Masters Degrees in Interior Design, United Kingdom

Why take this course?

This course allows you to develop and grow your own creative practice whilst positioning yourself within a theoretical context.

You will engage in the exploration of space conceptually and pragmatically, encouraging your own response to the functionality and visual design of existing sites. You’ll also inspect the consideration of materiality and the relationship of the interior idea to architecture.

What will I experience?

On this course you can:

Have the opportunity to 'earn and learn' by working on real life contracts through our Projects Office. This experience will enable you to develop your professional portfolio.
Develop a personal area of study, get involved with some regional regeneration projects and test and develop your ideas and your interior research.

What opportunities might it lead to?

Interior design can be transient or durable, small or large, can engage at a detailed product design level or at an urban level, but at whichever level, the demand for skilled professionals is increasing, as is the requirement for innovative sustainable designs.

This course provides a firm grounding for employment in a range of design offices, as well as other property-related jobs.

Here are some routes our graduates have pursued:

Interior design practice
Exhibition design
Retail consultant
Working for local and public authorities
Teaching in HE

Module Details

This course uses the experience and skills of teaching staff with a proven track record in interior design studies, practice and research. You will also benefit from a multi-disciplinary learning environment where more than 100 postgraduate students in architecture, interior design, urban design, sustainable design and historic building conservation can meet and work.

Here are the units you will study:

Practice: This unit provides you with the opportunity to evaluate your own design practice and the design discipline from which you come and to contextualise this within interior design practice. Practice-based methods will be used to explore the interior through inter-disciplinary means and you will build on and develop your own creative practice through real-world situations, through doing. You will also be involved in discussions around the social, political, economic and professional contexts that drive the construction of interior space. You will be expected to analyse and critically evaluate the interior context, develop briefs, strategies and a proposal for a given area.

Theory: This unit aims to interrogate the history of interior design and its relationship to practice. Interior design is a relatively youthful profession, whose history is situated in the gaps between architectural history and design history. In this unit you will explore the intellectual idea of the interior through debate and discussion, catalysed through a series of workshops and critical readings, developing an understanding of the interior condition. We bring in specialists from other disciplines, actively encouraging debate. You will also be expected to explore and build on your own understanding of interior space by keeping a reflective journal.

Research Methods and Research Proposal: In this unit you will develop research skills, which will aid you throughout your course and particularly in producing your thesis. You will be asked to establish a critical position within an Outline Research Proposal. You will develop techniques, which will allow you to engage proactively within your area of study. You will be encouraged to explore methods of investigation that are responsive to, as well as inquisitive of, the conditions presented and which therefore speculate around possible critical scenarios. Implicit within these explorations is the need to investigate diverse means of representation and depiction through a variety of possible media and discourse.

Integration: This unit allows you to work in a multi-disciplinary context through groups within your own subject area and across the areas of interior design, urban design, sustainable architecture and historic building conservation, as well as explore the interrelationships of all disciplines. You will need to work collectively on given projects or problems related to staff-run studios, which explore a range of given themes. These themes will be introduced at the start of the course and connect to research areas within the School.

Work-Based Learning: This unit gives you the opportunity to replace a 30-credit core unit with a work-based version of that unit. Not all units can be replaced and you will need to discuss the appropriateness of a unit with tutors. Work-based learning requires you to engage in critical and reflective learning in the workplace. This will be developed through a learning contract, negotiated by you, your employer and School. The work undertaken in practice will be appraised through critical reflective writing that engages with the practice of the particular subject discipline and this will form the assessment artefacts.

Thesis: Your thesis is a substantial research-based project that enables you to carry out an in-depth investigation into a subject area of personal interest, which is related to or developed from a theme studied during the course. The proposed research theme should have a clearly defined focus to allow for in depth theoretical, contextual and visual research.

Programme Assessment

This course is lecture and studio-based, culminating in a written or design-led thesis project. It will involve case study investigations, group work, discussion and planning of interior environments, as well as independent study to develop design or research-based responses to interior problems.

Design assessment is through studio review and taught courses are assessed by various forms of evidence-based interior design decisions and proposals. You will also carry out an in-depth research project into an area of your choice.

Student Destinations

On completing this course, you will be adept in spatial practice and able to work within your specialist discipline in design practices, architectural firms and cross-disciplinary environments. The creative skills, professional competencies and expansive learning environment that we provide has also led graduates into a range of careers in marketing, advertising, journalism, virtual design and modelling through to people-centred careers such as project management.

Alternatively, you can choose to pursue freelance opportunities, continue your studies to PhD level or even set up your own interior design practice.

