Module Overview

The Whole Life Design module introduces participants to the real, long term consequences of building design and construction. The module examines a holistic (social, economic, and environmental) understanding of the responsibilities of architects and other design professionals in the construction, occupation, and post-occupation of buildings  

The module introduces the concept of design life indexing the design performance of a building and auditing a building for durability, and provide the methodologies for this. Students will be introduced to methodological frameworks through which the impact of design choices can be measured over the whole life of a building. This framework will also incorporate tools for the undertaking and reporting of post-occupation analyses.  

The module is structured around the design stages and life cycle of a building to introduce participants to theories and applications of sustainable design and construction practices such as Design Life of buildings, definitions of durability, Whole Life, Life Cycle Assessment, and Life Cycle Costing. The module will enable students to employ and combine rigorous objective and subjective analysis techniques in order to appraise a ‘live project’ using the Collaborative Design Practice Studio project as its basis.