Interior & Spatial Design
Interior and Spatial Design Course
This is a fully accredited Interior and Spatial Design course which leads to a Diploma of Higher Education (Dip HE) in Interior and Spatial Design from the University of Hertfordshire. You can choose to study this course full time or part time, and studying this course online with IDI offers you a flexible and affordable way to achieve an internationally recognised qualification in Interior and Spatial Design from one of the UK’s leading modern universities. The certification you receive on successful completion of your studies is awarded by the University of Hertfordshire; it is identical to the certification awarded to students who have studied the same course at the University, with no mention of distance or online learning.
The Interactive Design Institute offers you the opportunity to study an interior design course online, with the prospect of gaining an interior design degree, one of the most sought after and respected interior design qualifications. This course is shortly to be given the title of Interior Architecture and design to more accurately reflect the course content, which more closely related to architecture than to the ‘softer’ side of interior design and decoration.
UK college and university interior design degree courses aim to provide students with an experience from which they emerge as creative Interior and Spatial Designers, able to produce work to professional standards. The Dip (HE) Interior and Spatial Design course is especially designed to prepare you for a variety of careers in the interior and spatial design industry.
By studying towards an Interior and Spatial Design degree online with IDI, you will explore the design of retail, business and domestic interiors, and in common with all degree level courses in interior design, you will learn to contribute creatively in a variety of roles, and be equally confident when working independently and as part of multidisciplinary design team.
In contrast to some other interior design courses, you will gain experience working on the design of experiential environments for brand experiences, events and exhibitions. You will also learn how to design for informative environments such as museum interiors. You will use Vectorworks software to realise your 3D ideas and you will also learn how to use Adobe Creative Suite software which is the standard software for the Interior design industry. Vectorworks is a free download and IDI students are eligible for an 80% discount off Adobe products.
Throughout the course you will work through practical projects and activities and gain the skills, knowledge and commercial awareness to work on industry-standard briefs, while studying towards an interior design degree online.
The final part of the course is focused around your professional portfolio. As with all interior design degrees, the emphasis on professional standards of working, and IDI provide support from staff whose experience best matches student interests.
Whilst this course involves home study, this is not a correspondence course. In fact it’s unlike any other distance learning or online course in design. When you become an IDI student you can expect to have lots of regular communication with your tutors and fellow students. You don’t need to post work away or wait for study materials to arrive. Instead you’ll have access to your own, secure online studio and comprehensive study materials. As you work through practical, project based activities, you’ll benefit from the unlimited expert advice, feedback and guidance provided by specialist tutors, who are all fully qualified in Interior and Spatial Design as well as Interior Architecture. Their job is to support you every step of the way, from enrolment to graduation.
*Please note: The Interactive Design Institute currently delivers this course to the level of Certificate in Higher Education (Cert.HE) and Diploma in Higher Education (Dip.HE) online. Subject to approval, students will have the option of completing their Degree either online or through attendance at the University of Hertfordshire.
This programme specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the course and the intended learning outcomes that you might be expected to achieve.
Module Descriptions Level 4 (Year 1 of Degree) click here
3D Creative Process 1A
This module enables students to engage with 3D design practices at an introductory level so that a basic vocabulary of visual language can be established for creative development and application. Languages of 3D form and structure are explored through the manipulation of a range of materials and through ways of thinking about form, space and environments.
3D Creative Process 1A Document
3D Design Skills 1B
This module will be used to further develop your computer aided design skills. 3D digital modelling techniques are introduced as an effective additional modelling tool for Interior Design. You will develop these skills within in the context of developing a design for an item of furniture.
3D Design Skills 1B Document
3D Design Projects 1B
In this the final module for year 1 you will be developing a project that will allow you to demonstrate what you have learnt to date. It will be a culmination of all different design skills that you have developed, from interpreting a brief, through to research and design and development. To do this you will be required to develop a design concept for retailing.
3D Design Projects 1B Document
3D Design Practices 1A
This module will introduce you to the act of designing a 3-dimensional space within a real and tangible context. It will introduce students to the concepts of a client, a site, spatial analysis, concept design, concept development and presentation. The module will be based around a project to design a retreat for a poet to be set within a site of your choosing.
3D Design Practices 1A Document
Critical and Cultural Studies 1A
This module aims to provide students with an understanding of the recent history of designed objects and environments and some of the ways in which key movements and key figures have shaped contemporary design practice and debate. It is also designed to help you become familiar with contemporary design practice and the historical context which has influenced its development.
Critical and Cultural Studies L4 Document
Design Skills 1A
This module will introduce you to a range of digital and practical design skills. You will learn how to use computer software to design, develop and present creative ideas. You will then realise these solutions, by creating models and mock ups from the types of simple materials that you would expect to find in an Interior Design office or studio. One of the aims of this unit is to teach you how to use 2D image manipulation and how this can relate to the design development process. To do this, you will use Adobe Photoshop.
In addition, you will learn the basic working concepts used in computer graphics. These will help prepare you to develop similar skills when using more advanced 3D modelling software, later in the course.
