Module overview
In this module you will apply your theoretical knowledge and practical skills to the conceptual and detailed design of a significant design problem.
CENV2035 City Infrastructure Design Project introduced you to site analysis, conceptual design and project planning. You will spend time at the start of your project defining the constraints and loads acting on your structure, and its location and dimensions, before developing alternative and appropriate concepts. In this module, you will be taking the designs further, into more detailed stages, involving analysis and calculations to determine loads and constraints on structures and to size structural components (beams, columns and foundations) and their connections, and ensure that the components perform in an integrated way to provide an effective and efficient structure. You will be spending most of your time on detailed design calculations, drawings and construction methods for your chosen concept. Your detailed design will be presented as a report, a set of design calculations, AutoCAD drawings, and a group presentation.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Investigate the brief, the requirements of the notional client and any constraints on the design
- Produce final design report and drawings
- Defend the choices made during the project and the final design
- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the conceptual design options
- Create conceptual designs that satisfy the brief and the constraints
- Communicate the design in writing and verbally in a presentation
- Solve problems encountered during the design
- Plan the work required to complete the project
- Carry out detailed design of the chosen solution
- Select the conceptual design option which best satisfies the brief and the constraints
- Organise into an effective team
- Utilise literature, online resources and software to complete the design
- Analyse the brief for the project
Subject Specific Practical Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Apply your knowledge and skills learned in other modules of the programme to conceptual design.
- Apply your CAD skills to the production of construction drawings.
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- Decision Making
- Group work/team work
- Critical Analysis
- Planning and organising
- CAD-IT
- Problem analysis and problem solving
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- The importance of understanding the design brief, the clients requirements and design constraints
- How to communicate the final design in writing, in drawings and in a verbal presentation
- The nature and progression of a design project from brief, through options to final concept and design output
- The importance of the influence of the environment, sustainability and health and safety on the design solution
- Methods of progressing the detailed design phase
- The need to generate options during the conceptual design phase which meet the brief but exceed purely functional requirements
- The process of selection of a preferred conceptual design
Syllabus
A choice of four design projects will be offered, covering topics across the range of Civil and
Environmental Engineering. Details of the projects on offer will be circulated near the end of Semester
1 and project selection will take place at the start of Semester 2.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
You will work in a group of 4 or 5 students on a design project chosen from four available options. There are a small number of timetabled sessions, detailed below, but much of your time will be spent in independent study. It is the responsibility of the project group to plan their work, and organise their time and work schedule. There will be regular meetings with the supervisor(s) and where appropriate outside consultants.
The lecture and tutorial sessions are:
• An introductory lecture in Week 1.
• A concept design tutorial in Week 2, where groups work together for a full day on their conceptual designs, within a supervised environment.
• A 2-hour tutorial in Week 5 in which you will present conceptual designs to your supervisor(s) and other project groups.
• Three lectures: (1) on report writing and setting out calculations, (2) on detailed drawing practice, and (3) a refresher session on drawing in Autocad (weeks 7-9).
• A regular weekly tutorial, typically of about 1 hour, with your project supervisor(s).
• Two or three seminars on creative and detailed design will be given by guest speakers from industry.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Follow-up work | 5 |
| Practical classes and workshops | 8 |
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 10 |
| Wider reading or practice | 7 |
| Seminar | 1 |
| Lecture | 3 |
| Completion of assessment task | 100 |
| Tutorial | 16 |
| Total study time | 150 |
Resources & Reading list
General Resources
Design resources. A wide range of design resources will be made available in electronic form on the course Blackboard. This includes information additional to the brief, design codes and guidance documents, information and design tables/charts for proprietary products, details of recommended texts and other library and online resources to support design work.
Assessment
Assessment strategy
Referral will be via an individual written set task, related to the design project carried out during the course of the semester, and submitted as a short report, calculations and drawings.Formative
This is how we’ll give you feedback as you are learning. It is not a formal test or exam.
Tutor and Peer Assessment
- Assessment Type: Formative
- Feedback: Feedback on group progress will be provided throughout the module. Verbal feedback on the design work will be given by supervisor(s) during supervision meetings. Project supervisor(s) will also provide feedback during and after both the intensive concept design day in Week 2, and the formative assessment in Week 5/7.
- Final Assessment: No
- Group Work: No
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Continuous Assessment | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Set Task | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal