Quantifying Space, Valuing Design

Emerging Research in Architecture is a theory- and practice-based module for first-year MArch students at the University of Hertfordshire. This semester’s theme, 'Quantifying Space, Valuing Design', examines the relationship between advanced digital tools and the values that inform architectural decision-making.

The module introduces students to the principles and applications of parametric design, developing skills in structuring rules, parameters, and relationships to generate, test and evaluate neighbourhood-scale design options. Alongside technical proficiency, students are required to ground their design strategies in evidence-based research, identifying priorities across the social, economic and environmental dimensions of architecture. These may include affordability, equality and well-being, as well as resource efficiency, carbon reduction and climate resilience.

By embedding such values directly into parametric models, students are challenged to navigate the complexities of competing priorities, making explicit the trade-offs inherent in design practice. The module encourages critical reflection on a central question for contemporary practice: how can we measure what matters, while recognising the limits of measurement?