Masters Degrees (Sustainable Design)

As a cultivated form of invention, design shapes, modifies and alters the world around us for better or worse, and the need for modern design to be more sustainable and ethically responsible has never been more important.

Many multinational companies, research centres, governments and individuals acknowledge that a change in attitude to the way we design products, spaces, communications and communities is a positive step and long overdue. Indeed, over the last 10 years, commercial understanding of sustainable design has transformed, shifting from being about risk and compliance to a dynamic leadership issue.

Our Sustainable Design MA helps you to rethink the parameters of good design in an unsustainable age. Working alongside experts in ecology, psychology, design and business, you will gain the knowledge, skills and confidence to focus your practice and become a more effective agent of change.

Why study with us?

• Interdisciplinary approach to sustainable design that incorporates ideas from ecology, psychology and business with a balance of theory and practice
• Campus in one of Europe's most progressive and creative cities
• World-renowned staff, including sustainable design expert Professor Jonathan Chapman
• Guest lecturers from industry including Louis Joseph (head of global strategy at Puma), Richard Gilbert (director of The Agency for Design) and Oliver Heath (founder of OH Designs)
• Diverse student body with backgrounds in graphic design, illustration, architecture, fashion, education, politics and product design

Areas of study

• Sustainable Design: Present(s)
Semester one, 20 credits

You start with a foundation in sustainable design principles, theories and methodologies. Themes include cradle to cradle, low-carbon building and production, design for recycling, biodegradability, biomimicry, alternative energy, ecological thinking, permaculture, and disassembly.

• Research Methods
Semester one, 20 credits

This module gives you an overview of design research methods and how they are used in professional practice. It enables you to construct the kind of research questions, hypotheses and methodologies that underpin innovative design, as you develop a more autonomous position in the process of critical inquiry.

• Studio
Semesters one and two, 60 credits

The Studio module spans two projects – ‘Behaviours’ and ’Matters’. The Behaviours project takes place in semester one and provides you with a theoretical context for the studio-based investigation, analysis and generation of essential design criteria that shape patterns of consumption.

In semester two, you undertake the Matters project, a studio-based experience that places emphasis on materiality and the nature of physical experience as mediated through the design, production and physical manifestation of things.

• Sustainable Design: Future(s)
Semester two, 20 credits

This module takes the form of a series of seminars, workshops and discussion groups where specialist practitioners, writers, researchers, manufacturers and theorists present their work on sustainability. It covers themes including consumer motivation, behaviour, phenomenology, deep ecology, temporality, consciousness, emotional durability, materiality, defuturing and experience-authoring.

• Master
Semester three, 60 credits

The Master project represents the culmination of your work throughout the course. It allows you to apply all of the experiences and skills that you have accumulated, as you choose an area of sustainable design that you want to pursue in detail.

You work is structured by an individually defined 'statement of intent' that provides the framework through which you will be assessed. This process enables you to explore distinctive areas of expertise with a unique approach to the ubiquitous issues of sustainability and design.

The final body of master work must be developed through practices relevant to you and your statement of intent. These might include the development and production of design proposals, a written thesis, a documentary, an ad campaign, an article for a leading publication, a touring exhibition or a combination of the above.

Our studio

From 2016, students will work in the new Masters Centre, which provides studio, seminar and tutorial space for all postgraduate students in the School of Architecture and Design.

Students on MA Sustainable Design will have dedicated studio space with access to workshop and digital model making facilities. More specialised materials and making requirements can be supported on an individual basis with colleagues in engineering, crafts and arts.

Careers and employability

After graduation, many students secure influential positions within major global businesses, charities and NGOs.

A number of our students establish independent design agencies, social innovation labs and research centres. Many decide to continue their research in the form of a PhD, and have a particularly strong record of achieving fully funded studentships, both here at Brighton and internationally.

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The session will provide a chance to meet the course leader and some current students who will share their projects and experiences. You will also take part in a design activity that will give you a real taste of what we do on the course in addressing social and sustainability challenges.

