On October 30, 2024, visiting professor Steven Batty, Senior Lecturer BA (Hons), Interior Architecture & Design at Sheffield Creative Industries Institute, delivered an online lecture titled “Design Futures and Interior Architecture Narratives”, for students of Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design (KNUTD). The attendees included bachelor and master students of the “Environmental Design” program, PhD students in the 022 "Design" program, as well as students from other programs and KNUTD faculty members.
The lecture was made possible by the “UK-UKRAINE TWINNING INITIATIVE”, with Sheffield Hallam University as a project partner for KNUTD.
The lecture focused on conceptual design in environmental design as a unique approach to design practice, and on teaching conceptual design for designers at Sheffield Hallam University.
Professor Batty emphasized the importance of developing a design concept as a narrative, a story with a main character and plot, enabling the design’s user to identify with the “character” and establish an emotional connection to the design. This idea was illustrated with the examples from design, architecture, film, and other fields.
Steven Batty discussed differences between conceptual and real-world design, referencing the “The Futures Cone” concept. Real-world design tends to focus on the most probable futures, whereas conceptual design explores unlikely, even seemingly absurd scenarios. Yet history often shows that what once seemed absurd can become reality.
He also reviewed specific methods of conceptual design, such as Horizon Scanning, Persona, and Profiling, comparing conceptual and real-world approaches, and presented examples of student work from the Interior Architecture module.
Following the lecture, the students and teachers asked questions, receiving detailed answers. In response to a question from Associate Professor Tetiana Bulhakova, Professor Batty noted that conceptual design is just one aspect of the course, while the rest of the course addresses specific, real-world environmental design challenges.
The lecture, delivered in English, also contributed to students’ foreign language skills.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Professor Steven Batty for his engaging and informative lecture, and to colleagues at the Sheffield Institute of Arts at Sheffield Hallam University for their organizational support!
11.11.2024
