FOURTH YEAR (Stage 4)
Semester 7
In Semester 7, students are required to a carry out a group conservation study. This entails researching, measuring, surveying and recording an existing historic building with recommendations for making a modern intervention. Students also begin preparation for their final year thesis through a collaborative research and design project with fourth year architecture students.
The students’ understanding of the principles of architectural technology is further developed in the theory modules delivered as lectures alongside and dovetailed with the general project work. Building Technology & Structures 7 and Environment Services & Materials 6 are delivered as lectures with related assignments, while Building Information Modelling 3 (Measurement & Analysis) is further developed on a studio basis.
Students are again exposed to the complexities of the interdisciplinary design process through the collaborative development of the Building Information Model for measurement, analysis and recording of the conservation study building with input from the geomatic surveying students in applying enhanced digital measurement techniques. The Building Technology & Structures module requires application of principles of traditional building construction in the examination and recording of an historic building together with the analysis of structural techniques in historic buildings, while the Environment Services & Materials theory module requires an environmental performance analysis and services appraisal for the conservation project.
Students are challenged to engage with fourth year architecture students in the collaborative development of an architectural design of a complex multi-cell building. This entails brief analysis, initial research into the building type and the broad technologies employed, and an active engagement with the architectural student in identifying and resolving technological and regulatory design criteria in the conceptual design process. Thus the architectural design proposal is refined through collaborative research and design to provide a suitable basis for the final thesis project in Semester 2 of year 4.
Semester 7 modules
• Technical Design Studio 7
• Building Technology & Structures 7
• Environment Services & Materials 6
• Building Information Modelling 3 (Measurement & Analysis)
• Professional Development 5 (Profession & Management)