Choose Kingston's Sustainable Design MA

This course is aimed at designers, creative workers and other specialists who want to direct their practice towards progressive sustainability and social agendas. It focuses on the value of design as a vehicle for addressing social and ecological concerns in both developed and developing world settings. It will equip you with the knowledge, capabilities and confidence to challenge the status quo by applying design thinking to the generation of design-led interventions for a sustainable future.

Key features
-The overarching course philosophy, based on an emphasis on research, methodology and design thinking, allows individual and personal concerns to be explored through focused study in sustainable design.
-The course takes an inter-disciplinary approach to the study and practice of sustainable design, by recruiting students from all creative and design backgrounds and beyond.

What will you study?

The Sustainable Design MA is directed towards the goal of creating a more sustainable and equitable society. You will explore innovative and practical ways to help realise those visions, emphasising design, creativity, empathy, innovation and activism.

The course encourages critical thinking about the social and ecological agendas it addresses. The course is design-based, but not confined to design practice - it includes a significant amount of theoretical and contextual studies. It is possible to choose a dissertation option for the final major project.

You will be taught by leading academics and practitioners in sustainable design, social design, social innovation, participatory design, strategic design, service design, design-led innovation, and related topics. The course incorporates collaboration with partners such as Design Council, Futerra, Greengaged, Sorrell Foundation, ThinkPublic and Uscreates.

Assessment

Design project work, live projects, research project folders, 5,000-word critical essay, and a major design research project.

Course structure

The Sustainable Design MA course is part of the School of Design's postgraduate programme. The structure – shared with students from Communication Design MA, Product & Furniture Design MA, and Fashion MA – enables you to explore your individual specialist interests in sustainable design within an integrative learning environment that provides a comprehensive understanding of the value and role of interdisciplinary methods and ways of working. The influences and impact of thinking from other related design subjects on your own specialist study is an important aspect of the identity and the community of interdisciplinary practice at masters level in the School of Design.

This structure is designed to help progress and develop your independent learning, encouraging you to construct and explore projects concerned with areas of particular personal interests. The overarching course philosophy, based upon an emphasis on research, methodology and design thinking, allows individual and personal concerns to be explored through focused study in sustainable design.

The two shared modules of the School of Design's Postgraduate Framework both commence with a symposium, in which high-profile external speakers present their work and contribute to a debate on a topic of relevance to all courses in the Framework.

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With extensive experience analysing and controlling the physical phenomena affecting buildings, practitioners of Architectural Science have a profound impact on the function, aesthetics and efficiency of architectural spaces.

Architectural Science courses can be taken as single or double streams. In the double stream program, the core units from the secondary degree are taken as the electives in the primary degree. The double stream program is completed as 96 credit points over two years, allowing you to draw expertise from an aligned Architectural Science stream and prepare to pursue or develop your career within a wide range of areas in the built environment.

PRIMARY STREAM

The High Performance Buildings program at the University of Sydney is unique in Australia. It offers the opportunity to pursue or develop an exciting career in the built environment field within a wide range of areas including building services, facilities management, architectural practice, business, sustainable design commercial development, property management and more. It is open to graduates from a range of disciplines including science, engineering, architecture, building and planning.

Created in close consultation with industry stakeholders, the program will train professionals who can collaborate with designers, construction teams and facilities managers to achieve sustainable outcomes that raise the bar for world's best practice. Studying with us, you will have access to world-class equipment and facilities, including the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) laboratory for research into the interaction of temperature, humidity, air movement and quality, ventilation, daylight, artificial lighting, sound and acoustics. You will be equipped with the professional skills to ensure maximum operational efficiencies, optimal comfort and ideal health outcomes for occupants of corporate and residential environments.

SECONDARY STREAM

Sustainable design involves an approach to creating buildings that meets the world's need to reduce our impact on ecological systems. The built environment professions - including architects, engineers, urban designers and planners - are increasingly held responsible for the performance of their designs and projects, including accordance with promised environmental principles. Sustainable design skills are highly demanded by the construction and design industries, environmental consultancies, government agencies and in the day-to-day operation and management of commercial buildings. This program is tailored for design and related built-environment professionals who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in sustainable design.

