Designing Environments

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject provides an introduction to how people identify needs and wants and devise ways of satisfying them through built or engineered manipulation of the environment. Students will consider the antecedents, processes, actors and consequences of designing constructed and engineered environments, systems and artefacts. Issues of movement and perception, environmental behaviour and the responsible use of physical environmental systems will be explored. The subject will address:

• Design processes and methods, including problem-solving and design proposal perspectives, methods of framing and analysis of design tasks, creative thinking, and methods of synthesis and
  representation of design outcomes
• Case studies of various scales and times to examine designed outcomes with regard to social, cultural, economic, resource, production and actor relationships
• Design professions: their history in the production of environments, systems and artefacts, and their differing educations, organisation and practices

At the completion of this subject students should be able to:

• Introduce and practise processes and methods of designing and creative thinking;
• Analyse the social, logistical, economic and resource aspects that contribute to design tasks and outcomes;
• Introduce the actors in design processes, including the contribution of design professions to the creation of designed environments, systems and artefacts.

• By the middle of the semester, students will produce 2 preparatory assignments, each equivalent to 400 words and worth 10% of the final mark.
• By the end of the semester, students will produce an interim design assignment equivalent to 800 words and worth 20% of the final mark and a major design assignment equivalent to 1600 words and worth 40% of the final mark.
• A reflective journal or workbook will also be submitted in the middle and at the end of the semester. Each of the journal/workbook submissions is equivalent to 400 words and worth 10% of the final mark.

Lawson, B. How Designers Think.
De Bono, E. Six Thinking Hats.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.

At the completion of this subject students should have the following skills:

• Developed an understanding of skills and approaches to design tasks and outcomes
• Developed written, graphic, numeric, diagrammatic and verbal skills in relation to design and creative thinking
• Begun an exploration of designing for people