University of Technology Sydney

86221 Communication and Construction: Interior Technologies

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

UTS: Design, Architecture and Building: Architecture
Credit points: 6 cp
Result type: Grade and marks

Requisite(s): 86113 Communication and Construction: Technologies
These requisites may not apply to students in certain courses.
There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.

Recommended studies:

Active participation in Orientation Week activities, especially software and workshop inductions.

Description

This subject is the third in a series of four representation and construction-focused context subjects. It is also the fifth in the Context subject series.

This subject focuses on the design of interior atmospheres. The subject facilitates the learning required to understand how these conditions are produced and the materials and technologies that support them. Students are required to research a range of atmospheric interiors and apply this research to all required assessment tasks.

The subject addresses a set of technical exercises orientated to assist student understanding of construction as a hierarchical set of relationships between construction, material and technological systems. During lectures and tutorials, students explore the details, processes and steps to convert design proposals into real projects ready for production. This is executed to the level expected by industry standards.

Students are required to produce technical plans and sections, details, 3D models and other production documents to explain with technical and stylistic rigour the true and subjective representations of interior atmospheric conditions.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:

1. Actively participate in the collaborative and collective production of various documents
2. Research, test and explain the role of interior technologies in the production of atmospheric controls - Materials, lighting, acoustics, temperature control - through technical drawing.
3. Explore and experiment with subjective representations of atmospheric conditions in space.
4. Test multiple strategies and techniques of graphic representation that professionally describes the technical and constructive processes of atmosphere production.
5. Understand the relevance and use of software in the production of documentation that accurately represents interior space at an industry standard.

Course intended learning outcomes (CILOs)

This subject also contributes to the following Course Intended Learning Outcomes:

  • Ability to take autonomous responsibility for actions and decisions (A.1)
  • Ability to communicate ideas effectively, including oral, written, visual, analogue and digital presentations (2D and 3D) (C.2)
  • Ability to understand and generate design propositions across a diverse range of design scenarios and negotiate final propositions with multiple stakeholders (I.2)
  • Ability to initiate and execute meaningful self-directed iterative processes (I.3)
  • Ability to apply and utilise appropriate communication techniques, knowledge and understanding to enable practical applications in spatial design (P.1)
  • Ability to rigorously explore, apply and extend multiple representational techniques (P.2)
  • Ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of interior and spatial design precedent and to contextualise one's work within the extended discipline (R.3)
  • Ability to reflect on, challenge and interrogate theoretical speculation (R.4)

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

The term CAPRI is used for the five DESIGN, Architecture and Building faculty Graduate Atributes. The course content, learning strategies and assessment structure is explicitly designed with these atributes in mind.

C= communication and groupwork

A= atributes and values

P= practical and professional

R= reserch and critique

I= innovation and creativity.

Teaching and learning strategies

Context: Explorations is studio based and consists of 3 hour weekly studio sessions and an interactive lecture series.

Studio sessions are composed of specially designed, task specific exercises that encourage interactive and collaborative learning experience through student/tutor dialogue. Studio sessions are forums for ongoing tutor-feedback and peer-feedback, the exchange of ideas and knowledge and the production of subject specific material.

The interactive lecture series is configured, where possible, to encourage individual and collective responses from students. During the series, students are presented with core theoretical and practical components essential in satisfying the 5 subject learning objectives. The series includes practitioner and expert presentations open to all years to encourage a highly engaged learning experience throughout the course.

Context uses an inquiry-based learning strategy that engages students in the research and development of their own individual/group understanding of the learning objectives. Therefore, student attendance in all classes is required in order to facilitate a proper working environment where the exchange of ideas and knowledge can take place. All subject documents, content specific information and communication will occur through UTSOnline.

Content (topics)

The subject addresses the following issues and topics:

  1. Understanding interior technologies as producers of interior atmospheres
  2. Understanding of construction principles and material sensitivity
  3. Research and analysis pertinent to the project
  4. Generative representation techniques and processes
  5. Management processes and documentation
  6. Application of software to industry demand
  7. Physical model making practice
  8. Professional representation and presentation techniques

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Dissecting Atmospheres

Intent:

This assessment is a study of materials and technologies responsible for defining atmospheric controls in interior space. Through the examination of case studies, students will produce construction documents that outline the logic and steps required to build specific interior projects.

Students will use 2D and 3D techniques to produce digital models and a complete documentation set at industry standard.

Student feedback will be provided weekly through reviews, studio discussion, critique of works and mark up sessions. Students have the opportunity to self-assess using REVIEW where self-assessment can be viewed in relation to tutor feedback. Feedback on REVIEW is generally available within 7-10 days of submission.