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This course promotes the investigation and interpretation of interior space, inside and outside of the traditional architectural envelope, whilst considering human occupation, engagement and experience as the catalyst. This may manifest in a variety of outcomes and will allow you to work within your chosen speciality such as building re-use, exhibition or shop design, branding, identities or environmental graphics, performance or set design, temporary installations or ‘event’ design, furniture or artefact design. The specialist workshops provide you with opportunities to explore materiality, fabrication and realisation of your ideas, through technical rigour at a variety of scales whilst studio teaching is underpinned by engagement with industry.

Design Network

Based in the heart of the School of Art, MA/MFA Design: Interior Design is part of an innovative design network — a community of staff and students exploring design ideas in a discursive, cross-disciplinary studio environment. Critically informed practical designers, the group works experimentally, inspired by new insights and possibilities.

While studying towards a particular qualification at MA/MFA level, students experience their subject in the broader context of contemporary design practice.

Specialist Environment

Dedicated spaces for the postgraduate community have been developed to enable the postgraduate community to flourish. These spaces, for thinking and practice, are located centrally within the School of Art, allowing easy access to an extensive range of workshops where the combination of traditional and state of the art equipment opens up a world of exciting possibilities.

Course Content

The MA Design: Interior Design is made up of four units totalling 180 credits.

The programme is designed to help you acclimatise to the challenges of MA level research and practice, enabling you to identify and describe a clear direction for your postgraduate design study.

You will be encouraged to develop design propositions that encompass key design issues and have complexity and ambition, taking full consideration of the relative contextual drivers.

You will also be encouraged and supported to extend your experience in the professional sphere either through a practical project, research context, exchange, work experience, or other negotiated professional set of interactions with an external partner, groups of students and creative industry.

Towards the end of the programme you will undertake a major project to consolidate your past research and practice into fully realised collections, pieces, proposals, business plans, or exhibitions – what ever means is appropriate to the work. You will also have developed a strategy for the continuation of your practice located and contextualised to the profession or discipline.

If you choose to progress to MFA Design: Interior Design award you will study a further two units of 60 credits each.

This route is focussed on the continuation of your practice aligned to the research and selection of appropriate public or professional venues and platforms to disseminate a significant body of work. You will be required to produce work for a public audience in the most relevant and appropriate form along with any implicit publicity and dissemination material.

Resources

We have developed a dedicated postgraduate area occupying an entire floor of the main School of Art building, offering an exciting space to be, both intellectually and practically. The centre is located in the newly refurbished Chatham Tower with studios, design laboratories, seminar rooms and extensive workshops that form the nucleus of this vibrant, cross-disciplinary learning environment.

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Graduate Diploma in Interior Design at Chelsea College of Arts is a full time, one year programme. This course provides students with the skills and experience required for a career in the field of interior design, or further study at MA level.

Content

What students can expect:

- To develop a flexible, open-minded approach to thinking about interior design or critically engaging with contemporary design approaches

- To connect with interior design in a variety of ways such as designing, writing, visual communication and research

- To explore the possibility of making narratives from interior design

- To develop an open way of thinking about interior design, and give students the opportunity to critically engage with contemporary design approaches

- To design small-scale interiors and explore new opportunities within existing architectural spaces

- To be assigned a personal tutor who supports your development

Structure

The course runs over a total of 30 weeks and offers a combination of taught study, self-directed negotiated study, personal research and written assignments. There are also two major practical projects undertaken during the year and each is the subject of a book.

The course is studio based and delivered in three units of study:

Unit 1 - Commodity and Design

This is a design programme that explores a small-scale domestic interior. This project focuses on how the client / user can be given a new opportunity to perform within a space and the various methods students have to envisage and communicate this opportunity.

Unit 2 - Negotiated Design Programme

In this unit students are expected to initiate a design project. They will choose a location, make an analysis of an interior and establish a design brief for a new programme of habitation. Students are asked to find a context in the public realm rather than the domestic one, and are expected to reflect upon and discuss how habitation is improved by their contribution.

Unit 3 - Professional Context

This unit is concerned with critical reflection upon professional practice and creative processes. Students will learn about professional communication within the practice of interior design, and specifically the writing requirements of an interior designer when they are reflecting upon and communicating their design proposals. This will prepare students for professional practice and support the critical position of their design proposals.

Work experience and opportunities

During the year students are involved in live projects. One of these, the making of a Christmas-themed installation for a highly regarded hotel in Westminster, has become an annual event.

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This Interior Design course will suit recent graduates who already have some academic knowledge of interior design or interior products, but wish to deepen their design skills and understanding of the wide range of the interior design workfield.

WHY CHOOSE THIS COURSE?

In this MA course the student has the possibility to focus on a specific field where their strength lies. The course interior design explores the human scale and relationship in the continuously changing context of the spatial environments.

