ARI 268
Advanced Studies in Interior Design

Instructor: Kevin Alter
Time and Place: Tuesday 5:00‹7:00 PM, Battle Hall 101


Thesis n. 1. A proposition, as one advanced by a candidate for an academic degree, that is maintained by argument. 2. A dissertation advancing an original point of view as a result of research, especially as a requirement for an academic degree. 3. A hypothetical proposition, especially one put forth for the sake of argument or one to be accepted without proof. 4. The first stage of a dialectic.

THESIS

The objectives of the Thesis are:

- To provide the student with the opportunity to work independently on a subject and related issues of his or her choice and with a vehicle through which the students may express his or her personal direction and values.

- To let the student test out a significant proposition that might begin to constitute his or her contribution or personal statement to the discipline and profession.

- To require the student to demonstrate his or her design competence in the formulation of an design problem and related issues, and his or her skills and abilities in elaborating and synthesizing a response in the form of a documented interior design.

The Thesis Project offers a student the opportunity to culminate his or her education with a meaningful body of work: the Thesis Report and the Thesis Design. The Thesis challenges the student to work independently on issues of his or her own choice, to synthesize what has been learned, and to identify and articulate his or her convictions as a designer, before moving out into the realm of practice.

ARI 268 serves to oversee and direct the studentıs pre-thesis research so that the Thesis Report progresses in a timely manner. However, students are encouraged to round out their research through consultation with other members of the faculty and all other resources available within the University community.

THESIS PREPARATION SEMINAR

Development of a studentıs Thesis Proposal occurs in this course and the final documentation of which is the Thesis Report. ARI 268 is a course taught partly in a lecture/seminar format and partly in a tutorial format. The course is graded as any other course and must be satisfactorily completed before a student may enroll in Thesis Design.

The Aim of this course is to provide the time and means for the participants to engage in research that will result in individual undergraduate Thesis Projects. The first third of the course will be devoted to exploring issues relevant to the execution of the Thesis Report. This phase of the class will principally involve class meetings and discussions, readings and class assignments. The second two-thirds of the class will be comprised mostly of individual meetings, although periodic class meetings will keep the entire class aware of each individualıs progress and allow group discussions of issues relevant to the entire class. Final presentations of individual work will be made during the last two weeks of the semester.

The course schedule is intended to be flexible enough to adapt to the particular members of the class and their individual interests/projects, and therefore may vary from this initial outline. Students are required to keep abreast of changes in the schedule as they arise.

Course schedule:

week 1: 9.3 territory: discussion of thesis, course description, scope of the field, and individual study.
assignment: touchstones + reading + position papers
week 1: 9.10 meaning: discussion of reading, position papers, and individual study
week 3: 9.17 touchstones
week 4: individual tutorials (by appointment)
week 5: individual tutorials (by appointment)
week 6: individual tutorials (by appointment)
week 7: 10.15 precedent
week 8: 10.22 bibliography
week 9: individual tutorials (by appointment)
week 10: individual tutorials (by appointment)
week 11: individual tutorials (by appointment)
week 12: 11.26 final presentations
week 13: 11.26 final presentations
week 14: 12.3 final presentations

CHOOSING A THESIS TOPIC

There are as many different approaches to the Design Thesis as there are Thesis topics. Some students arrive at ARI 268 with strongly focused interests, and the Thesis requirement provides the flexibility to pursue those interests freely and rigorously. Others, who have less clearly defined goals, may be assisted in their choice of a topic through seminar discussions and individual consultation.

The Thesis investigation could begin with general issues of current theory and practice and then proceed to questions of program and situation as vehicles to challenge those issues. Thesis research could begin with an interest in a certain design type or program and arrive at a set of theoretical issues and interests that constitute a relevant theme. It could start with certain site conditions, whether urban, suburban, or rural, and thence generate a set of theoretical issues serving a program. A Thesis topic could develop from an investigation of a specific design subject, or the requirements of a particular design problem and proceed to conceptual, programmatic, and situational implications. A thesis should be an in depth investigation of a proposed area of study; therefore it is advisable to delimit the area of investigation as clearly as possible.

Due to the intellectual character of the thesis research, the method of investigation should not be restricted to the above suggestions, but may take on an independent character, depending on the interests of the student.

Any area of investigation should draw on the resources of a studentıs educational development. Since the Thesis research is intended to lead to a proposal for a design project, it should ultimately address issues of program, site, and precedent, although not necessarily in that order. If, within a reasonable period of time, a student is unable to formulate a thesis proposal from his or her research, he or she should consult with the professor to mutually determine a suitable vehicle for the student to demonstrate his or her development in an independent project. In order for the Thesis to be a useful vehicle for personal development it should be motivated by personal interest in an area relevant to the field of interior design. Fueled by passion, the Thesis Design Project becomes an experience valuable for the rest of oneıs professional life.

