Preparing YOUR CASE STUDY

 This is hands down the biggest pitfall that most candidates struggle with. As examiners, we are not judging or offering any kudos based on the design work you are conducting in practice. Equally, we are not looking for a diary submission of events, remember, PEDRs serve this purpose, your Case Study does not need to be an expanded PEDR (I can’t think of anything worse!). Think of it like this for a second, if we were reviewing the design project you are working on or how well a project is being managed at the practice you are working at, then we would be serving a great injustice to those who perhaps are not on award-winning projects, receiving studio mentor support, or at a practice that is exemplary in everything they do. We’re reviewing you, your knowledge, and your competency, and promoting the work of your practice, or your team, is not necessarily the best use of your word count. 

 The best way to avoid the mistakes highlighted in Point #1 is to remember that there are layers to all of the subsections within your Case Study, and this is the formula you should remember to follow. When documenting a piece of experience, follow up or open with a statement to demonstrate your understanding of this moment within a wider context. After this it is important to not only show you can competently navigate a basic understanding of the subject, but also highlight elements of best practice. Finally, as a way to bring this back to your initial experience, critically reflect on the wider context understanding, while comparing what took place against best practice and discuss pros, cons, opportunities, risks, why best practice was achieved, or not, etc.

For the avoidance of doubt, here is an example.

During Stage 04 Technical Design, the Approved Inspector was approached for the provision of Building Control services in preparation for the submission of tender drawings and going to Stage 05 Construction [Experience]. The importance of this is in compliance with The Building Act 1984, in place to ensure that buildings are designed to minimum national standards. While we approached a private Approved Inspector, we could have also approached the Local Authority for the appointment of a Building Control Officer, but Joe Bloggs Architects typically prefer to approach AI’s that they have worked with previously on the promise of ease of communication and organising meetings and site visits [Wider Understanding]. The unfortunately late appointment of this design team member meant that comments from the Approved Inspector had impacts on the already agreed Concept Design which was coordinated with all design team members. Ideally, this appointment would have taken place prior to Stage 02 Concept Design early building control design input was captured prior to going to planning during the following stage [Critical Reflection]. 

 It’s amazing how many candidates get tongue-tied when it comes to the Case Study, forgetting that we have all received an education primarily through the preparation of visually engaging material. If you’re the kind of person that always goes over your word count, this advice applies to you in particular. Use illustrations, diagrams and tables (which, by the way, doesn’t contribute towards your word count) to explain complex relationships. Don’t trip yourself up in your words trying to explain the intricacies of a particular process, stick to the classic Part I piece of advice, ‘explain it to me through a drawing’. Show me a timeline of a typical Interim Certificate and how the process on your project diverged, etc. 

 No matter how many times we say it, people will still get this wrong.

Try to keep all general fonts at least Size 9 and use highly contrasting text/backgrounds (e.g. black on white).

Do you know how many people use something like a light-grey against a bright yellow?

Mad. 

 If you haven’t gathered by now, comparing your experiences against best practice is going to be one of the key stepping stones towards creating a solid Case Study. To take this one-step further, formulate hypothetical scenarios to draw even deeper comparisons, create ‘what-if’ scenarios to show that you have a well-rounded understanding of the subject beyond your immediate experience. Examples include but are not limited to ‘Had the project been procured traditionally, it would have impacted the project in the following ways…’, ‘If a JCT Intermediate Contract had been used instead of Minor Works, we would have been able to pursue the following contract clauses…’, ‘If approaching this project again, I would do the following things differently…’, etc.