard System of referencing and the Universities Policies on Academic Misconduct. The myLibrary section of myUCA has a range of useful resources and guidance.
3.6 Duration
Thesis development will run from the 05/02/2016 until the final thesis presentation on 30/04/2016. Meetings will be held from 1400 in the Library unless stated otherwise.
3.7 Key Dates
05/02/2016:
Thesis Introduction
09/02/2016:
Independent research
12/02/2016:
Research and referencing seminar w/ Wilson, Badger and Dixon-Smith
16/02/2016:
Independent research
19/02/2016:
Establishing the question w/ Wilson, Badger and Dixon-Smith
23/02/2016:
Independent research
26/02/2016:
Abstracts and structures w/ Wilson, Badger and Dixon-Smith
04/03/2016:
3,000 word Draft Submission, Registry Office, due 1400-1500.
PDF + physical copy
11/03/2016:
Draft feedback
15/03/2016:
Independent research
18/03/2016:
Language review and conclusions w/ / Wilson, Badger and Dixon-Smith
05/04/2016:
Independent research
08/04/2016:
Revisions and conclusions discussion w/ Wilson, Badger and Dixon-Smith
12/04/2016:
Independent research
19/04/2016:
Thesis presentation practice session @MA Seminar space
26/04/2016:
Final Thesis Submission, Registry office. PDF + physical copy
30/04/2016:
Thesis presentation, public review
[continued...] UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Architecture // MA Interior Design // 2015-16
3.8 Assessment
Semester 3 - CARC 7004 & CIND 7010 Assessment this semester takes the form of highly refined Research Folio, a concise and coherent document that lays out your particular theory of design. It should be based on studio work and the research and writing from the previous semesters. The Research Folio should be formatted according to the provided template. The end product is a concise booklet outlining research agenda and process as it fits within the greater discourse of the history and theory of architecture, design methodologies, prototyping and testing, fabrication techniques, control systems, occupation and interaction, dissemination and future work.
3.9 Duration
The Research Folio will be developed from 24/05/2016 and will be submitted in physical and digital forms on 08/08/2016. Meetings will be held from 930 to 1230 in the MA Seminar space.
3.10 Key Dates
24/05/2016:
Research Folio briefing w/ Wilson
31/05/2016:
Independent study
07/06/2016:
Independent study
14/06/2016:
Discussion of questions w/ Wilson
21/06/2016:
Independent study
28/06/2016:
Discussion of methods w/ Wilson
05/07/2016:
Independent study
12/07/2016:
Independent study
19/07/2016:
Independent study
26/07/2016:
Review of penultimate Research Folio
02/08/2016:
Independent study
08/08/2016:
Research Folio submission, PDF + physical copy
[continued...] UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Architecture // MA Interior Design // 2015-16
3.11 Lear ning Aims
The aims of this unit are: A1. To introduce you to academic research and issues in research methodologies. A2. To present a relevant body of knowledge on contemporary issues in architecture, fine art and design, mapping key tropes in a critical context. A3. To foster independent enquiry and research. A4. To provide appropriate support and guidance on methods for the expression of ideas, argument and conclusions at postgraduate level, in written and verbal forms. A5. To encourage sound intellectual interrogation and debate and create a culture of open exchange and discourse on a cross-disciplinary basis. A6. To provide an orientation to the library services.
3.12 Lear ning Outcomes
On satisfactory completion of the unit you will have: LO1. Demonstrated how established techniques of research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in the discipline. LO2. Demonstrated how to evaluate methodologies and develop critiques of them. LO3. An ability to critically examine theoretical texts and to understand the context of their production. LO4. Demonstrated how to recognise and conceptualise methodological and theoretical problems in your own practice and that of other practitioners. LO5. Knowledge of a range of theoretical discourses key to the production and interpretation of contemporary visual art & architecture LO6. An ability to present sophisticated, supported and coherently structured arguments respecting academic conventions of writing and presentation. LO7. Demonstrated how to use library services and information technology to support the development of a research proposal. LO8. An ability for independently motivated and directed research and self-management of assignments.
3.14 Reference Material
Essential, MA Interior Design Sophia Psarra, Architecture and Narrative: The Formation of Space and Cultural Meaning Routledge Norman M Klein, Vatican to Vegas: A History of Special Effects, The New Press, 2004. Juhani Pallasmaa, The Thinking Hand, Wiley Juhani Pallasmaa, The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses, Wiley, Anthony Dunne, Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, & Critical Design, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006. Interior Design and Architexture: Critical and Primary Sources, Mark Taylor (ed.), Bloomsbury, 2013. Don Normal, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things, Basic Books, 2005 Ranulph Glanville, A Ship without a Rudder, CybernEthics Research速, Southsea, UK [continued...] UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Architecture // MA Interior Design // 2015-16
Essential, MA Architecture Usman Haque, ‘Distinguishing Concepts: Lexicons of Interactive Art & Architecture’, in Lucy Bullivant (ed.) 4dSocial: Interactive Design Environments, (London: Wiley & Sons, 2007). Michael Fox & Miles Kemp, Interactive Architecture (Princeton University Press, 2009). Norman M Klein, Vatican to Vegas: A History of Special Effects (The New Press, 2004). Anthony Dunne, Hertzian Tales: Electronic Products, Aesthetic Experience, & Critical Design (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2006). Richard L. Gregory, Eye and Brain: The Psychology of Seeing (Princeton University Press, 1997). Valentino Braitenburg, Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986). Rodney A. Brooks, Cambrian Intelligence: the early history of the new AI (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999). Individual bibliography Students will develop a bespoke bibliography depending upon the focus and scope of their literature review and position statement (task 1). Ian Badger is the Learning Librarian for the School of Architecture. Contact him to make a research appointment: tel 01227 817370, email ibadger@ucreative.ac.uk The University Library provides comprehensive visual arts and design resources. Visit the library on campus, online via myLibrary on myUCA, or at http://community.ucreative.ac.uk/library. You can reserve selected materials across the five sites, on campus or online from home.
[end] UCA Canterbury School of Architecture // MA Architecture // MA Interior Design // 2015-16