School of the Future Design
Entry to Advanced level unit based on skills using Autodesk Revit
Unit summary
The teacher takes pupils through a design project where the outcome is a school of the future for their local
community. The school will be designed using Autodesk Revit. Pupils should work in groups of no more than 4.
“Design the School of the Future how you would like to see your school. Consider not just learning spaces but also
recreational areas and how your school could become a central part of the local community.”
Lesson breakdown
Lesson
Content
1
Sustainability: Pupils are introduced to the project. They are asked to discuss what sustainability means to them and how we can live more sustainably in their
communities. They produce a webpage, blog or Poster to promote sustainable living within their own communities.
2
Community: Pupils are asked to develop a plan of action based on the issues in their own communities. They work in teams to discuss problems in their communities
and brainstorm the ways their buildings can address these problems. They go on to develop their webpage, blog or poster with the ways their building can address
the needs of their community and ask for the opinions of their community.
3
Materials: Pupils research sustainable building materials. They look at the health benefits of green materials, how they can help the environment and the financial
aspects of using green materials. They look at FSC timber and other materials and choose the materials they will use in their designs.
4
5
6
7 – 14
15 - 16
Build it green The teacher presents information on several forms of sustainable energy and initiates a debate on renewables vs. none renewables. The pupils then
look at the whole systems approach to sustainable building and list the 7 factors that are consistent for building green. They then read about sustainable building
principals and put these in their own words.
Client Brief and Moodboard: The team works together to develop Design Criteria for their School building. Learners should prioritise needs and constraints in order to
produce a client brief that addresses the design requirements and examines ways of complying with design requirements and external constraints.
Pupils gather images related to their community, sustainability, materials, energy, interior design and anything else that may help them with the design of their
school.
Initial ideas: Pupils should develop two concept ideas with annotations, demonstrating the learner’s understanding that there are a number of alternatives to meet
the needs of a client. Using their mood board and brainstorm from the starter, they develop two concept ideas for their future school. Each idea should include
sketches of floor plans to an approximate scale, and sketches of external views. The sketches should be annotated. These could include: room labelling, room sizes
and details of key features.
Autodesk Revit: Through a series of tutorial videos produced by Year 9 pupils, students learn the key features of Autodesk Revit Software. They go on to develop their
designs for their School of the Future using the industry standard software. This will include generating floor plans, schedules, sheets walkthroughs and photorealistic
renderings in the Cloud.
Presentation and Evaluation: Pupils should present their ideas to members of the local community. They should include their research work, client brief and initial
ideas and how they progressed to their final design using software. Pupils should then evaluate their designs against the design criteria generated in lesson 6. This
should include a client evaluation by members of the community. This should be arranged by the teacher.
Key features of project:
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Pupils should investigate their own communities and develop design solutions related to Architecture,
Engineering and Construction to address any problems or opportunities they find.
Pupils will develop an understanding of sustainable living, both at home and within their own
communities.
Pupils will develop knowledge and understanding of roles within the Architecture, Engineering and
Construction Industry.
Schools will be encouraged to own the Autodesk software and see how simple outcomes can be
developed and how this can apply to their existing projects.