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Which places work? is an introduction to the vexed question of design quality in the built environment for schools.
This is a beta-test site and will be further developed and improved over the coming months based on participation and feedback from teachers. Please use the feedback form to let us know if and how you use these resources with your classes and what you think of them.
At the heart of the site is the Design Quality Analyser, an interactive tool based on the Design Quality Indicator (DQI), whose development has been led by the Construction Industry Council (www.dqi.org.uk). The DQI is an industry-standard tool designed to help client groups think about and understand design quality in buildings and to better communicate their ideas to architects and developers.
Our educational resources use the DQI model of design based on three sets of ‘quality indicators’ in the categories of: functionality; build quality (which embraces sustainability); and impact. The aim is to help young people think about design in a structured and systematic. This will encourage them to develop a greater awareness of design in the built environment around them and a better understanding of its affect on the community and the environment as well as improving their ability to express their thoughts and feelings about it.
The intention is not to deliver cut-and-dried judgements about which buildings are well designed and which aren’t, but to open up a space for intelligent, informed discussion that does not fall back on instinctive affections or hostilities. You might find that your pupils challenge the validity of some of the quality indicators we have chosen, or suggest alternatives and that is to be welcomed. There is no final answer to the question of what good design is, but if young people are committed to it in principle and have the ability and desire to structure and express their thoughts, there is a good chance that, whatever it is, we will see a lot more of it in our towns and cities of the future.
Who are these resources for?
This site has been developed for pupils in secondary education at Key Stage 3 and 4. It is principally aimed at teachers of the Construction and the Built Environment GCSE syllabus but will also be valuable for teachers of Design & Technology, Art & Design, Geography and Citizenship.
Schools undergoing a building programme can use the Design Quality Analyser as part of the pupil consultation process or as a post-occupancy tool to measure the effectiveness of the new build.
Anyone who is involved in a DQI evaluation either as a client, architect or developer will find this site a quick, accessible and fun introduction to the ideas that underpin that process.
Which places work? and the GCSE in Construction and the Built Environment
Which Places Work? has been designed to support the teaching of design in construction and the built environment curriculum at levels 1 and 2 of the National Qualification Framework. It provides support for teachers designing teaching plans and for students to learn how important design quality is to creating a sustainable built environment.
It is particularly aimed at supporting Unit 1: Design for Sustainability and the Built Environment in the GCSE in Construction and the Built Environment. In this unit pupils are required to:
learn about design quality indicators (DQIs) that enable stakeholders in a project to consider and prioritise the important features of the build quality, functionality, sustainability and environmental impact
explore the environmental impact of development at every stage of the construction cycle.
The Design Quality Analyser offers the flexibility needed to underpin the introductory taster requirements of the GCSE core units or the more detailed requirements of the Building Design option. Using DQA for both introductory and formative studies and also as evidence of students’ analysis and evaluation of design, makes this a valuable tool to underpin the construction & built environment curriculum.
Which places work? and the National Curriculum
The resources on this site support the following aspects of the National Curriculum.
Design & technology
Evaluating processes and products
Pupils should be taught to:
evaluate their design ideas as these develop, and modify their proposals to ensure that their product meets the design specification
test how well their products work, then evaluate them
identify and use criteria to judge the quality of other people's products, including the extent to which they meet a clear need, their fitness for purpose, whether resources have been used appropriately, and their impact beyond the purpose for which they were designed [for example, the global, environmental impact of products and assessment for sustainability].
Knowledge and understanding of systems and control
Pupils should be taught:
that complex systems can be broken down into sub-systems to make it easier to analyse them, and that each sub-system also has inputs, processes and outputs
Art & Design
Exploring and Developing ideas
Pupils should be taught to:
record and analyse first-hand observations, to select from experience and imagination and to explore ideas for different purposes and audiences
discuss and question critically, and select from a range of visual and other information to help them develop ideas for independent work
Geography
Knowledge and understanding of environmental change and sustainable development
Pupils should be taught to:
explore the idea of sustainable development and recognise its implications for people, places and environments and for their own lives.
Citizenship
Developing skills of enquiry and communication
Pupils should be taught to:
think about topical political, spiritual, moral, social and cultural issues, problems and events by analysing information and its sources, including ICT-based sources
justify orally and in writing a personal opinion about such issues, problems or events
contribute to group and exploratory class discussions, and take part in debates.
Developing skills of participation and responsible action
Pupils should be taught to:
use their imagination to consider other people's experiences and be able to think about, express and explain views that are not their own
negotiate, decide and take part responsibly in both school and community-based activities.
