This module is part of four design modules open to first year BSc Architecture students.

The main intention of the Year 1 Design Projects is to explore ‘ways of seeing’ – understanding and interpreting objects, events and places and learning to look beyond the visible into the unseen and ‘absurd’ qualities of things. In this way, a place can also be seen as something with its own identity which each student can personally interpret. The importance of ‘character’ and personality is emphasised throughout the design process, whether it concerns analysis, site interpretation or architectural vision. A range of recording techniques are used as a way of clarifying the subject rather than using these techniques as purely formal graphic representation. Through being aware of the possibilities and limitations of various techniques, each student learns to express – and then develop critically and appropriately, through their own intuition – an idea for an architectural proposition.

Inventiveness and imagination are cultivated through a series of design projects which are constructed and represented through models or drawings and which tackle a range of architectural scales and spatial experiences. In addition, a series of lectures and workshops on ‘architectural media’provides students with a wide range of skills to undertake investigations and representations of architecture as part of their course submission.

This is the main project of the year know as the 'building project'. Each student is expected to work on a small to medium-sized building. This structure has to be sited carefully within the given site area. This has be developed through design tutorials, tested in
regular review sessions and fully described in the final design portfolio. This building usually consists of a series of inside and outside spaces. These should include everything the building would need to function according to the specific design brief. The drawings have to describe all the spaces, the necessary circulation areas and service rooms. These should be integrated into the building in an intelligent way. People living and/or working in this structure have specific needs, such as interior spaces to stay in, as well as to keep things dry, and having the means to circulate from room to room and from floor to floor. Spaces and materials have to be described in the design portfolio. Each project should be unique and a personal reading and understanding is essential. Students must demonstrate that they are developing a personal way of working. Students are advised to take risks and to try out new techniques of exploration and documentation.