Our integrated approach to Sustainable Design provides you with the knowledge you need to address sustainability considerations without compromising building functionality or profitability. You will combine the aesthetic approaches to design with a thorough understanding of energy efficiency, analysis and performance metrics. You will be exposed to ratings systems, myriad testing methods and will come to understand energy and resource use from ecological, economic and governance perspectives, as well as the storage and release of energy and how to design for both performance and comfort.

To ask a question about this course, visit http://sydney.edu.au/internationaloffice/

Read less

With extensive experience analysing and controlling the physical phenomena affecting buildings, practitioners of Architectural Science have a profound impact on the function, aesthetics and efficiency of architectural spaces.

Architectural Science courses can be taken as single or double streams. In the double stream program, the core units from the secondary degree are taken as the electives in the primary degree. The double stream program is completed as 96 credit points over two years, allowing you to draw expertise from an aligned Architectural Science stream and prepare to pursue or develop your career within a wide range of areas in the built environment.

PRIMARY STREAM

Sustainable design involves an approach to creating buildings that meets the world’s need to reduce our impact on ecological systems. The built environment professions—including architects, engineers, urban designers and planners—are increasingly held responsible for the performance of their designs and projects, including accordance with promised environmental principles. Sustainable design skills are highly demanded by the construction and design industries, environmental consultancies, government agencies and in the day-to-day operation and management of commercial buildings. This program is tailored for design and related built-environment professionals who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in sustainable design.

Our integrated approach to Sustainable Design provides you with the knowledge you need to address sustainability considerations without compromising building functionality or profitability. You will combine the aesthetic approaches to design with a thorough understanding of energy efficiency, analysis and performance metrics. You will be exposed to ratings systems, myriad testing methods and will come to understand energy and resource use from ecological, economic and governance perspectives, as well as the storage and release of energy and how to design for both performance and comfort.

SECONDARY STREAM

The High Performance Buildings program at the University of Sydney is unique in Australia. It offers the opportunity to pursue or develop an exciting career in the built environment field within a wide range of areas including building services, facilities management, architectural practice, business, sustainable design commercial development, property management and more. It is open to graduates from a range of disciplines including science, engineering, architecture, building and planning.

Created in close consultation with industry stakeholders, the program will train professionals who can collaborate with designers, construction teams and facilities managers to achieve sustainable outcomes that raise the bar for world’s best practice. Studying with us, you will have access to world-class equipment and facilities, including the Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) laboratory for research into the interaction of temperature, humidity, air movement and quality, ventilation, daylight, artificial lighting, sound and acoustics. You will be equipped with the professional skills to ensure maximum operational efficiencies, optimal comfort and ideal health outcomes for occupants of corporate and residential environments.

To ask a question about this course, visit http://sydney.edu.au/internationaloffice/

Read less

With extensive experience analysing and controlling the physical phenomena affecting buildings, practitioners of Architectural Science have a profound impact on the function, aesthetics and efficiency of architectural spaces.

Architectural Science courses can be taken as single or double streams. In the double stream program, the core units from the secondary degree are taken as the electives in the primary degree. The double stream program is completed as 96 credit points over two years, allowing you to draw expertise from an aligned Architectural Science stream and prepare to pursue or develop your career within a wide range of areas in the built environment.


PRIMARY STREAM

The Audio and Acoustics program is unique in Australia and one of only a few comparable programs in the world. The program offers a balance of studio-based production subjects and theoretical and investigative subjects in acoustics and technical audio. It will suit candidates with an academic and/or professional track record in audio and related areas who wish to extend the breadth and depth of their expertise - this includes audio engineers, architects, interior designers, sustainable designers and musicians.

