This unit covers three related areas of investigation: basic building construction practices, advanced building construction practices & sustainable construction. It begins by introducing a number of recurrent themes in construction in Australia at the present time including the idea of building culture, the various modes of delivery and variety of classifications of buildings and building elements, rational construction & construction detailing from first principles. There follows a review of construction techniques of domestic scaled buildings using, where appropriate, examples of well documented and/or accessible exemplars. The second part of the unit reviews current approaches to building technologies employed in more complex public and commercial scaled buildings, particularly with regard to processes of structural system selection, façade systems design and construction and material performance. The fundamentals of heat transfer and effects of external conditions on indoor comfort, aspects of the BCA and integration of services into the building fabric relevant to building services engineers will also be reviewed. Again, accessible exemplars will be covered. Finally the unit will review current issues related to key attributes of buildings which make them sustainable, particularly with regard to material selection, appropriate detailing for energy and resources conservation and building reuse and recycling.

The aim of the unit is to acquaint students with the range of analytical and design tools available for low energy building design; to provide the opportunity for students to become proficient at using some of these tools. Among the techniques and tools explored are: climate data analysis; graphical and model techniques for solar studies; steady state and dynamic heat flow analysis; simplified methods for sizing passive solar elements; computer models of thermal performance; modelling ventilation; estimating energy consumption. Emphasis is given to tools which assist the design of the building fabric rather than building systems. At the end of the unit it is expected that students will: be aware of the importance of quantitative analysis in the design of low energy buildings; have an understanding of the theoretical basis of a range of analytical techniques; be familiar with the range of techniques available for building energy analysis; be able to apply many of these to design analysis; be familiar with the range of thermal analysis computer software available; and be able to use a software package to analyse the thermal performance of a typical small scale building. All of the assignments are designed to provide students with hands-on experience of each of the analysis tools.

The aim of this unit is to present basic principles of electricity and magnetism as necessary for an understanding of the application of electrical services in buildings; to introduce students to the applications of these principles to electrical distribution in buildings; to outline the principles of electric motors, transformers and switchboard design; and to introduce elementary principles of illumination and daylighting.
An understanding of electrical services is an essential requirement for building services practitioners involved in the design professions and the construction and building management industries. The unit is designed to provide an introduction to these services for recent graduates or diplomates in engineering, architecture or science, and for people involved at a professional level in the building industry who do not possess a background in electrical engineering.
By the conclusion of the unit it is expected that students will gain basic knowledge of components of the electricity generating and distribution network external to, and within buildings; the types and use of cables and enclosures in and around buildings; methods of assessment of loads and cable sizes; principles of operation of transformers and motors and the design of switchboards and earthing, emergency evacuation lighting and early warning information systems; an introduction to the fundamental principles of lighting design for interior and exterior applications; and a basic understanding of data transmission via copper wire and optical fibre.
Assignments will test acquired skills in electrical load estimation and the design of simple electrical distribution and artificial and day lighting systems.

This unit is an introduction to forward planning of facilities and its impact on their management, since adjustments and alterations to facilities occur much slower than corporate decisions can be made.
It is a management discipline, and as such relies on the central topics of business finance, information systems, and of course management per se.
The teaching proceeds from an examination of the purpose of organisations and how the facility assists (or hinders) it achieving its goals. Explaining this understanding is the subject of the first Coursework assignment.
In this first half of the unit we will examine the purpose of 'organisations' and their 'facilities'. This includes examination of facilities and how their performance is measured. We shall consider the procedures necessary to obtain this information, and how to identify those areas that have 'elasticity' and are therefore amenable to management initiatives.
In the second half of the unit we will consider the potential improvement of the performance in terms of the user organisation's mission. In this regard, occupational health and safety issues are germane. The second coursework assignment will require attendees to consider the means to measure the performance of facilities in order to relate them to corporate purpose.

Operational Facilities Management is a service industry concerned with the day-to-day operations required to run an organisation's facilities. Primarily facility operation has to satisfy the user organisation's statutory responsibilities. Beyond that, whilst some major costs (such as Rates, Land Taxes, Insurance premiums etc.) are fixed, other costs are amenable to management. Operational Management necessarily requires those charged with the task to evaluate where their effort is spent and where the significant resourcing costs lie, thus allowing them to prioritise and match their effort to the effect.
This unit will involve considerations of subcontracting and examine 'best practice' guidelines for both hard and soft service provision.

