This module engages with the key design ideologies of the 20th Century. The History of Western Architecture has an on-going complex relationship with Modernism. Despite having moved beyond Modernism and post-modernism, at the beginning of the 21st Century, the designed environment we live in; buildings, furniture, interiors and the public realm, still holds traces of and responds to elements of the Modernist ideologies. (VAM, 2006)

The past decades have seen profound shifts in how we live. Patterns of life are changing; new forms of living, social change, digital media and advanced technologies are challenging traditional models of home. Demand for housing is not being matched by supply, and many of the homes built are either in the wrong place or not the types of home we need. Expectations of what a new home is and does are also changing.

Through weekly lectures and seminars, you will be introduced to an overview of the evolution of current housing markets and the conditions affecting contemporary housing design and delivery. Starting from a historical perspective, the module explores theories and models of home ownership, development patterns, regulations, legislation and planning policy affecting housing delivery, illustrating the complexities of designing homes fit for the future.

In this module, you will explore the growth of offsite manufacture and parallel industries with potential to transfer technology into the house building sector. Since the 1998 Egan Review ‘Rethinking Construction’, prefabrication, off site manufacture or Modern Methods of Construction have been seen as a key approach to boosting innovation and productivity in the construction industry. While a recurring theme, its potential has yet to be fully realised.

Through seminars and practical workshops, you will gain an understanding of the principles and processes used in factory based and off site manufacture across a range of industries. This module will introduce basic principles and considerations when designing for various scales of manufacture, helping you to develop an awareness of the impact of economies of scale on design thinking.

Inhabit introduces students to design for an inhabitant, considering scale and ergonomics in the development of design proposals.

It introduces a broad range of skills for communication and representation of design through the use of basic design projects. These projects and tasks provide solution-based opportunities to develop knowledge and understanding of the design process. This could include research methods, design thinking, brainstorming, brief analysis, and human factors, explored through an iterative, non-linear design cycle reflecting the nature of the built environment. The module will introduce mechanisms of expression, exploration and representation and will enable you to develop ideas and identify future creative directions.

This studio-based module develops your skills in three-dimensional design at the scale of the single dwelling. It uses the design of a single home as a vehicle to challenge preconceptions about what a home is and how we live. This is explored at the scale of retrofit or adaptation of a single existing dwelling and a new build dwelling. Design studies within this module will typically relate to representing spaces and their relationships, inhabitation, experience, scale, privacy, environment and material quality.

Through seminars and practical workshops, the module explores how processes such as building information modelling (BIM), virtual reality, digital fabrication and off-site manufacture are revolutionising the procurement and construction of homes. As well as learning about software used in production of components and buildings you will explore the impact of different approaches on design teams, project timescales and on site.

This studio-based module builds on Future Homes 1 to introduce concepts of urban design through the design of multiple homes and the relationships between them. Working at the scale of a housing development, the module asks you to design a number of different house typologies and combine these into a housing development. Through design studies you will explore concepts and principles of best practice urban design, for example public and private space, thresholds, overlooking, access, context and sustainability.

Praxis is the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practiced, embodied, or realised. Praxis may also refer to the act of engaging, applying, exercising, realising, or practicing ideas.

We understand that not all of our graduates will go on to become practicing Architects. An architectural education, particularly the degree course, is a well-rounded education that can lead into numerous other career paths as well as the route to professional qualification. With this in mind we have a clear roadmap for our students in terms of professional knowledge, business awareness, and transferrable skills.

The Birmingham School of Architecture and Design occupies a distinctive interdisciplinary territory between the study and practices of the creative arts with the built environment professions.

Links with the professional context are reinforced through alumni, renowned tutors, events and live research projects. Equally, the School’s position within ADM means that students and staff are well connected to the creative scene of the city.

CO.LAB (the Collaborative Laboratory) is a vehicle for a range of projects that seek to directly engage students with this dynamic context. It is an opportunity for students to work with individuals and groups outside of their discipline area, engaging in a broad creative network.

This studio-based module will introduce you to the principles of co-housing design. Learning from exemplars across the UK and beyond, you will carry out design explorations at the scale of the home and community to consider the dynamics of individual and collective experiences of future living.

The module asks you to develop a research process through analysis of a case study in a rigorous academic format before developing your own systems, made and tested at a large scale. Case studies, related to the overarching theme of Year three modules, are used to develop questions around current and future systems for the production of places to live. You will then use the physical and/or digital workshop facilities to fabricate, assemble and analyse your design response in practical, strategic and/or architectural terms.

The module introduces you to the business of design and the role of design management. It involves you in a series of engaging lectures and workshops which explore the world of design practice and how complex design problems can be addressed. The teaching and learning will cover design business structures, business planning, entrepreneurship, collaboration and leadership, psychometric design strategy, design thinking and innovation.

Throughout the module, you will work both independently and collaboratively, with students from a range of design disciplines to research and investigate how to set up and sustain a design business. You will study the practice of design and explore a range of models and theories, whilst conducting primary and secondary research methodology, applying analysis, synthesis and critical argument.

The emphasis of the teaching and learning will be based on design project management, design finance, project finance, intellectual property rights, personal professionalism, and presentation skills, whilst demonstrating how to create a proposal. You will apply these models, theories and principles to your studies and utilise your research skills developed throughout the course to formulate a highly structured and well-narrated and convincing project proposal.

The purpose of the module is to enable you to undertake a sustained, in-depth and theoretically informed research project exploring an area that is of personal interest to you. It is important that we can support you appropriately, so you will be guided towards choosing a research topic which is relevant to your discipline and in which your lecturers have expertise. The outcome may take the form of a written dissertation or a practice-based portfolio.