The program is supported by two audio studios and one of Australia's best acoustics facilities. The Acoustics Research Laboratory houses an anechoic room and reverberant room, and contains extensive state-of-the-art equipment for measurement and analysis including the only indoor environmental quality laboratory in the southern hemisphere. The audio studios consist of a recording studio and a 5.1 channel production studio. You will also be exposed to world-class research activity and have the opportunity to do research projects on your own.


SECONDARY STREAM

Sustainable design involves an approach to creating buildings that meets the world's need to reduce our impact on ecological systems. The built environment professions - including architects, engineers, urban designers and planners - are increasingly held responsible for the performance of their designs and projects, including accordance with promised environmental principles. Sustainable design skills are highly demanded by the construction and design industries, environmental consultancies, government agencies and in the day-to-day operation and management of commercial buildings. This program is tailored for design and related built-environment professionals who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in sustainable design.

Our integrated approach to Sustainable Design provides you with the knowledge you need to address sustainability considerations without compromising building functionality or profitability. You will combine the aesthetic approaches to design with a thorough understanding of energy efficiency, analysis and performance metrics. You will be exposed to ratings systems, myriad testing methods and will come to understand energy and resource use from ecological, economic and governance perspectives, as well as the storage and release of energy and how to design for both performance and comfort.

To ask a question about this course, visit http://sydney.edu.au/internationaloffice/

Read less

With extensive experience analysing and controlling the physical phenomena affecting buildings, practitioners of Architectural Science have a profound impact on the function, aesthetics and efficiency of architectural spaces.

Architectural Science courses can be taken as single or double streams. In the double stream program, the core units from the secondary degree are taken as the electives in the primary degree. The double stream program is completed as 96 credit points over two years, allowing you to draw expertise from an aligned Architectural Science stream and prepare to pursue or develop your career within a wide range of areas in the built environment.

PRIMARY STREAM

The Illumination Design program offers strong technical education in human visual perception, methods for quantifying light, lighting techniques and issues of sustainability. The course is suited to program architects, interior designers, engineers, ergonomists and related professionals looking to expand and deepen their knowledge in this area.

This program is one of only a few in the world, with an emphasis on producing qualified lighting designers through focus on the multidisciplinary background of lighting knowledge. It will develop your understanding of the relationship between lighting and allied-build environment disciplines as well as the interaction of optics, psychology and physiology. You will be given the preparation you need to adapt to technological changes and lead future breakthroughs.

SECONDARY STREAM

Sustainable design involves an approach to creating buildings that meets the world’s need to reduce our impact on ecological systems. The built environment professions—including architects, engineers, urban designers and planners—are increasingly held responsible for the performance of their designs and projects, including accordance with promised environmental principles. Sustainable design skills are highly demanded by the construction and design industries, environmental consultancies, government agencies and in the day-to-day operation and management of commercial buildings. This program is tailored for design and related built-environment professionals who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in sustainable design.

Our integrated approach to Sustainable Design provides you with the knowledge you need to address sustainability considerations without compromising building functionality or profitability. You will combine the aesthetic approaches to design with a thorough understanding of energy efficiency, analysis and performance metrics. You will be exposed to ratings systems, myriad testing methods and will come to understand energy and resource use from ecological, economic and governance perspectives, as well as the storage and release of energy and how to design for both performance and comfort.

To ask a question about this course, visit http://sydney.edu.au/internationaloffice/

Read less

With extensive experience analysing and controlling the physical phenomena affecting buildings, practitioners of Architectural Science have a profound impact on the function, aesthetics and efficiency of architectural spaces.

Architectural Science courses can be taken as single or double streams. In the double stream program, the core units from the secondary degree are taken as the electives in the primary degree. The double stream program is completed as 96 credit points over two years, allowing you to draw expertise from an aligned Architectural Science stream and prepare to pursue or develop your career within a wide range of areas in the built environment.

PRIMARY STREAM

Sustainable design involves an approach to creating buildings that meets the world’s need to reduce our impact on ecological systems. The built environment professions—including architects, engineers, urban designers and planners—are increasingly held responsible for the performance of their designs and projects, including accordance with promised environmental principles. Sustainable design skills are highly demanded by the construction and design industries, environmental consultancies, government agencies and in the day-to-day operation and management of commercial buildings. This program is tailored for design and related built-environment professionals who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in sustainable design.