Facilities management is a subset of business management: As such, no 'management' can be exercised without first matching the need for resources against the resources available. This necessarily involves the financial and accounting information systems of the organisation, and the 'tools' necessary to extract information in order to make informed decisions.
The unit is in two halves: The first deals with management accounting. Students will learn how to interpret the standard historical information regarding organisations via the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and cash flow forecast. Students will gain an appreciation of the underlying assumptions behind these performance measures and will learn how to interpret this information in order to recognise under- and over-performing businesses. The second half examines cost accounting, i.e. the internal generation and flow of management information for financial control. Students will also gain an appreciation of accounting as a forward-looking managerial tool for controlling the conduct of an organisation. This will include an understanding of the budgeting process and how it can be utilised to achieve the Facility Management mission. The unit will also cover the principles and issues of building, finance and their impact on life-cycling costings.

The supply and removal of water is a fundamental service required in buildings, and necessary for human survival. This unit presents a broad coverage of the principles, concepts, assumptions, rules and regulations required for the analysis and design of hot and cold water supply systems, stormwater drainage systems (including stormwater retention systems), and systems for piped gases for commercial and industrial buildings.

This unit reviews the need for and application of Mechanical Services in the built environment - in particular commercial buildings. Mechanical Services are responsible for significant portion of energy and water consumption in buildings. Thus they have become important components of most modern building complexes, with a strong influence on other services and the architecture. This unit provides an introduction to these services by experienced presenters, including from the industry, for recent graduates or diplomats in mechanical engineering and an understanding of fundamental principles and practice for people from backgrounds other than mechanical engineering.
Students will acquire skills in appreciation of impact of Mechanical services on the environment, including recent mandatory regulations, together with estimating ventilation, cooling and heating requirements, design of simple ventilation, air conditioning and smoke hazard management systems, combined with an overview of water, refrigerant, ducted systems, with applicable equipment, energy, noise, human comfort, air quality criteria.
Principles of heat transfer and fluid flow are applied to applications of mechanical ventilation, air conditioning and smoke hazard magagement, to satisfy regulations and standards, occupant and community expectations.
The practical basis of the programme leads to a design assignemtn involving selecting equipment and systems to provide mechanical services in a building.

Project Management is specific form of establishing, programming, and coordinating an activity having a specific start point and end point. This body of knowledge - as for example in the Project Management Book of Knowledge (PMBOK) - needs to be understood in general terms. Initially project managers must identify and define the services that are needed, (scope) and that their employers are willing to endorse. The activities requiring to be carried out need to be sorted and sequenced; the materials, labour and plant required need to be estimated and procured. Projects involve the management of information, and communications. This unit will develop the student's ability to ascertain and document the scope of a project, schedule a programme, and understand the difficulties in directing it. This unit approaches the profession of Project Management as a cooperative undertaking rather than adversarial: It promotes the adoption of soft-skills rather than that of forceful command and supervision.

The objectives of this unit are to give students an understanding of energy consumption issues in buildings through both design and operation and to give students an awareness of energy auditing and current energy conservation techniques.
This unit is primarily concerned with the management and control of electrical power delivered via the grid.
We start with the commercial electricity sales environment; the rental of transmission lines, the rental of the utility company's infrastructure, the non-fossil fuel obligation, and tariff structures.
We will concentrate on the processes and the considerations involved in undertaking an energy audit, which will also be the focus of Assignment 1. The options for demand management, including outsourcing will be examined. Passive energy design, which 'locks in' future energy usage will be presented. Active energy systems and their fundamentals : lighting, air conditioning, hot water, ventilation, vertical transportation, and machinery, will be reviewed. Finally methods of assessing energy performance including computer simulation will be covered.

The aims of this unit are to explore the implications of applying sustainable building design principles on design practice; to evaluate and critique the sustainability of current design practice through an examination of current theory and professional ethics and the exploration of case studies; to explore the development of new sustainable design paradigms. Unit content: the response of architectural practice to the rise of environmentalism in the 20th century; the emergence of passive solar architecture; ecologically sustainable design [ESD] and its impact upon current design practice; real and perceived barriers to a more sustainable design practice; impact of education and theory on practice; expressing the values of sustainability in built form; towards a new sustainable design paradigm.
By the completion of the unit students are expected to demonstrate an ability to critique current building design practice in relation to sustainable design principles; to demonstrate their knowledge of key recent buildings which their designers claim to be sustainable and their ability to evaluate these claims; to enunciate a personal position on the impact of applying sustainable design principles on future design practice. The unit will broaden students understanding of the principles of sustainable building design and their impact upon future design practice.