Using the Design Quality Analyser
Before pupils use the Design Quality Analyser they should be familiar with the design model that it is based on. The underlying principles are explained in the ‘About’ section of the site but you may prefer to go over them as a class discussion.
One way of introducing the ‘three ring’ design model is to choose an example of a design (possibly, but not necessarily a building) and ideas storm the things that the class consider essential to it as an example of good design, writing the ideas up on the board. For example, if you took a mobile phone as an example of good design (the class could nominate the particular example), the following things might be suggested in the ideas storm:
It looks cool
You get loads of free minutes
You get good games on it
You can always get a signal
It doesn’t break easily
It’s got a camera
It’s really small
You can get different colours/fascias
Draw three rings on the board and give them the headings ‘Functionality’, Build Quality’ and ‘Impact’, explaining what these headings mean, and ask the class to group the qualities from the idea storm into the three categories. In some cases there will be dispute as to which category certain categories belong to. You could justify putting ‘it’s really small’ in any of the categories for example. Debating such points will be useful in establishing how the model works as well as highlighting its limitations and the fact that it is a way of thinking that can be developed and questioned.
It is important that pupils understand that good design is a combination of all three factors (functionality, build quality, and impact) in combination. A well designed building may have weaknesses in one or more of these areas, but a building that is entirely deficient in any one area is unlikely to be considered a good design.
You may also need to explain that the purpose of the exercise is to analyse the qualities of design and not to decide which buildings or places we like best. Personal associations or other factors often make us attached to buildings that are not, objectively, well designed.
Pupils may use the Design Quality Analyser individually or in groups. Group work can provide useful support for weaker pupils and the DQA is a good activity for mixed ability groups.
Choosing a building to analyse
You may wish the whole class to analyse the qualities of a particular building or for individuals or groups to select different buildings and then feedback to the whole class. Whatever building is chosen it is important that the pupils are reasonably familiar with it inside or out and are therefore in a position to make informed judgements about it. Alternatively you might choose to analyse a building that they are unfamiliar with prior to a class trip to that building. They can make their initial analysis on the basis of assumptions about the building and then compare this to an analysis made following the visit to test the impact that the trip has had on their understanding.
If the school is undergoing a new building scheme or renovation the DQA can be used to discuss proposed developments, work in progress or finished work post-occupancy. If there is a new building proposal that is still at the consultation phase the DQA can be used to analyse the quality of the existing school building as a means to identify key areas for improvement, either at a class, year group, or even whole school level.
If a single building is chosen for analysis, it is likely that different individuals or groups will come up with quite disparate judgements as to its design value. This sort of disagreement is valuable and to be welcomed. Discussion of why different groups judge the merits of a design differently will focus on key questions as to what good design means and emphasise that the analytical activity does not deliver an authoritative verdict but rather a process and means of discussing design and better expressing our thoughts about it.
Using the DQA
Once a building has been selected or analysis, using the DQA is a simple process of responding to a set of statements (‘indicators’) according to the strength of your agreement or disagreement with the statement regarding the building in question.
This is inevitably a somewhat subjective activity and there is a lot of room for debate and disagreement. For each statement there are a set of photographic exemplars and explanatory text to help guide users in understanding the meaning or ‘thrust’ of the statements (which are quite broad in their scope) but many responses will nonetheless come down to personal feeling or intuitions. In some cases there are first person statements of preference (‘I like being inside this building’ is one) and groups may have to compromise in their response if there is strong disagreement.
The DQA has been designed as a mixed-ability tool and stronger pupils will be able to use it without little or no support, guided by the discursive text and instructions. For weaker pupils, explain the basic questionnaire process and guide them to the start of the DQA and the photographic exemplars, bypassing the introductory discussion and longer textual analysis, or set up mixed ability groups to conduct the analysis.
Once users have responded to all the statements in each section, they are given the opportunity to review their answers before moving on. Having completed all three sections they will receive feedback on the building in terms of its design quality.
If pupils strongly disagree with the feedback they receive, they may wish to re-do the DQA process to help them think about which of the indicators they would like to respond to differently or to discuss how they would like to modify the Analyser to better respond to the quality of building design.
Alternative activity
An alternative approach is to use the DQA in role, asking pupils to imagine that they are different users of the building in question. This is a valuable exercise in raising awareness of the necessity for good design to respond to a variety of user needs.
Follow-up activity
As a follow up activity, pupils can work together to develop their own set of design quality indicators (DQIs), for buildings in general, a particular kind of building or any other designed object. These indicators may, like the DQA, seek to unravel what a good design needs to have in every aspect, or may focus on one particular aspect of good design such as sustainability. The completed DQIs can be applied to other groups in the form of a written questionnaire.