Our integrated approach to Sustainable Design provides you with the knowledge you need to address sustainability considerations without compromising building functionality or profitability. You will combine the aesthetic approaches to design with a thorough understanding of energy efficiency, analysis and performance metrics. You will be exposed to ratings systems, myriad testing methods and will come to understand energy and resource use from ecological, economic and governance perspectives, as well as the storage and release of energy and how to design for both performance and comfort.

SECONDARY STREAM

The Audio and Acoustics program is unique in Australia and one of only a few comparable programs in the world. The program offers a balance of studio-based production subjects and theoretical and investigative subjects in acoustics and technical audio. It will suit candidates with an academic and/or professional track record in audio and related areas who wish to extend the breadth and depth of their expertise—this includes audio engineers, architects, interior designers, sustainable designers and musicians.

The program is supported by two audio studios and one of Australia's best acoustics facilities. The Acoustics Research Laboratory houses an anechoic room and reverberant room, and contains extensive state-of-the-art equipment for measurement and analysis including the only indoor environmental quality laboratory in the southern hemisphere. The audio studios consist of a recording studio and a 5.1 channel production studio. You will also be exposed to world-class research activity and have the opportunity to do research projects on your own.

To ask a question about this course, visit http://sydney.edu.au/internationaloffice/

Read less

With extensive experience analysing and controlling the physical phenomena affecting buildings, practitioners of Architectural Science have a profound impact on the function, aesthetics and efficiency of architectural spaces.

Architectural Science courses can be taken as single or double streams. In the double stream program, the core units from the secondary degree are taken as the electives in the primary degree. The double stream program is completed as 96 credit points over two years, allowing you to draw expertise from an aligned Architectural Science stream and prepare to pursue or develop your career within a wide range of areas in the built environment.

PRIMARY STREAM

Sustainable design involves an approach to creating buildings that meets the world's need to reduce our impact on ecological systems. The built environment professions - including architects, engineers, urban designers and planners - are increasingly held responsible for the performance of their designs and projects, including accordance with promised environmental principles. Sustainable design skills are highly demanded by the construction and design industries, environmental consultancies, government agencies and in the day-to-day operation and management of commercial buildings. This program is tailored for design and related built-environment professionals who wish to improve their knowledge and skills in sustainable design.

Our integrated approach to Sustainable Design provides you with the knowledge you need to address sustainability considerations without compromising building functionality or profitability. You will combine the aesthetic approaches to design with a thorough understanding of energy efficiency, analysis and performance metrics. You will be exposed to ratings systems, myriad testing methods and will come to understand energy and resource use from ecological, economic and governance perspectives, as well as the storage and release of energy and how to design for both performance and comfort.

SECONDARY STREAM

The Illumination Design program offers strong technical education in human visual perception, methods for quantifying light, lighting techniques and issues of sustainability. The course is suited to program architects, interior designers, engineers, ergonomists and related professionals looking to expand and deepen their knowledge in this area.

This program is one of only a few in the world, with an emphasis on producing qualified lighting designers through focus on the multidisciplinary background of lighting knowledge. It will develop your understanding of the relationship between lighting and allied-build environment disciplines as well as the interaction of optics, psychology and physiology. You will be given the preparation you need to adapt to technological changes and lead future breakthroughs.

To ask a question about this course, visit http://sydney.edu.au/internationaloffice/

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OVERVIEW

Do you want to transform products and systems to achieve greater sustainability? Sustainable Design is a two-year master’s programme (120 ECTS credits) which focuses particularly on design and development of sustainable solutions.
The challenge of sustainable design is to develop products and networks, which can transform systems of consumption and production to be more sustainable.

The master’s programme in Sustainable Design combines sustainable product design with tools from innovation theory, practice theory and user-oriented design. Visualisation and experimentation are important strategies to develop new innovative solutions, which can overcome system dependencies and achieve sustainable system transformation in various societal sectors.