You will be given the opportunity to learn to develop and design within a broad range of spatial environments, while considering the scale of the environment, manufacturing processes and exclusivity.

WHAT WILL I LEARN?

The MA Course Interior design covers the wide scope of the work-field expressed in the axiom SMLXL (Small, Medium, Large, Extra Large).

Within the modules there is the possibility to explore the specific scale of the work field of interior design while learning specific skills in one of the fields of SMLXL.

Small: development and research in specific skills for the production of interior products such as e.g. furniture, lighting, interior fabrics, carpets and paints, this in close relationship with local and national industry and manufacturers. The students have the possibility to deepen their knowledge about manufacturing and developing Interior products.

Medium: development and research in specific skills for medium interior projects such as e.g. domestic design, small shops, car interiors and small events, this by developing trends, brands and prognoses. The students have the possibility to deepen their skills of architectural and planning and knowledge about brand identity.

Large: development and research in specific skills for large Interior projects such as e.g. hotels, offices, boat interiors, train interiors, this by developing complex proposals for interiors within brand Identity, new media, the architectural context and (urban) spatial context. The students have the possibility to deepen their knowledge about complex planning in a architectural environment with a complex brand and new media identity.

Extra large: development and research in specific skills for extra large interior design projects such as e.g. university campus, hospitals, cruise ships, airports, this by developing managements skills in developing, designing and planning within an architectural environment with a complex management structure.

TEACHING CONTACT HOURS

The average teaching contact hours will be 18 hours per week. We do not offer a part-time evening or weekend pattern of delivery, but if you wish to study part time during the day, please contact the course director to explore further.

HOW WILL THIS COURSE ENHANCE MY CAREER PROSPECTS?

The knowledge gained by the CU interior design graduates will enable them to find employment internationally as well as nationally and the nature of the course will provide strong international recruitment.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR AN INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

The course will have strong connections with industry and other universities in Europe as well as other overseas territories like Asia, and Northa and South America. Collaborations in China are already being developed as well as associations with academia and industry in The Netherlands.

GLOBAL LEADERS PROGRAMME

Centre for Global Engagement logoTo prepare students for the challenges of the global employment market and to strengthen and develop their broader personal and professional skills Coventry University has developed a unique Global Leaders Programme.

The objectives of the programme, in which postgraduate and eligible undergraduate students can participate, is to provide practical career workshops and enable participants to experience different business cultures.

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-On the Interior Architecture & Design MA you will develop your professional skills
-You will work with design professionals of international standing and in industrial contexts
-Develop research skills
-Exhibit your work and work as a tutor/mentor with our undergraduates

Why choose this course?

MA Interior Architecture & Design is a Masters award within the MA Art and Design programme at the School of Creative Arts. Within the programme there is strong emphasis on professional practice and the real-world applications of art and design. You will develop key research skills and gain a good understanding of the work of other practitioners in your field.

The aim of the postgraduate programme is to equip you with the skills, knowledge and understanding required to practice at an advanced level, to foster your creativity and enhance your employment opportunities. You will work alongside artists and designers who are involved with a wide variety of media and forms and will benefit from visiting interior designers, architects and design professionals. Induction, seminars and social events for students and staff mean that you will be part of a friendly and supportive postgraduate community, which also includes film makers, musicians and professionals working in new media. Senior research staff and internationally renowned artists work with postgraduate students, helping you to develop original and challenging work.

The MA Interior Architecture & Design degree will be of interest to interior and spatial designers, architects, and design professionals in related disciplines. It gives you a forum to explore a wide range of issues, including creative practice and the psychology of space as well as the use of materials, scale and form in the creation of private, commercial and public spaces.

Through working with a strong experimental ethos and developing solid technical skills, you will examine the connection between architecture and interior design and the creation of both real and virtual spaces.

Interior architecture & design have a dramatic impact on our understanding of the spaces in which we live and work. This course is dedicated to helping you advance your practice against the expanding profile of this subject area.

Careers

Particular emphasis is given to providing you with the skills necessary to further your career as an interior designer. The course is designed to help you understand and work within the contemporary industrial environment and particular attention is given to helping you acquire entrepreneurial skills.

Teaching methods

This course is designed to help you develop your practice and give you the skills recovery to further your career in industry both in the UK and abroad. The course includes practice based modules where you will explore and develop your work as a interior designer. It also contains course or research skills, entrepreneurialism and professional practice. The final part of the course enables you to complete a major project.

Structure

Core Modules
-Creative Economies
-Discourse/Reflection: Art and Design
-Major Study: Interior Architecture and Design
-Practice 1: Art and Design
-Practice 2: Art and Design
-Research and Enquiry

Optional
-Creative Economies (Online)
-Research and Enquiry (Online)

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Our MA Interior Design course enables you to develop an individual approach to spatial design within a stimulating, creative and supportive environment.