Design Skills 1A Document
Module Descriptions Level 5 (Year 2 of Degree) click here
Negotiated Project 2B
The aims of this module are to enable students to identify the direction of their practice within the fields of interior and spatial design. They will have the opportunity to pursue an area of personal focus by negotiating the scope of the Negotiated Project within clearly set parameters. The outcomes are seen as an indicator of the direction of the student's level 3 studies within the fields of interior and spatial design such as commercial, business or domestic interiors, exhibition and brand experience, museum and information design.
Negotiated Project 2B Document
Design Practices 2A
This module concentrates on designing a National Pavilion to represent the student's own country at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo. The brief requires students to explore and discover the national characteristics of their country and interpret them within the confines of the theme of the Shanghai Expo - "Better City – Better Life".
This module is an exercise in the formulation of a highly creative response to an open-ended brief. It will examine how a student designs large scale environments which interpret and resolve the combined requirements from a client and a country.
Design Practices 2A Document
Professional Development 2B
This module explores the mechanics of spatial design. It looks at how spaces are planned, articulated, and sculpted. The module centres around the design of a small office space, a fixed specific site and a series of requirements that will have to be satisfied. This exercise will explore how students organise a space whilst still creating a dynamic environment. It will concentrate on a student's ability to create formal drawings on the computer. These skills will compliment and add to what you has been learned on previous modules.
Professional Development 2B Document
Critical and Cultural Studies 2B
This module aims to provide students with a critical insight into contemporary design practices and debates that inform studio disciplines. It will help locate their own practice within a wider cultural context. Students will be expected to research and understand some of the cultural, aesthetic, historical, social, economic, political and industrial forces that shape contemporary practice and facilitate the development of a more theorised and self conscious awareness of their own practice. This module will focus on the role that technology has played in both the historical development of Art and Design and its contemporary implications.
Critical and Cultural Studies L5 Document
Design Skills 2A
This module develops students' digital skills which are associated with the realisation of interior and spatial environments, both physical and virtual. The interface between the digital and physical structures are explored. The module offers the opportunity to further develop IT skills for the publication and communication of design ideas and solutions.
Design Skills 2A Document
Elective Module Options click here
Level 4 (Year 1 of Degree) Certificate of Higher Education
Year 1 of the course provides a broad experience of 3D design during which interior and spatial design students develop core design skills. The intention is to educate students who can contribute creatively in a variety of roles, both independently and as part of design teams.
The modules equip you with a range of skills which encompass traditional hand skills such as drawing and fabricating, an understanding of the creative design process, an awareness of material and construction technologies, introduction to technologies such as digital modelling, digital drafting, communication and presentation skills alongside an understanding of the cultures of user-groups and an awareness of the operation of the design industry.
Level 5 (Year 2 of Degree) Diploma of Higher Education
The second year allows for increasing specialisation, the acquisition of skills of professional practice, and development as an individual creative practitioner. Personal skills of communication, working with others, negotiation and self-management are further developed.
Level 6 (Year 3 of Degree) BA
*Please note: The Year 3 (Level 6) programme described here is that currently available through attendance based study at the University of Hertfordshire. Subject to validation, students may also have the option of completing a year 3 (level 6) programme online. However, the content and award title of this programme may vary from the one described here.
Year 3 is the ‘portfolio level’ – the emphasis at this level being on building a portfolio of work as a preparation to entering the design profession. You will have the opportunity to enter national design competitions, and will work to a series of professional briefs. You will also be able to negotiate personal projects in order to develop your personal creativity.
Interior designers plan the design of living and commercial environments. They strive to design a space that is practical for its purpose as well as visually pleasing. Projects can range from structural alterations to the choice of furnishings, curtains, wall paper and lighting.
Around 6,000 to 8,000 people work as interior designers in the UK. The main employers are design consultancies and architectural practices. However some interior designers are self-employed.
Salaries may range from around £18,000 to £60,000 a year or more.
Axonometric Drawing
Introduction
This activity introduces the concept of axonometric projection.
Aim
On completion of this activity you will have completed an axonometric drawing to scale using basic drawing conventions.
Objectives
This activity will allow you to draw three-dimensional space in a way, which others can understand.
Duration
The suggested time allocation for this activity 6 hrs.
Equipment
- A scale rule
- 45-degree set square
- A4 layout or tracing paper pad
- pencil and rubber
- thick, medium and thin black pen
Activity
We are going to draw that chair in a room with a table and another identical chair.
The room that this chair is in is 6 metres (m) long and 4m wide and 3m tall. It has two windows and one door – you can decide the size and location of these. The walls around the room are 110mm thick. The floor is tiled with 600 x 600mm tiles in a grid. Your chair sits in front of a 900 x 900mm table with four legs. On the other side of the table is another identical chair.
Draw this room at 1:50 in order to fit a plan and 4 elevations onto A4 paper. It might be beneficial to use two sheets of paper and to put two elevations on the second sheet.
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