You engage in challenging design-oriented problem solving in collaboration with NGO´s, companies, public institutions and professional groups. Perhaps you design and develop future relief tents, robot vacuum cleaners or bike airbags. You can also work with rehabilitation of older, energy-efficient mobility or waste systems in cities.

OFFICIAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE REQUIREMENTS

Applicants applying for master's programmes at Aalborg University must submit results of an IELTS, TOEFL or Cambridge test with the below mentioned minimum scores:

Danish B level in English compares to:

IELTS (academic test). Minimum score: 6.5
TOEFL (paper-based): Minimum score: 560
TOEFL (internet-based): Minimum score: 88
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency (CPE)
Certificate in Advanced English (CAE)
Cambridge First Certificate with the grade B

Danish A level in English compares to:

IELTS (academic test): Minimum score: 7.0
TOEFL (paper-based): Minimum score: 600
TOEFL (internet-based): Minimum score: 100
Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency (CPE)
Certificate in Advanced English (CAE) with the grade B

All international students applying to Aalborg University must document English language qualifications comparable to an 'English B level' in the Danish upper secondary school (minimum average grade 02).

Please note that the master's programme Language and International Studies, English at Aalborg University requires that you have a command of the English language equivalent to level A (Danish level) in English. Level A (Danish level) in regards to languages is considered equivalent to level C1 referring to Common European framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

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With extensive experience analysing and controlling the physical phenomena affecting buildings, practitioners of Architectural Science have a profound impact on the function, aesthetics and efficiency of architectural spaces.

Sustainable Design professionals are responsible for developing efficient and environmentally responsive buildings, and retrofitting existing buildings to meet today’s environmental demands. Sustainable designers are critical to ensuring that the plans on paper become a reality during and after construction.

Your skills in sustainable design are enhanced through the Faculty’s expertise in the built environment. Our ‘first principles’ approach enables you not just to perform energy analyses and building assessments, but also to critique and develop further the tools and approaches required for sustainable building.

Your research-leading lecturers take you on site visits and expose you to a range of international collaborators. We leverage our extensive links with industry to bring you internship opportunities with leading businesses and consultancies. And you can use a wide range of electives to pursue your interests in the application of sustainable design theories and methods in architecture, planning, urban design, building services and facilities management.

The field of Architectural Science is enjoying rapid and exciting technological innovations. Through interdisciplinary access to our leading Academic researchers and laboratories, our program emphasises the knowledge and critical thinking skills that will enable students to adapt to—and lead—future changes in our built environment.


To ask a question about this course, visit http://sydney.edu.au/internationaloffice/

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Programme description

This programme helps you conceive, refine and explain sustainable strategies in the built environment.

The programme is scenario based, delivered in a series of studio projects supplemented with workshops and seminars on aspects of sustainable design. There is an opportunity to study environmental simulation techniques and discover how these can influence wider issues in the built environment.

We address the complex relationship of design to contemporary sustainable agendas and engage in cultural and professional debates that increasingly influence the production of architecture.

This programme is affiliated with the University’s Global Environment & Society Academy:

• Global Environment & Society Academy

Programme structure

You complete your studies in one year.

The first semester is a combination of seminars and workshops on the theoretical underpinnings of sustainable design. Alongside this are a series of design projects at the scales of both settlements and building systems. We set many of the projects in a variety of global contexts that reflects the international nature of our students.

The second semester offers an immersive design project that allows you to form your own building programmes and test them in real contexts. You conclude your studies with a comprehensive dissertation research project that can advance your own interests and can be shaped to your preferred career path.

Learning outcomes

Graduates of this programme will have:

• knowledge of the social, economic and legislative forces that are driving contemporary, sustainable agendas, and understanding of such agendas in relation to architectural cultures
• an ability to critically assess sustainability as a cultural, economic and environmental phenomenon
• the ability to interrogate site, programme and context in relation to the production of sustainable construction, engineering and architectural strategies
• the acquisition of trans-disciplinary skills in articulation of sustainable strategies in related industry sectors

Career opportunities

As the call for a more sustainable built environment increases, architects, designers, engineers and planners who can produce solutions are in demand. With this qualification you’ll be best placed to embrace these opportunities and advance your career.