This degree provides you with a launchpad to potential higher level interior design careers within a diverse range of subjects. These include museum and exhibition design, design for film, television and digital games and brand interpretation for retail, leisure or promotional events.

An emphasis on ecological issues and processes is also a prominent aspect of this course, and underpins all aspects of the course.

Explore your interests

You'll explore your area of interest to an advanced level, through establishing new spatial paradigms that build on your existing knowledge. Our course, at UCA Canterbury, combines theoretical and practical skills, and encourages engagement with industry at all levels.

In-depth research into design processes and technologies, along with related work placement opportunities, will prepare you for new career directions. Your project work will be supported by ongoing staff research into sustainability, architecture, design-related digital technologies, experiential environments and brand communication.

You'll be taught through tutorials, seminars, self-directed study in relation to your project proposal, work-in-progress reviews and visits or references to sites of local and international interest.

Part-time students are normally taught on a Tuesday but sometimes field trips, study visits or other events take place on other days of the week. You should check before enrolling if you have concerns about the days your course will be taught on.

Industry Partners

We've got extensive contacts across the range of interior design disciplines. Live projects, research analysis and feasibility studies will draw on our wide range of contacts and associations.

Connections include specialists in the related fields of audio-visual technologies, lighting design and interactive design.

Recent guest lecturers have included:

-David Callcott, CADA Design, retail and leisure design consultants (London and Hyderabad, India)

-Emma Vane, Production Designer for Atonement, the Harry Potter series, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Captain America: The First Avenger

-Finlay White, ModCell, sustainable construction

-Mick Pearce, award-winning international architect (Title: Bio-mimicry and the 3rd industrial revolution)

-Phil Hughes, Ralph Appelbaum Associates, museum and exhibition designers (London, New York, Beijing)

-Uwe R. Brückner, Atelier Brückner, exhibition design (Stuttgart, Germany).

Careers

Career opportunities exist within design or architectural consultancies in retail, leisure, exhibition, office, hotel, residential and cruise ship design, as well as in the fields of design management, interior or film-set design.

Our course has a strong ecological focus with opportunities for engaging with both the theoretical and practical aspects of real-world sustainability.

Virtual Media Space

Visit our Postgraduate Virtual Media Space to find out more about our courses, see what it's like to study at UCA and gain access to our campus virtual tours.

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The Interior Design MA at DMU is a creative, practice based course with an inspiring curriculum that will broaden and deepen your design skills and knowledge. It is aimed at working designers and newly qualified aspirational designers.

The programme will provide you with an opportunity to develop, research and practise design skills to an advanced level, and to apply these skills to the formulation, investigation and detailed development of a personally selected design project. Particular emphasis is placed on the integration of research within the creative design process and the effective rationalisation of the relevant functional, legislative, idealistic and aesthetic parameters.

Modules are taught through seminars, lectures, team working and design workshops, supported by tutorials and guidance. You will undertake independent research, analysis, design development and writing-up of your projects, supported by individual tutorials. Typical contact time will be 19 hours per week. Assessment methods include report submissions, individual and group presentations (oral and design based presentations) and a major design project submission.

Teaching staff have a wide variety of expertise and knowledge in many different areas, including interior design, design management, innovation management, creativity management, enterprise, technology transfer, multimedia design, web design, new product development, design history, retail design and resource efficient design. You will have access to excellent CAD and workshop facilities including soft modelling, wood, plastics, metal fabrication, metal machining and finishing. The workshops house four computer numerically controlled (CNC) milling machines, a CNC lathe, two laser cutters, a vinyl cutter and three rapid prototyping (RP) machines with a 3D paper printer and CNC water-jet cutter. This equipment allows you
to experiment with techniques and finishes to a high level, adding unique self-development to your portfolio.

You will graduate with a wide range of design skills creating career opportunities in retail, public spaces, leisure environments, contract interiors and workplaces, working for employers such as Conran Design, Pinewood Studios, Kelly Hoppen, Tesco's Design, Think Tank, Blue Print, Haley Sharpe and Foster + Partners. Opportunities are also available in further research study at PhD level.

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The MA Interior Design course has been developed as a coherent part of the School of Art Design and Performance’s Masters Programmes and shares the same values and philosophies that unite them

The focus of the MA Interior Design course is rooted in 'creative practice'. As a postgraduate student, you will be able to form a uniquely individual, tailor made programme of study. You may choose to work either within an established area of contemporary interior design practice or explore the potential for design diversity.

