1. Title: Simulation & Motion: Adventures in Spatial Design

1. Title: Simulation & Motion: Adventures in Spatial Design

2. Key words: second year engagement, creativity, immersivelearning 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 longerembryonic designers,Level 2 (interior) design students are equipped with the ability totackle design challenges at a critical and inventive level. They are not limited by theneed to master foundation skills. Nor are they restricted by theperceived ‘mark-centric’environment that is often present in final year. In Level 5 there exists therefore, auniquepotential for experimentation, development of design approaches and mastering ofadvanced 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 ranover 5 weeks and, inaddition to the published learning outcomes, it addressed two keyissues: (1) developing an abstract approach to ideas generation and (2) immersive andintense learning of Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.

As a rapid, ideas-ledmodule 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 alearning 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 todesign and deliver a project, a building or a space and, on the surface we answer thatbrief and provide a ‘solution’. This is an overt practice. Yet it can be shown that themost successful designers draw inspiration from external factors both related and abstract(whether they choose to expose these influences or otherwise). This module dealsdeliberately and exclusively with the abstract. Each student is given an extract from abook, Invisible Cities (Calvino 1972). Each extract describes a city (in the form of aconversation between Marco polo and Kublai Khan) – apparently all different – butpossibly 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 aseries of lectures presenting aspects of ‘popular science’,as a journey exploring gravity, space and relativity.

Through this exercise the studentbecomes conscious of the physical laws that a designer tends to take for granted andasked the question ‘what if?’ these laws were changed. Through the medium of CAD,the studentsthence construct, evaluate and present their ‘worlds’ or ‘cities’ using thebook extract as narrative. Much of the module takes place within the CAD lab and theoutcome 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.

1. 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 ‘usermanual’ incremental sessions. Moreover, we note that many students are ‘turned off’from using CAD when taught using the training methods prevalent in professionalpractice (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

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