THE THESIS PROPOSAL AND THESIS REPORT

The Thesis Report is an essential, preliminary phase of the Thesis Design. Through this body of work the student defines his or her interests and intentions, informed through scholarly investigation and speculative thought, and establishes the parameters of the Design Thesis. In the course of the semester, the student will develop a theoretical position relative to the major components of the Design Thesis: Interest and Intentions, Program, Situation, and investigation of Precedent.

The first product of this work is an initial Thesis Proposal or first draft Thesis Report, which is evaluated based on its demonstrated relationship to the field of interior design and its appropriateness relative to the studentıs capabilities. The remainder of the seminar consists of research which substantiates or challenges the studentıs initial assumptions.

The following requirements are intended as guidelines to provide rigor to the process of developing a Thesis Proposal. The development of each category of the Report many not follow a strictly linear progression; the results of a research in one area may affect work in others. Due to the nature of information gathering and speculative thinking, certain categories may be less complete than others. The draft reports should include projections of additional work and/or documents to be included at a later stage. Periodic meetings will be held with Advisors and with groups of students to provide criticism of the work in progress.

Many of the Thesis investigations will lead to a precisely formulated interior design problem. A Thesis Proposal that uses the vehicle of a an interior should follow the format outlined below for the Thesis Report. Students who wish to depart from these guidelines must, at the outset of the seminar, provide an alternate outline of their proposed work and a schedule for its realization.

Suggested Format for the Thesis Report:

Each student is asked to submit bi-weekly essays, which will be returned to the students with comments. Two copies of the final report are to be submitted one will be returned to the student with a final grade and one will remain the property of the School of Architecture.

The design of the Thesis Report is important and should be formatted into a book of the studentıs design. Large format maps, documents, and photographs should be reduced, whenever possible, to this format; and index in each copy of the Report should list additional maps and documents that cannot be included in the book.

The Thesis Report should have a title page followed by a table of contents. Pages should be numbered and major sections identified by appropriately labeled dividers. The substance of the Report is to be presented under the following major heading:

I. Synopsis of the Thesis Proposal (not to exceed one page)

II. Interests and Intentions
Bibliography

III. Program
Bibliography

IV. Situation
Bibliography

V. Investigation of Precedent
Bibliography

VI. Appendix of Work to be Completed
Additional Appendices (optional)

Content:

I. Synopsis of Thesis Proposal:
A clear, brief, but comprehensive statement, not to exceed on page. This should include a summary of the Interests and Intentions, Program and Situation.

II. Interests and Intentions:
This should define the issues to be addressed in the Thesis and indicate how the selected design program and situation will engage these issues.

III. Program:
This section should begin with a narrative description of the program, including an outline of major spatial and functional requirements. These should be related back to the issues of the Thesis, discussed in Section II. A tabulation of space requirements should be included, indicating not only floor areas but relevant characteristics, adjacency requirements, special equipment, etc. The program should be organized by categories of use (public, semi-public, private, circulation, service, etc.).

IV. Situation:
This section should also begin with a narrative description of the situation, its location and context. Appropriate maps, drawings, and photographs should be included in such a way that they can be easily read with the text. Scale and orientation should be clearly noted. All site-related design considerations should be identified and analyzed.

V. Investigations of Precedent:
This section should contain (in graphic and written form) the analysis and interpretation of the precedents relevant to the Thesis Intentions, Program, and Situation. At least one precedent should be analyzed for each segment of the proposal. (Analysis of Precedents may be included within the relevant chapters of the Thesis Proposal rather than grouped as a separate chapter.)

VI. Appendix of Work To be Completed:
In the Draft Thesis Reports, this section lists work to be pursued during the course of the semester. In the Final Thesis Report, this section outlines the work to be completed prior to the beginning of Thesis Design. This work should be a specific as possible, including scale(s) for situation model(s) and drawings, photos of the location, etc.

It is hoped that the schedule of work in ARI 268 will encourage the student to continually develop and refine his or her Thesis Proposal, so that the Final Thesis Report is a concise and coherent record of the assumptions, concepts, conclusions, and documents that will be operative in the studentıs Thesis Design work of the final semester.

Evaluation:

As with all other courses in the School of Architecture, a grade of Incomplete will be given only under extraordinary circumstances: illness verified by a physician or another major justifiable excuse.

In the event that a studentıs Final Thesis Report is deemed unacceptable, the student may utilize the remaining time before the beginning of the Thesis Semester to rework the Thesis Report. The revised document must be submitted two weeks prior to Registration for Thesis Design and will be subject to review by the Thesis Coordinator. If the report is still unacceptable, the student will not be allowed to proceed into the thesis semester.