PROFESSIONAL ACCREDITATION

Staff involved in teaching the programme are Chartered members of associated professional bodies such as the RIBA. They will endeavour to provide assistance in opening up opportunities to network with regional bodies appropriate to your study programme.

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT AND ASSESSMENT

Practical work is carried out within our extensive and very well equipped studios and workshops. A programme of guest lecturers, visits to exhibitions and UK cities, workshops, manufacturers, and opportunities to study abroad further broaden, support and enhance the environment within which you will study.

A special feature of the MA programme is the blend of practice and theory which underpins the student projects. As a student on an MA course in the School of Art Design and Performance you will belong to a large and varied postgraduate design community. You will study some core modules alongside students from other design disciplines and through this participation in a common programme; you will experience a strong sense of community, sharing of knowledge and access to a wide range of staff skills and resources.

Practical and theoretical elements are assessed. Assessment strategies involve portfolio assessment, presentations and reflective diary summaries.

Successful completion of a combination of research and practice modules leads to the MA award. Intermediate Diploma or Certificate exit awards are available should studies be incomplete.

FURTHER INFORMATION

The MA Interior Design course has been developed as a coherent part of the School of Art Design and Performance’s master's programmes and shares the same values and philosophies that unite them. At the outset of the programme all students are required to participate in an induction and diagnostic phase. During this three week programme student’s develop a proposed area of study and negotiate methods and topics for their research.

Throughout the master's programme students work simultaneously on both their research and practice modules. Research often helps students to re-orientate themselves in industry and to develop very personal design philosophies that inform their practice thinking. Upon conclusion of their practice studies students are expected to have achieved outcomes made possible through unique connections explored through their research.

In the second semester you may choose to undertake field studies and take a more outward looking focus and more rigorous validation of their ideas through professional networking or even external placement. You will have the opportunity to study abroad for a period of time and a regular feature of the course takes students to New York and Berlin.

Interior Design also encourages students to engage in internship positions as part of their studies that offer real design practice experience. These experiences can fuel the development of rich and varied CV’s ready to enhance your career.

By the end of the course all students should have completed a cohesive body of creative work to a professional standard and be able to clearly articulate a sound intellectual rationale and broad critical viewpoint.

OPPORTUNITIES

In addition to the employment opportunities we seek out for students we are keen to travel to explore and research realistic design contexts. These trips range from those close to home to more International locations. As a result we visit sculpture parks, local cities in the North West of the UK, London, Berlin and New York. We receive fantastic feedback from students about these experiences.

The MA will further your career opportunities within commercial design practice. Research has shown that graduates who have undertaken some form of work experience are significantly more likely to gain employment in relevant sectors than those who have had no work experience. The programme has strong a strong track record of internship success with students following leads provided by staff to take part time positions in practice during their studies.

The MA is, however, not seen as wholly vocational as it also recognises the value of personal development, satisfaction and enlightenment.

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Develop your existing knowledge and experience as a designer, exploiting our significant research expertise to enhance your own design and research skills to a new level.

We place emphasis on personal research, giving you the chance to develop your own interests and ideas in a challenging and supportive environment. Our aim is to help you to become a creative, imaginative and versatile interior designer who can operate independently or as a member of a design team.

You can work alongside our in-house design consultancy, Design Futures, and with researchers from other design areas. We also have contacts with leading design agencies and design organisations and encourage you to work collaboratively with them.

There are opportunities to participate in study trips and visits to design conferences and debates.

Project-based course

You choose your own project content and this is supported by lectures and seminars dealing with professional practice issues and reviewing your progress. You also take part in regular group and individual tutorials.

Your final major project is the culmination of your research and studio-based design practice. It demonstrates that you can deal with difficult contemporary questions and take a leading role as a design professional.

Research-led expertise

We are one of the oldest established art and design institutions in the UK, renowned for producing internationally recognised research. Your projects are supported by lecturers who are interior design specialists.

Vibrant and supportive learning environment

During the course you regularly take part in constructive critical debates about your own work and that of your peers. You need to communicate your research, ideas and designs in ways that are appropriate to professional leadership.

You study alongside MA and MFA Design students for part of your course and benefit from a vibrant, international, collaborative and supportive postgraduate environment.

Excellent facilities and creative resources

You have access to a huge range of creative resources to experiment and engage with including • 3D printing for rapid prototyping • state-of-the-art hardware and software • photography studios • a creative media centre • a gallery • well-equipped workshops.

You also have access to our award-winning learning centre featuring a specialist art, design and media library and extensive online resources.

MA and MFA study

MA and MFA students complete the same modules during the course except that MFA students complete an extra project module. The MFA project encourages you to develop professional skills that help you to identify, instigate, and deliver projects with external partners, such as communities, galleries or businesses. You find a project partner, agree a brief and then deliver the project to a professional standard.