Even if you follow an unrelated path, the experience and skill development in communication, team work and project management that you’ll gain from the programme will be a valuable addition to your resume.

Our graduates work in specialist sustainable design consultancies, and design practice across a variety of disciplines. Many of our students choose to continue their academic development through PhD study.

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The Master course in Smart Buildings and Sustainable Design addresses the issue of sustainability in terms of design strategies that optimize environmental, energy and social behaviors of the urban environment. The course is aimed at embedding interactive and web connected technology with architecture, in order to become aware of what is going on in the surrounding environment and acquire the capability of virtuous reactions.

Sustainable design deals with the challenges and problems of post-industrial polluted cities by combining design and technical skills to outstanding theoretic, critical and cultural knowledge.

Methodology and structure - The course includes different teaching activities: theoric classes, seminars, design workshops, speeches, construction labs.

The first month will be dedicated at introducing students to the skills of the job, including 3d modeling, digital fabrication, Arduino technology and principles of environmental strategies. From the second month and through the next 11 months, students will work on a challenging thesis project that will be presented to a public audience at the end of the Master. During this phase, classes will stimulate students on the topics of Green Energies Design Strategies, Smart Technologies for the Built Environment, Design Rating Systems and Certifications, Big Data, Urban Sharing. All the input coming from these activities will be embedded in the students design work to develop a compelling thesis project.

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The Specializing Master Sustainable Design for Complexity is a First and Second-level Politecnico di Milano Specializing Master, born as an evolution of the five editions of the Specializing Master Sustainable Environments and Architecture to give designers, architects, and engineers bespoke, specialized training for ecologically and bioclimatically compatible projects in the built environment, integrating energy planning into new and existing architectural spaces.

Operating Context

Issues of complexity, nomadism, environmental and energy resources, the crisis for cities, and the gradual acceptance of ecological compatibility principles have brought the following needs to the fore:
a design and knowledge approach inspired by sustainable development;
innovation in the principles for settling and building cities and surrounding areas;
tight synergy with the potential technological innovation;
new skills on the part of designers in social, ecological, and energy fields;
finding new ways to design the land, its towns, and a sustainable built environment.
Relation to Job Market

Training is designed to build professionals and researchers:
who can interpret and manage the complexity of new land, town, and architecture scenarios;
who own the knowledge to use renewable energy resources and advanced technology properly;
who are optimally equipped to enhance the enormous potential of new nomadism.

Main Content

This Specializing Master seeks to build opportunities to acquire and experience the following features:
interpretative evaluation of the ways of interethnic living;
innovative approaches to understanding local context and transforming the natural and built environments;
knowledge of advanced technology and the use of alternative energy sources;
integrated design of photovoltaic and thermal solar technology;
integrated design of phytopurification, botanical land use and agronomy;
integrated design of re-naturalized rivers and farmland;
Innovation in the conceptions/concept of the structures.

Starting date: October 2016.

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About the course

Develop a portfolio of advanced skills and knowledge across several architectural disciplines, with a focus on sustainable architectural design. The interdisciplinary MSc in Sustainable Architecture Studies programme provides research-led learning and teaching. It will inspire and enable you to pursue innovative research and design strategies for the built environment.

Advance your career

Our graduates are architects, project managers, urban designers and client advisers.

Employers include the Olympic Park Legacy Company, Hawkins Brown, Renzo Piano Building Workshop and URBED (Urbanism, Environment and Design) Ltd. With a post-qualification degree, you could move on to a senior position or further academic research and teaching.

Learn from experts

You’ll be joining one of the largest and most diverse groups of full-time architecture academics in the country. Our staff come from the arts, physical and social sciences, and engineering. This connects our research to other disciplines and stimulates debate about the future of architecture.