THE THESIS DESIGN PROJECT:

In keeping with the intentions of the Thesis, a studentıs work in the Thesis Semester is independent: the progress of the design and the manner in which it is presented is self-directed. There is much to be discussed during Thesis Reviews. Thus, the student must carefully coordinate his or her design work with the issues to be addressed at each stage of the Thesis. In addition, the period between reviews is the time to consider the suggestions and conclusions of the previous Review and to project an agenda of questions and issues for the upcoming Review.

To take full advantage of the Thesis Semester, the student must possess personal motivation and an ability to ³stand back from the drafting board² to evaluate critically the direction of the design. The Thesis Semester should get off to a ³running start²; any preliminary work, such as building a situation model or drawing basic site documents, should be dispensed with before the Semester even begins. The student should, in the crucial first month arrive at a point of commitment of the design direction that will set the course for the remainder of the Semester. The ultimate goal of the Semester, for both the student and Thesis Committee, is a complete, significant, and carefully considered interior design project. It is to that end that the studentıs best efforts and the Thesis Advisorıs thoughtful attention is focused.

The Thesis Semester:

While the exact nature and pace of the Thesis Semester will vary with each student and professor, students should expect to pace their work in roughly four sections. Shortly after the beginning of the Thesis Semester, students should have completed situation documentation and location models, and be prepared to discuss several alternative design concepts or strategies for the Thesis Design Project. The first meetings should be used to discuss the possible design strategies in response to the conclusions of the Report. At this point, each student will also chart a course of action for the rest of the term.

A second phase of meetings should find the student presenting loosely developed schematic designs that try out various approaches to the Thesis Project. After showing these possible deisgn strategies, the student should present a recommendation for work to be pursued. This allows the Thesis Professor to evaluate the designıs initial direction and agree upon a conclusive basis for the ensuing work.

The third phase of meetings should focus on the studentıs development of the chosen design strategy. At this time, the student should present a precise description of the scope of the final presentation, including types and contents of drawing, scale(s), model(s), etc.

By the phase of meetings, the Thesis Design Project should be comprehensive and coherent enough to give expression to all parts of the interior design; its particular qualities should be shown in detail through the design of one aspect, sequence or part of the design, according to the nature of the project. At this point each student will provide a list of the work that is to be presented in the Final Review.

Alternate Thesis Format:

Certain Thesis Projects may suggest an altered format due to a chosen design method or to particular expectations for the Projectıs conclusion. Should a different schedule of progress or another design approach be required, the student must, after consultation with the Thesis Professor, outline the proposed schedule and/or method at the beginning of the Thesis Semester. This agreed upon schedule thus becomes the referent for the subsequent assessment of the progress in the Thesis Design.

Grading criteria:

Establishing grades for projects of a creative nature is a more complex matter than grading in other academic areas. This situation is further complicated by the nature of this particular class, its multiple agendas, and its ³independent² format. While each Thesis Report will indeed contain certain quantifiable elements by which it may be evaluated, a significant portion of each grade is derived from a broader, more subjective set of issues and concerns of the class. In this regard, there are several important factors that will establish grades. Notably:

1. Performance as a productive member of the class as demonstrated by regular attendance, class participation effort, and creative and constructive criticism of colleagues in class.

2. Thoroughness and timeliness in completing assignments. Assignments in this course are both those that are given to the entire class as well as those tailored to each individual.

3. Development of the Thesis Report from week to week as demonstrated in reviews.

4. Completeness of final Thesis Report.

The criteria for establishing a grade is as follows:

A (90-100%) Outstanding work
Work is complete at all levels -- i.e. concept, process, product -- and surpasses the expectations with respect to development, inventiveness, impact, appropriateness, resolution and integrity of pursuit.

B (80-89%) Good work
Work is complete at all levels. Each level is done thoroughly, is well researched and is diligently pursued. This is the expected performance for this class.

C (70-79%) competent work
Not all levels are developed fully. For example, a brilliant idea and a casual product, or a weak idea, an indifferent development and a good end result will get a grade of C.

D (60-69%) Not very good work
Not all levels are present, some of the requested components of the project are missing. Either care and attention are missing or basic expectations in logic and development are not evident.

F (below 59%) Unacceptable work
Note that this grade will be assigned when a student has missed an extended amount of class-time (over one week) without notifying the instructor or the School of Architecture.

X excused incomplete
Can be given only for legitimate reasons of illness or family emergency. Simply not completing the work on time is not an adequate cause for assigning this symbol. It may only be used after consultation with the instructor or the Associate Dean, and with an agreement as to a new completion date. Studio work has to be completed before the second week of the next design semester in which a student wishes to enroll, according to school policy.

Attendance
Punctual and regular attendance is essential and mandatory. Students with three unexcused absences during the term may be dropped from the course without further notice.

Recommendations:
I am happy to write recommendations for students who have attended this class provided the student receives a grade of ³A² and that I have been asked at least two weekıs prior to the recommendation being due.