We are normally asked to shortlist applicants before recommending a small number to apply. If this happens, we consider your interview, portfolio of work, academic qualifications and learning aims. We aim to pick people whose abilities and aims are relevant for the company and who are most likely to be successful in a competitive interview.

This course is part of the Sheffield Institute of Arts (SIA), an amazing, diverse community of makers – where staff, students and partners work as equals to deliver real innovation and creativity. SIA opened in 1843 and is one of the UK's oldest Art and Design Schools. We have recently moved into the Head Post Office, a redesigned Grade II listed building. It includes state-of-the-art workshops which provide you with a unique studio-based learning environment in the heart of the creative community.

Course structure

FULL-TIME STRUCTURE

Semester one

• project 1 • theory supporting practice

Semester two

• project 2 • negotiated project

Semester three

• major project

Semester four – MFA students only

• MFA project

PART-TIME STRUCTURE

Semester one (year 1)

• theory supporting practice • negotiated project

Semester two (year 2)

• project 1 • project 2

Semester three (year 3)

• major project

Semester four – MFA students only (year 4)

• MFA project

Assessment

Assessment and feedback are vital parts of the learning process in creative disciplines. Most assessment is through individual project work which combines research and creative practice. Assessment calls for both excellent creative work and well-documented research.

Employability

There are many opportunities for employment or self-employment. We encourage you to take an enterprising approach and to strengthen your ability to develop your own business.

An increasing number of our graduates undertake advanced further study through research degrees (PhD) in our Art and Design Research Centre, which has a leading position in the advancement of creative practice in design.

Sheffield is home to the largest concentration of creative production in the region. Support for creative industries in the city has encouraged home grown talent as well as practitioners relocating here.

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This course is aimed at graduates from a wide range of design-related backgrounds.

Interdisciplinary research and practice is promoted throughout the course, and creative collaborations are developed between designers, fine artists, architects and thinkers wanting to follow an advanced course in interior design.

Students share spacious top-lit studios and have their own individual working spaces. There are also dedicated computer suites as well as photographic and workshop facilities.

Staff bringing their expertise to this course include:

• full-time academics who combine teaching with research and consultancy
• part-time tutors who are also practising designers
• eminent visiting specialists, critics and consultants.

Course structure

During semester 1, the projects set for the Preliminary Design module provide an opportunity for students returning to education to take stock of their position, evaluate their strengths and weaknesses, and identify ambitions for future study. Lecture courses in Technology and Material Practices, Critical Readings and Research Methods run in parallel.

In semester 2, you consolidate and extend the priorities, ideas and strategies established in the preliminary design. Lecture series in Technology and Critical Readings continue. A proposal for the final research project is developed and submitted, which then takes up the whole of semester 3.

The course explores both the intellectual idea and the spatial language of interior environments. Students develop new skills while extending existing design practices to precisely articulate spatial design proposals.

We offer at least one study trip each year. It might be related to the design studio or a trip that offers you direct exposure to and experience of some of the most contemporary spatial design projects in Britain and mainland Europe.

Syllabus

Our Interior Design MA is designed to promote interdisciplinary research and practice: we are looking to develop creative collaborations between fine artists, designers, architects and thinkers. Our starting point is to acknowledge the complexities and paradoxes inherent in orthodox architectural documentation in order to unearth the dubious simplifications and missed opportunities that result from the tendency to privilege the visual at the expense of our other senses.

In anticipation of 'the creative user', all our proposals originate from a close focus on the existing condition, paying particular attention to local takeovers, autonomous occupations and the blurring of boundaries of ownership and programme. In considering issues of technology, we are concerned as much with intuition, desire and chance as with precedent, economy and established practice.

Modules:

Preliminary Design
Technology and Material Practices
Optional Module
Main Design
Research Methods
Masterwork

Please visit the website to find out more about these modules:

https://www.brighton.ac.uk/courses/study/interior-design-ma-pgcert-pgdip.aspx

Facilities

• Benefit from the new Masters Centre including studio space, tutorial areas and shared creative spaces

• Modelling and construction workshops: timber and metal, dedicated 'wet' modelling bay, plastic dying facility, drill press, spray booth, vacuum former, strip bender, plastics oven, hot wire cutter and spot welder; further workshops available by arrangement with rapid prototyping and laser cutter

• IT facilities include 3D paper and printer, plotters, scanners and a reprographics suite

• Software includes Adobe suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat Professional), VW2010, Cinem 4D, Premiere, Blender, AutoCAD, Maya and Rhino

• Library facilities include additional computing equipment, digital and hard copy specialist library facilities, and specialist collections

Careers and employability

Our graduates generally succeed in finding challenging and rewarding work in the public and private sectors, nationally and internationally. Brighton graduates enjoy a reputation for being creative and innovative designers, responsive to the needs of people and places. In addition, this postgraduate programme offers opportunities for experimental and exploratory work in spatial design both within and beyond the limits of professional practice.

