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In the Bartlett School of Architecture, the design ‘Unit’ – of approximately 16 students – is the basis for design teaching and learning. Every Unit is taught by two or more design professionals who are either part-time or, more usually, full-time academics. Students often stay in the same Design Unit for both Year 4 and Year 5.

This module is the central part of the Architecture MArch programme and key to The Bartlett’s reputation for creative innovation. It runs for the entire first year of the programme. Students must demonstrate a competent, inventive and authoritative approach towards architectural design and how it might be realised in the context of the architectural profession and allied disciplines.

The aim of this module is, therefore, to bring students to a point where they can demonstrate, through their submitted documentation, competence in designing an appropriately complex architectural proposition, presented to a professional standard. The module’s aims and objectives reflect a number of RIBA/ARB criteria and attributes. On successful completion you are expected to have advanced knowledge, understanding of, and skills in the following areas:

1. Experimentation with different approaches to design and representation, to find an appropriate method of working and research within the design projects.

2. Developing a conceptual and critical approach towards the aesthetic, functional and programmatic dimension of their projects.

3. Design investigations that address a variety of theories, practices and techniques used in fine art and demonstration of how they have an impact on the conceptualization and representation of each project.

4. Development of an inventive and authoritative architectural proposition that leads to a competent and appropriately complex building design, which is underpinned by the study of appropriate precedents.

5. Creation of a building design that responds to site, context and brief and critically examines the projects historic, urban, and social context.

This module works in synergy with modules BARC0009 (History and Theory) and BARC0013 (Design Realisation report).