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 final project of the year know as the 'building project'. Students develop their individual building programme together with their design tutor. Starting with the site and the broader context, each student has to produce a series ofdrawings that understand both ideas and qualities of the site. Continuing with a brief (programme) that is developed with the personal tutor, a clear building proposal has to be explored, defined and designed. Each student has to develop an individual attitude and approach to the cultural, social, economical and topographic context of the site. Each project should be unique and a personal reading is essential – students must demonstrate that they are developing a personal way of working. Throughout the design process, the environmental conditions of the site, the building materials and structure have to be considered and must be fully integrated and described. Students are advised to take risks, to try out new techniques of exploration and documentation.