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This course promotes a dynamic and speculative approach to the design of interior spatial environments and values research that seeks to challenge traditional methodologies. It gives you the opportunity to pursue your particular issues of interest in interior design or specialist areas of three dimensional design, through concise and focused study.

You will cover a range of issues, both theoretical and practical. Design modules deal with contemporary issues in a variety of interior design typologies, including retail, exhibition, gallery, performance and speculative efforts broadly described as installation. Careful studies are made in the pursuit of a fresh approach to their design resolution, through analogous and figurative studies, as well as comparison using suitable contemporary exemplars. The thesis can be undertaken as a design project, a dissertation or a piece of research – effectively a hybrid, both a project and a written summary or theoretical proposition.

Modules

The following modules are indicative of what you will study on this course.
-DECODING THE INTERIOR
-INTERIOR DESIGN CASE STUDY
-INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN COMPUTING
-MAJOR THESIS PROJECT
-RETAIL DESIGN
-THESIS DEVELOPMENT

Careers

Our dedicated Career Development Centre is actively working with an ever-expanding network of over 3,000 employers to provide you with exceptional employability support and guidance. As a result we were nominated as finalists for a significant industry award – the NUE Awards Most Improved Commitment to Employability 2016.

We provide our students with work placements and international opportunities to support them in becoming highly employable, globally engaged graduates, and with one million businesses operating within 20 miles of the University of Westminster, over 84% of our students are in work or further study six months after graduation. Our graduates work in a variety of sectors and organisations, from small/medium-sized companies and start-ups to large not-for-profit organisations and corporates.

During your time at Westminster you will be able to use our comprehensive online vacancy service and meet with our experienced careers consultants, providing you with thorough training and support on CV writing, application forms, interview preparation and assessment centres.

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Explore design for architectural and public spaces, shape your own ideas and concepts and gain sought after industry skills on this research led creative course.

On this course you’ll explore design for architectural and public spaces and make creative interventions in the built environment. You’ll undertake specialist modules in exhibition and lighting design. A design management module will sharpen your industry focus.

You’ll shape your own ideas, concepts and theories through a self-directed major project, informed by design research and critical enquiry.

This course has a strong studio culture and is taught in a multidisciplinary space within a suite of post-graduate design courses where you’ll gain skills and knowledge highly sought after in industry.

See the website http://www.napier.ac.uk/en/Courses/MA--MDes-Interior-Architecture-Postgraduate-FullTime

What you'll learn

In specialist spatial design, lighting design and management modules you’ll develop specific skills which will inform and enable highly developed outcomes in your self-directed major project. Working with specialist tutors, the major project allows you to create and develop design outcomes for public and private interior and exterior spaces and/or site specific installations.

Collaboration with practitioners from other areas is encouraged. You have the option of taking an MA or MDes award, depending on whether you complete a dissertation or design project report in your final trimester.

We have a strong studio culture supported by our multidisciplinary staff team of academics and industry based practitioners. You’ll develop creative, professional, strategic and contextual knowledge and skills and apply design thinking to a range of creative outcomes and design interventions.

Modules

• Design Research Methods
• Spatial Lighting Design
• Exhibition Design
• Design Management
• Major Design Project
• For MDes Degree - Design Project Report
• For MA Degree - Design Dissertation

Study modules mentioned above are indicative only. Some changes may occur between now and the time that you study.

Careers

With a physical and digital/online portfolio demonstrating industry-ready skills, graduates can apply for design jobs, freelance work or establish entrepreneurial ventures.

You may also continue to study to MPhil or PhD level.

How to apply

http://www.napier.ac.uk/study-with-us/postgraduate/how-to-apply

SAAS Funding

Nothing should get in the way of furthering your education. Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) awards funding for postgraduate courses, and could provide the help you need to continue your studies. Find out more: http://www.napier.ac.uk/study-with-us/postgraduate/fees-and-funding/saas-funded-courses

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Explore the use of light in interior and exterior spaces, learn from internationally renowned designers, and develop your technical knowledge and creative skills.

This is one of only a small number of postgraduate lighting design courses in the world.

You’ll explore the use of light in interior and exterior spaces and light as a medium for creative practice. You’ll learn combined technical and creative skills, and user centred knowledge to apply lighting design principles.

You’ll have the opportunity to shape your own ideas, concepts and theories through a self-directed major project, informed by design research and critical enquiry.