The aims of the internship are to provide a direct link between the academic core of the course and the disciplines and methods of practice; to enable candidates to experience aspects of practice and provide the opportunity for them to work in areas of the field outside their specific expertise; to enable candidates to observe, analyse and comment on the interaction between theoretical and practical issues of their Program as it is practiced, and to establish connections between practice and the development of relevant research programs.
The internship is intended to provide the opportunity for students to work in various situations in their Program's area. A secondary intention is that students use the opportunities of placement to broaden their own experience beyond the limitations of their chosen discipline. Candidates must find a suitable professional placement. Permission to enrol is given after the proposed placement has been approved by the Program Coordinator. The host organisation will nominate a supervisor for the student for the internship. The student must complete at least 120 hours of full or part-time experience, supervised by a practicing designer (or other professional depending upon the field). A log-book of each day's work, signed by the supervisor must be submitted on completion. A 2000 word report on the benefits of the internship must also be produced.
At the end of the internship the student will: demonstrate that they have completed a program of work (through a log-book); present a report; analyse their experiences and compare these to the theoretical content of the units they have completed, and suggest appropriate research directions so as to improve the complementarity of theory to practice.

This unit covers the technologies employed in generating, distributing, and controlling light in illuminated environments. Students learn the advantages and disadvantages of different hardware options for various lighting applications.
A brief history of lighting technologies and the physical processes involved with electrically generating light are included in this unit. Practical characteristics of currently popular lamp types, as well as emerging lighting technologies, are presented. The effects of integral luminaires and other light fittings on the resulting illumination are covered, as are the electrical requirements of different lighting technologies. The selection, operation, and implications of lighting control options are included. The underlying principles and practical implications of the different characteristics of various lighting technologies are emphasized to enable students to independently evaluate future innovations in lighting technologies.

Measurements of light based only on physical properties are of limited use to the lighting designer. Instead, the tools to measure and communicate the characteristics of light sources and illumination consider the impact of the physical attributes of light on the human visual system.
This unit covers the photometric measures related to the quantity of light and illumination and the colorimetric systems used to characterize the colour of lights and objects. The calculation methods underlying these measures are included, with an emphasis on useful simulation techniques. The derivations, meanings, proper applications, and limitations of these measurements systems are discussed. An overview of physical instruments for photometric and colorimetric measurements is included. Students learn to apply knowledge of photometry and colorimetry to evaluate lighting products.

The aim of this 5 day intensive is to provide the students with the knowledge to prepare a BCA Section J - JV3 modeling exercise suitable for presentation to a principal certifying authority thus demonstrating building compliance.
Students will explore the BCA procedure and sections dealing with alternative solutions, deemed-to-satisfy prescription, verification methods, specifications, and also utilize the GREENSTAR and NABERS Energy computer programmes.

This unit aims to explore the scientific concepts of heat, light and sound, and from this develops foundational principles and methods applicable to buildings. It is divided into five topics: climate and resources; thermal environment; air movement; lighting; and acoustics. Students will gain an understanding of the terminology, physical values and metrics in each of these topics, and how they apply to the design and function of buildings. Theoretical models to predict key physical values in buildings are presented and used in assessments. Learning is supported by measurement exercises.
This unit has a focused pedegogy intended for all graduate students in Design Science. It is a common core unit for all of the programs (Audio and Acoustics, Building Services, Facilities Management, Illumination Design and Sustainable Design). Students within these programs should undertake this unit in their first semester of study if possible.

Humans' thermal, visual, auditory and olfactory senses determine the perceived quality of a built environment. This unit analyses built environments in context of these human factors. This unit relates human experience of buildings to the main dimensions of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ): thermal, acoustic, lighting and indoor pollution.
This understanding of human comfort perceptions is contextualised by an understanding of the various approaches to the evaluation of built environmental performance. You will study post-occupancy evaluation tools and workplace productivity metrics. Regulations from Australia and abroad will be explored to understand their impact on acoustics, thermal comfort, lighting, indoor air quality and ventilation. The unit also pays particular attention to sustainability rating tools from around the world, including GreenStar, NABERS, LEED and BREEAM.
This unit gives students extensive hands-on experience in laboratory- and field-based methods of IEQ research and building diagnostics. A recurring theme will be instrumental measurements of indoor environments, and how they can be analysed in relation to perceptual and behavioural data collected from occupants of those environments.