Postgraduate Course: Sustainable Theory and Contexts (ARCH11038)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course engages with key theories and contexts of sustainable development in the built environment. The course does not require any specific design skills but you should have an interest and engagement with buildings, neighbourhoods and cities. |
| Course description |
This course has three key themes:
Communicating Complexity: This theme immerses you in sustainable design discourses. You gain skills to navigate a path through large volumes of information, to conduct intelligent analysis and construct legible and relevant sustainable design frameworks.
Building Capacity: How do we get the tools we need to undertake sustainable design? Building capacity as a concept does not tell you what you need to know but critically how to research and how to communicate that research.
Critical Theories and Practice: Much of what we understand as sustainable architecture is underpinned by theory. We engage with some of the key foundations of environmental design and how it affects design practice in the built environment.
The course is delivered through a combination of workshop, lecture, individual and group tutorials. Emphasis is placed on your own research activity and collaboration with fellow students.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2019/20, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 23 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 15,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 23,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
158 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The course will be assessed in three ways:
Course assignment 1: You will undertake a seminar presentation. This will be group work. It counts for 20% of the final mark for the course.
This assignment addresses learning outcomes 1 and 3 for this course.
Course assignment 2: You will undertake a report based on the understanding and application of simple design principles. You will undertake this as part of a group but with an individual final submission. It counts for 50% of the final mark for the course.
This assignment addresses learning outcomes 1 and 3 for this course.
Course assignment 3: You will write an illustrated essay no more than 2500 words based on a series of set questions. It counts for 30% of the final mark for the course.
This assignment addresses learning outcomes 1 and 2 for this course.
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| Feedback |
Formative feedback is given to you during the course to help you understand the learning material and assist you in the assignments we ask you to do. This will be in the form of verbal feedback given in tutorial and reviews as well as written feedback at key stages in your coursework.
Summative feedback is given on a finished piece of assignment work that advises you how well you have performed in terms of the aims and objectives of the assignment and overall in relation to the course.
For Course Assignment 1: you will receive written formative feedback on a practice presentation
For Course Assignment 2: you will receive formative feedback in a tutorial based on your draft submission
For Course Assignment 3: you will receive written formative feedback on your draft submission
You will receive summative feedback with a grade for all items of coursework you complete.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Develop an ability to critically assess sustainable strategies in the built environment.
- Understand the cultural, historic and scientific roots of environmental thought.
- Gain skills in the application of sustainable theory to built environment contexts.
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Reading List
T. J. Williamson, Helen Bennets & Antony Radford: Understanding Sustainable Architecture
Susannah Hagan: Taking Shape: A new contract between architecture and nature
Bjorn Berge : The Ecology of Building Materials
Stewart Brand : How Buildings Learn
Paul F. Downton: Ecopolis: Architecture and Cities for a Changing Climate
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research, analyse and creatively respond to design problems that require the assimilation of information from a wide variety of sources, utilising the expertise of related professionals;
Show skill in researching and critically assessing sustainability as a cultural, economic and environmental phenomenon;
Display proficiency in understanding sustainable design criteria sensitive to place and programme;
Collaborate effectively when working in a team, displaying an understanding of interdisciplinary roles and responsibilities;
Demonstrate problem solving skills, professional judgment, and ability to take the initiative and make appropriate decisions in complex and unpredictable circumstances;
Communicate effectively with fellow consultants and professionals in an interdisciplinary, collaborative context;
Acquire skills in the assembly, interpretation of research questions into coherent and cogent academic texts;
Display understanding in the collection of research information and techniques in communicating the proper attribution of others¿ work.
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| Keywords | sustainable theory contexts city environmental |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Mr John Brennan
Tel: (0131 6)50 2324
Email: |
Course secretary | Mrs Charlotte Iliakis
Tel: (0131 6)51 5740
Email: |
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