1. Title: Simulation & Motion: Adventures in Spatial Design
2. Key words: second year engagement, creativity, immersive learning environment
3. Contact details
Name: Jon Moorhouse
Institution/Faculty/School/Department: Art and Design
Course/Module title: Interior Design
4. Case Study Summary
Level 5 (Second Year) offers interesting opportunities for design students. No longer embryonic designers,
Level 2 (interior) design students are equipped with the ability to tackle design challenges at a critical and
inventive level. They are not limited by the need to master foundation skills. Nor are they restricted by the
perceived ‘mark-centric’ environment that is often present in final year. In Level 5 there exists therefore, a
unique potential for experimentation, development of design approaches and mastering of advanced skills. This
case study examines one such opportunity.
5. Background and Activity
Introduction
This module was delivered in Semester 2 of Level 5. As a short 12 credit module it ran over 5 weeks and, in
addition to the published learning outcomes, it addressed two key issues: (1) developing an abstract approach
to ideas generation and (2) immersive and intense learning of Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.
As a rapid, ideas-led module the student was therefore encouraged to abstract, invent, disassemble, construct,
animate and present entirely through a medium that was previously unfamiliar to them. The potential was
thence to stimulate, nurture, empower and invigorate through a learning environment that gives purpose to level
5, elevating its status and importance.
Rationale
As (commercial) designers we tend to respond to briefs. A client commissions us to design and deliver a project,
a building or a space and, on the surface we answer that brief and provide a ‘solution’. This is an overt practice.
Yet it can be shown that the most successful designers draw inspiration from external factors both related and
abstract (whether they choose to expose these influences or otherwise). This module deals deliberately and
exclusively with the abstract. Each student is given an extract from a book, Invisible Cities (Calvino 1972). Each
extract describes a city (in the form of a conversation between Marco polo and Kublai Khan) – apparently all
different – but possibly offering different vignettes of Venice. This extract forms the ‘design generator’ or starting
point. Each student is then asked to imagine a virtual world that is not ours. To assist, the author delivers a
series of lectures presenting aspects of ‘popular science’, as a journey exploring gravity, space and relativity.
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Academic Enhancement Unit, 5th Floor, Kingsway House, Hatton Garden, Liverpool, L3 2AJ
Tel: 0151 231 8679
Through this exercise the student becomes conscious of the physical laws that a designer tends to take for
granted and asked the question ‘what if?’ these laws were changed. Through the medium of CAD, the students
thence construct, evaluate and present their ‘worlds’ or ‘cities’ using the book extract as narrative. Much of the
module takes place within the CAD lab and the outcome is in the form of an animation.
Added Value
1. Developing an abstract approach to ideas generation. Through this tailored exercise
the students experience at first hand the benefits of using an abstract design generator in
stimulating creativity. Through observation, the author holds that many students are
ordinarily resistant to this approach yet, perhaps due to the brevity of the module together
with the collective experience of each having a similar but different starting text, are
engaged in the process without question.
2. Immersive and Intense learning of Computer Aided Design (CAD) software. As an
experienced CAD tutor to undergraduates, postgraduates and professionals, the author
has developed learning methods whereby immersive task-based scenarios are employed
as the basis for mastering the system. In the professional environment it is critical that
office standards and tool usage are at the forefront of CAD teaching. The opportunities
and necessities are somewhat different for the design student. The understanding of
space, composition, colour and texture are paramount and the ability to develop form
without restriction is where the focus should lie. For this reason we have introduced
CAD as a sculptural and aesthetic tool and only when the student is comfortable with
using CAD as a generative tool are protocols introduced.
6. Conclusions
Feedback from the students shows that this method is preferred over traditional ‘user manual’ incremental
sessions. Moreover, we note that many students are ‘turned off’ from using CAD when taught using the training
methods prevalent in professional practice (60-70%) uptake whereas we have a near 100% success rate using
the immersion method.
As part of a balanced programme where the theme of the year is experimentation and
creativity, Level 5 became the most interesting (and popular) year with high attendance
Funded by
Academic Enhancement Unit, 5th Floor, Kingsway House, Hatton Garden, Liverpool, L3 2AJ
Tel: 0151 231 8679