Architectural History/Theory 1 introduces students to the discourse of architectural history and theory. It commences with a concise chronological survey of key periods of architectural history from antiquity to the mid-nineteenth century, providing an overview of the scope of the field and establishing initial points of reference. It then changes focus to investigate more closely the ways in which particular architectural themes and ideas traverse across history, coming to the fore in certain periods and receding in others. Students will interrogate these themes in small groups through intense study of a single significant building, which they will research, document and illustrate in a written report, and re-construct in a suite of finely crafted scale models. They will be introduced to fundamental principles and skills of scholarly research, including locating and evaluating sources, and constructing arguments.

Architectural Technologies 1 introduces students to the roles that environmental considerations, structures and construction play in architecture. The fundamental concepts underpinning each of these key areas are presented and students demonstrate their developing knowledge of them via project-based assignments. These progressively complex tasks initiate students to the knowledge required to successfully analyse and synthesise construction and technical systems in basic buildings.

This course aims at providing students with the conceptual and technical skills required to creatively explore dynamic transactions between art and architecture. Throughout the semester, students will extend their ability to work with complex ideas while drawing on interdisciplinary practices related to the body, time, movement, structure and form. This course provides a space for architecture students to establish parameters and territories for exploration beyond the concerns of conventional architectural projects. From generative form making to performative action, the crossover between art and architecture has always been present within architectural design. This unit looks at developing conceptual and practical disciplines through experimentation with materials. Essential design sensitivities and skills will be developed through different modes of working including lectures, tutorials, presentations and writing as well as the physical engagement with new materials and building processes.

This studio capitalises on the skills and processes gained in the first semester studio to engage with increasingly complex programmatic and contextual issues within the built environment. Fundamental modes of representation in a variety of media will be deployed as a means to comprehend and articulate architecture from multiple integrated perspectives. Designing a small building will be the final project yet based on a series of introductory exercises that will engage with concepts of iteration in a range of scales and media. Students will continue to learn new software and other related techniques while also developing their familiarity with the technical skills necessary to realise a final design presentation including various media. The design projects will explore the necessity of experimentation as a means to communicate fundamental ideas about space, structure and form.

Architectural Technologies 2 explores the roles that environmental considerations, structures and construction play in moderately complex medium-scale buildings. Emphasis is placed on developing in students an active awareness of the impact that technical and constructional decisions have on architectural Architectural Technologies 2 explores the role that environmental, structural and constructional considerations play in moderately complex small-scale buildings. Attention is paid to the impact that choices of materials, detailing, structural systems and energy systems, whether passive or active, have on architectural design. Through project-based learning, students develop an active awareness of the important role that appropriate technical and constructional decisions, including architectural details, play in terms of fulfilling conceptual ambitions in tangible works of architecture. Students develop and demonstrate their developing appreciation of these issues via case study analysis, a group project, individual technical drawings and a final examination. Students develop and demonstrate their awareness of these issues via the analysis of case studies, a large project-based assignment, and a final exam.

Architecture Studio 2A requires the design of a small scale building or space in an urban context. The design process that is fostered explores the creative tension between intuition and prescription, using accumulative techniques that are intended to elicit unexpected solutions. The exploration of various design techniques of digital drawing, modelling and making are promoted, and combined with the effort in sourcing materials and support, using a combination of multiple tools and machinery in the Faculty's Media Labs including digital fabrication. Students are required to sensitively and imaginatively negotiate between the internal logic of the design approach and urban strategies while considering the representation and visualisation of their process. They become increasingly attentive to the complexities of architectural design, from the interpretation of programmatic requirements in respect to the opportunities and limitations of particular site conditions to the spatial implications of design decisions.

Architecture Studio 2B requires the design of a moderately complex building in an urban context while exploring the historical and theoretical implications of site. Students develop an increased awareness of the broader social, cultural and environmental consequences of architectural decisions. The studio-history combination affords a unique opportunity to critically examine theories of space and the city in conjunction with diverse approaches to the making of modern architecture. Lectures will concentrate on an interdisciplinary approach to understanding architecture and urbanism from the 18th to the 21st centuries. Participatory and collaborative work processes are promoted while students will be required to sensitively and imaginatively negotiate their own approach to designing in the contemporary urban context. Consequently, students will become increasingly attentive to the complexities of architectural design. From integrating historical and theoretical precedent to the application of programmatic requirements as a means of recognising the limits and opportunities of given site conditions, the studio and lectures aim to enhance students' capabilities to reflect on social and political values in design whilst developing an architectural language that reflects a close understanding of spatial relationships embedded in the dialectics of society and power.

Architectural History/Theory 3 surveys contemporary architectural debates through historical precedents, central texts, and present-day criticism on aesthetic design, cultural influences, mass media, and political events. Architectural discourse can be understood as a wide array of interlocking 'regimes of thought', each of which has its own multiple histories, transformations and unique effects. Students will become generally conversant in the principles of these central theories, and will understand some of their terms and references. Contemporary issues will not be taken at face value but interrogated through theoretical principles raised by the assigned readings. Paying close attention to the exchange between thought and action, students will explore the relevance of the discussed theories to the formation of current circumstances, and to the place of architecture within contemporary culture as a whole. Students take responsibility for their own learning, engaging in continuous reflection and developing skills in oral, written, and visual forms of communication to critique, create and articulate knowledge. They will be introduced to fundamental principles and skills of scholarly research, including locating and evaluating sources, and constructing arguments.

Architecture Studio 3A is oriented towards the technical dimensions of architecture, whilst remaining attentive to the deeper cultural and historical context in which such technical knowledge, particularly in regards to structures and sustainability, has arisen and is currently situated. It imparts knowledge and skills that will stimulate compelling architectural projects that are conceptually rigorous, structurally innovating and technically adept. Structural knowledge is developed through a suite of lectures and accompanying practical exercises, and is assessed through technical reports and a final examination. Students simultaneously develop an architectural project in response to a brief in which structural concerns necessarily come to the fore, such as for a habitable bridge. They are required to integrate multiple criteria, including thematic, conceptual, programmatic and technical concerns into a persuasive architectural proposition.

As the culminating design studio for the degree, students are presented with the opportunity to express and represent their own theoretical positioning through the design of a sufficiently complex building. Working with a great deal of autonomy, students will be asked to rigorously demonstrate the technical and representational capacities that have developed across their work in the degree. The studio consolidates the students' abilities in communicating and translating architecture using advanced techniques of graphic visualisation through 3D modelling software and digital fabrication techniques. Students are encouraged to develop hybrid techniques for moving between digital and actual realms while also strengthening their own theoretical position about the contemporary built and unbuilt environments. The aim is to produce conceptually challenging, integrated and compelling pre-professional architectural design projects that confront a variety of spatial contexts.