Our international research projects shape policy and address public and professional needs. We integrate those projects with our teaching on courses that will develop your core skills. You’ll be encouraged to provide social and environmental solutions to the challenges of our time.

The 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF) ranks us fourth in the UK.

Explore your ideas

You’ll have access to a lot of specialist facilities. Our media unit has a range of audio-visual and environmental equipment including artificial sky for daylight simulation, a thermal imaging camera and a mixed reality imaging suite. We have our own photography studio, reprographics unit and 3D printers. There are design studios, research rooms and computer labs.

Our teaching is more than lectures and seminars. Our student-led design projects help you learn by doing. Working with real clients on real projects, you’ll discover the benefits of socially engaged design and collaborative working. The outcomes make a difference to communities.

Core modules

Building Environmental Simulation and Analysis; Renewable Energy; Sustainable Design Project 1; Sustainable Design Project 2; Principles of Building Physics for Sustainable Design; Sustainable Design Thesis Project.

Examples of optional modules

You can choose to specialise in low impact materials or in advanced computing.

Teaching and assessment

Your work in the design studio is supported through lectures, seminars, tutorials and practical computer work. Assessment is by course-based assignments, examinations and a dissertation.

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The new master’s programme in Design offers a studio-based, interdisciplinary approach to design, with collaborations tackling societal challenges.

This programme incorporates established and innovative design concepts in a unique interdisciplinary setup. Studio courses form the backbone of the programme, providing the fundamentals of working with societal challenges. The challenges are defined on a yearly basis, ranging from Food Waste and Civility to Nomadic Welfare.

The programme features three design tracks, allowing you to develop your skills within an area of speciality. Current tracks are Sustainable Futures, Transformative Service and Visual Media.

Please be advised that this programme has a multi-campus setup, with courses offered in Linköping and Norrköping as well as online.

Programme Description

The new master’s programme in Design offers a studio-based, interdisciplinary approach to design, with collaborations tackling societal challenges. Established and innovative design concepts are incorporated in a unique interdisciplinary setup across campuses.

Businesses, organisations and government agencies are facing ever more complex challenges that require innovative approaches. Increasingly, the field of design is expected to come up with answers and help achieve progress.

The purpose of this programme is to train qualified and confident designers who can enter these complex contexts, take on a leading role and co-create solid, sustainable solutions. We are reaching out to students with different backgrounds – not necessarily with previous academic design qualifications, but with excellent design abilities and a desire to develop design beyond specific materials and disciplines.

This programme incorporates established and innovative design concepts in a unique interdisciplinary setup. Studio courses form the backbone of the programme, providing the fundamentals of working with societal challenges. The challenges are defined on a yearly basis, ranging from Food Waste and Civility to Nomadic Welfare.

Theoretical courses and design projects run alongside studio work. You develop generic design skills and knowledge of design facilitation, co-creative practices and design history. You learn about designing and change and how to make design a strategic practice that is embedded in organisations.

Projects are carried out in mixed-competence groups, sometimes with students from other programmes, across campuses with blended learning, using physical and digital resources. You interact with companies, organisations and entrepreneurs.

Elective courses are structured into tracks allowing you to develop skills within an area of speciality.

Current tracks offered are:

Sustainable Futures
Design of sustainable systems, with accompanying business models, products and services. Project-based exploration of future solutions that may further a transition to a sustainable society and empower people interacting with those systems.

Transformative Service
Design and innovation for the service sector, including welfare and industrial service. Engaging humans at the centre of design projects and developing service concepts and social innovations to facilitate transformation of practices and co-creation of value.

Visual Media
Design of interactive visual environments, going beyond screens and handheld units towards augmented and immersive approaches. Studio-based exploration of advanced concepts at the intersection of graphic design, interaction design and information visualisation.

For your thesis, you are expected to undertake an individual project that comprises practical design work and writing a thesis.

Linköping University is one of Sweden’s leading design research universities, with world-class research into design for services, a state-of-the-art facility for visual media research, and a strong team devoted to design and sustainability.

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