You are introduced to the social, cultural and economic aspects of current design and built environment thinking. You consider people and communities, current spatial design trends, innovation and new models of construction. The cultural understanding of home, work, community, health, wellbeing and place is explored. The impact of changing government policies, changing demographics, as well as the influence of new technology and sustainability is discussed. You also consider the relationship between process and product and relate theory to practice through a design project that applies learning from the past, to problem solving a current project.

You investigate the links between interior design and the built environment with new thinking on designing for health and wellbeing. Promoting health and wellbeing through new materials and biophilic trends has rapidly gathered momentum. You focus on notions of environmental wellness in interior design as a growing design ethos and how residential and commercial spaces can influence our physical and mental health.

You identify, lead and manage a large scale, innovative and complex interior design project. The project is a substantial novel piece of work, where you display a deep understanding of creative and innovative design. This is underpinned by research and a detailed journey of the development and critical skills necessary to identify, develop and implement solutions to spatial and real world problems.

You are introduced to new and emerging design tools and software that are becoming more widespread in interior and architectural design practice. The designer’s role in building information modelling is investigated and some of the key considerations, terminology and software that the designer takes into account in their professional role. You explore how building performance and sustainability is considered from the beginning of the design process, and how new software allows design to become a collaborative and iterative process.

The interior designer’s role has many features and goes beyond the purely creative design element. Interior design is an industry that works within building and construction regulation and legal constraints and operates across a number of sectors dealing with specification, contracts, health and safety and project management. The designer rarely works in a vacuum, you consider the management and business of interior design practice and the role of the interior designer in the professional relationships between them and other practitioners.