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

1, 2, 4 and 5

This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):

I.3, P.1, P.2 and R.4

Type: Design/drawing/plan/sketch
Groupwork: Group, individually assessed
Weight: 20%
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Ability to accurately document and represent interior space whilst addressing technical spatial principles. 30 1 P.2
Demonstrated understanding of atmospheric conditions through the generation of complex drawings. 30 2 R.4
Ability to apply industry standards of representation to the specific exercise demands. 20 4 I.3
Ability to manage software with technical precision and stylistic rigor 20 5 P.1
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Assessment task 2: Speculative Atmospheres

Intent:

Assessment 2 explores various strategies of representation and graphic codes in relation to atmospheric conditions that were studied in the previous assessment. The intention is to produce a speculative, yet, technical set of documents.

Similar to documentation produced for design competitions, students are to generate powerful technical and graphic narratives that express the interior conditions of atmospheres. The assessment tests student ability to produce speculative and suggestive representations of these conditions through various mediums. This is a strategic action that will assist students to connect their understanding of rigorous technical production to a conceptual body of work.

Student feedback will be provided weekly through reviews, studio discussion, critique of works and mark up sessions. Students have the opportunity to self-assess using REVIEW where self-assessment can be viewed in relation to tutor feedback. Feedback on REVIEW is generally available within 7-10 days of submission.

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

2, 3 and 4

This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):

C.2, I.2, P.1 and R.3

Type: Design/drawing/plan/sketch
Groupwork: Group, individually assessed
Weight: 40%
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Demonstrated understanding of both technical and subjective components of atmospheric space 30 2 I.2
Demonstrated ability to produce creative yet accurate technical representations of atmospheric conditions in space 50 2 C.2
Ability to produce graphic narratives specific to the exercise demands 10 3 R.3
Ability to test and explore various tools and softwares of graphic representation 10 4 P.1
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Assessment task 3: Atmospheric Compositions

Intent:

As in all Context subjects, the final assessment is a collaborative presentation of student work. With a focus on image-construction and production, students will produce a series of documents that detail the research and project completed during the semester.

Student feedback will be provided weekly through reviews, studio discussion, critique of works and mark up sessions. Students have the opportunity to self-assess using REVIEW where self-assessment can be viewed in relation to tutor feedback. Feedback on REVIEW is generally available within 7-10 days of submission.

Objective(s):

This task addresses the following subject learning objectives:

2, 3 and 4

This task also addresses the following course intended learning outcomes that are linked with a code to indicate one of the five CAPRI graduate attribute categories (e.g. C.1, A.3, P.4, etc.):

A.1, C.2, I.3 and P.2

Type: Design/drawing/plan/sketch
Groupwork: Group, individually assessed
Weight: 40%
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Ability to generate complex documents of technical and subjective value to describe atmospheric qualities of interior space 30 2 C.2
Experimentation with various model-making, image-construction methods and documentation techniques 30 3 P.2
Ability to produce documents that demonstrate atmospheric conditions and give contemporary value to the studied content through clearly articulated visual narratives 20 4 I.3
Application of creative approaches to post-production that enhance project outcomes 20 3 A.1
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Minimum requirements

The DAB attendance policy requires students to attend no less than 80% of formal teaching sessions (lectures and tutorials) for each class they are enrolled in to remain eligible for assessment.

  1. The Faculty of DAB expects that students attend 80% of classes for all enrolled subjects. Adequate achievement of subject criteria is difficult if classes are not attended. Attendance is mandatory where assessment tasks are to be presented during class.
  2. Pursuant to UTS rule 2.5.1 – students who do not satisfy attendance requirements may be refused permission to be considered for assessment by a Responsible Academic Officer.

Required texts

Ching, F., Binggeli, C., 2004, Interior Design Illustrated, Wiley & Sons, New York, U.S.

Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa and Murray Silverstein, A Pattern Language, Oxford University Press, 1977.

Peter Zumthor, 2006, 'Atmospheres', Birkhauser Verlag

OASE Journal for Architecture #91, Guest Editors Juhani Pallasmaa, Peter Zumthor, December 2013

Christian Schittich (Ed.) 2002, In Detail: Interior Spaces: Space, Light, Materials, Birkhauser

Wigley, Mark. 'The Architecture of Atmosphere.' Daidalos 68 (1998); 18-27

Tanizaki, Jun'ichiro. 1977 'In Praise of Shadows' Leete's Island Books

Recommended texts

Kevin Lynch Gary Hack, ‘site planning – third addition’ The MIT Press,Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London, England 1988.

Steven Holl, 1995, ‘Urbanisms’ working with doubt, S.Holl, Princeton Architectural Press, New York, 2009.

Bernard Tschumi, 1996, ‘architecture and disjunction’, B.Tschumi, MIT Press, 1996.

Steven Holl, Sanford Kwinter, Jordi Safont-Tria ‘Colour Light Time’, S.Holl, LarsMuller 2011.

Allen, Stan, Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation (Taylor+Francis: US, 2000)

Colomina, Beatriz (ed.). Sexuality and Space. New Jersey: Princeton Paper on Architecture, 1992.

Evans, R., 1997, Translations from Drawing to Building and Other Essays, Architecture Association: UK

Benedikt, Michael. 1987 ' For an Architecutre of Reality', Lumen Books