Taught by award winning and internationally renowned lighting designers, you’ll develop specialised skills and knowledge to prepare you for a career in lighting design.

See the website http://www.napier.ac.uk/en/Courses/MA--MDes-Lighting-Design-Postgraduate-FullTime

What you'll learn

In specialist lighting design, exhibition design and light art modules you’ll develop design skills which will inform and enable highly developed outcomes in your self-directed major project.

Working with specialist tutors, the major project allows you to create and develop design outcomes for public spaces, exhibitions, and/or site specific installations.

This course is part of a suite of post-graduate design courses and promotes an interdisciplinary approach. Collaboration with practitioners from other areas is encouraged. You have the option of taking an MA or MDes award, depending on whether you complete a dissertation or design project report.

We have a strong studio culture supported by our multidisciplinary staff team of academics and industry based practitioners. You’ll develop creative, professional, strategic and contextual knowledge and skills and apply design thinking to a range of creative outcomes and design interventions.

Modules

• Design Research Methods
• Spatial Lighting Design
• Exhibition Design
• Major Design Project
• Light Art & Projection
• For MDes Degree - Design Project Report
• For MA Degree - Design Dissertation

Study modules mentioned above are indicative only. Some changes may occur between now and the time that you study.

Careers

With a physical and digital/online portfolio demonstrating industry-ready skills, graduates can apply for design jobs, freelance work or establish entrepreneurial ventures.

You may also continue to study to MPhil or PhD level.

How to apply

http://www.napier.ac.uk/study-with-us/postgraduate/how-to-apply

SAAS Funding

Nothing should get in the way of furthering your education. Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) awards funding for postgraduate courses, and could provide the help you need to continue your studies. Find out more: http://www.napier.ac.uk/study-with-us/postgraduate/fees-and-funding/saas-funded-courses

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Covering the study and design of interior spaces in relation to a wide range of public and private environments, this programme will guide you through innovative design projects that will enable you to explore the design potential of existing buildings and find new uses for old or redundant spaces through the design of contemporary insertions.

You’ll be encouraged to focus on the aspect of interior design that you find most interesting or personally relevant, and take charge of the direction of your coursework.

Visits from industry practitioners, along with our strong link with commercial design consultancies and architectural practices, are invaluable in providing opportunities for additional expert advice and critical appraisal.

Programme structure

This programme integrates practical studio work with theoretical and written studies, including professional practice elements to prepare you for employment in the industry, and a lecture/seminar series to examine the wider context of your studies. The aim is to encourage and support postgraduate students who wish to explore interior design as a means of expressing ideas and opinions.

Projects are based within existing historic buildings in Edinburgh, usually in need of regeneration, and often significant to communities or the wider city. There is also an element of exhibition design to the programme, whereby in the last semester students are responsible for the design and construction of the ECA Interiors show at the Free Range Exhibition in London.

For assessment, you will produce a body of practical and written work on an agreed self-initiated topic. This may include set projects within the programme curriculum.

Career opportunities

We have an enviable track record of success as our graduates gain interior design work here in the UK and overseas, or set up their own businesses.

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Design projects form the core learning and teaching element of the programme. Projects are a mix of both set and self-generated. They will vary in duration and format. In the first term of years one and two of the course, students will work together as mixed vertical groups to enhance peer-to-peer learning. In the second and third terms of the course students work in year specific groups but with timetabled reviews of each others work at key points in their respective curriculum. In the second half of term one, second year students work independently as their final year thesis project is developed. It is expected that individual students will pursue projects of a particular personal interest in relation to their Interior Design studio ‘provocation’.

Design projects will always be concerned with issues in and around the design of interior environments, exploring issues such as proximities, inhabitation and the construction of a range of spatial identities. The context for design projects will vary, but will often include existing buildings, urban spaces, the analysis of site and human occupation and inhabitation, material and spatial identity and so on. Where applicable live briefs will be included in the curriculum where students work with commercial or industry partners. In some cases design projects will take the form of competitions that may be set within the programme or by organisations outside of the College.

The second year of the programme is organised around a number of Interior Design Platforms (IDPs). Their number will depend upon the number of students on the programme at any given time. Each platform will begin around the middle of term one and be based around emergent or current issues in the subject of Interiors and in other built environment/design led contexts. The tutors who run them will position the content of the studios. The studios will be configured in order to respond to a particular overall provocation and location, a site and context that will be set by the Head of Programme and the teaching team.

The programme employs a variety of different learning and teaching methods to help you achieve your individual aims and objectives, as well as those of the programme.

In addition to the core Interior Design programme content all students at the RCA undertake the Critical & Historical Studies component independently of their studio work. This work culminates in the submission of the dissertation, a 6,000 – 10,000 word essay, at the start of the second year.

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