Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Civil) and Bachelor of Design in Architecture

Civil Engineering Stream with Bachelor of Design in Architecture

To satisfy the degree requirement of the Bachelor of Engineering Honours (Civil) and Bachelor of Design in Architecture a candidate must study not less than 144 credit points of the core civil and engineering units of study and 96 credit points of design in architecture units of study as set out in the table below.
(a) Requirements for Bachelor of Engineering Honours as detailed in the Civil Combined unit of study table
(i) 42 credit points from the Engineering Core Table, consisting of:
- 18 credit points of Engineering Foundation units
-- 24 credit points of Project units
--- The requirements of the Professional Engagement Program
(ii) 102 credit points from the Civil Engineering Stream combined degree table, consisting of:
- 96 credit points of Civil Stream Core units
-- 6 credit points of Civil Stream Elective units
* For combined Bachelor of Design in Architecture, CIVL3235 and CIVL4860 replace Civil Stream Core units CIVL2010 and CIVL2700.
(b) Requirements for Bachelor of Design in Architecture
(i) 90 credit points of Architecture Core units
(ii) 6 credit points of Architecture Elective units
Architecture Core units
BDES1011 Architectural History/Theory 1

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prohibitions: DESA1102 Assumed knowledge: HSC Mathematics and HSC English Standard Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Architectural History/Theory 1 introduces students to the discourse of architectural history and theory. It includes a concise chronological survey of key periods of architectural history from antiquity to the mid-nineteenth century, as well as closer investigation of some particular architectural themes and ideas across history. Students will interrogate these themes through intense study of significant buildings, which they will research, document, and analyse. They will be introduced to fundamental principles and skills of scholarly research in the discipline, including locating and evaluating sources, and constructing arguments.
BDES1023 Architectural Technologies 1

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prohibitions: DESA1102 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
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.
BDES1026 Architecture Studio 1A

Credit points: 12 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Corequisites: BDES1011 Prohibitions: DESA1001 or BDES1010 or BDES1024 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
This course aims at providing students with the conceptual and technical skills required to creatively explore dynamic transactions between artistic processes, place and architecture. Throughout the semester, students will extend their ability to work with complex ideas while drawing on interdisciplinary practices related to structure, form and site. 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, this course has an emphasis on making with material exploration. 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.
BDES1027 Architecture Studio 1B

Credit points: 12 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: BDES1026 or BDES1010 or DESA1001 Corequisites: BDES1023 Prohibitions: BDES1020 or DESA1002 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
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.
BDES2013 Architectural Technologies 2

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: BDES1023 Prohibitions: DESA2111 or BDES2613 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Architectural Technologies 2 explores the roles that environmental considerations, structure and construction play in moderately complex small-scale buildings. Emphasis is placed on developing in students an active awareness of the impact that technical and constructional decisions have on architectural design. Through project-based learning, students develop an active awareness of the important role that appropriate technical and constructional decisions 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.
BDES2026 Architecture Studio 2A

Credit points: 12 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: BDES1027 or BDES1020 or DESA1002 Corequisites: BDES2013 Prohibitions: BDES2010 or DESA2001 or BDES2012 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Architecture Studio 2A is oriented towards the contemporary communicative dimensions of architecture, whilst remaining attentive to the deeper cultural and historical contexts in which modes of representation, particularly in regards to architectural drawings and models, has arisen and is currently situated. Recognising that there is necessarily an enigmatic relationship between an architectural drawing or model and the building that they might singly or collectively conjure into existence, the studio invites collusion between the architectural program and the means of its gestation, development and representation. An architectural representation might be analytical, rational and technical or it might be preparatory, coaxing, poetic or whimsical. That is, it can never be impartial - always filtering, selecting, editing, and emphasising certain aspects of reality and discarding or downgrading others. The studio project is conducted as a ‘conversation' between contemporary architectural ambitions, and the claims of the historically situated modes of communication - written, spoken, visual and physically constructed - that the students deploy to achieve them. It imparts knowledge and skills that will stimulate compelling architectural projects that are at once conceptually rigorous and technically adept. Students become increasingly attentive to the complexities of architectural design and are required to integrate multiple criteria, including thematic, conceptual, programmatic and technical concerns into a persuasive architectural proposition for a small-scale building in a charged urban context.
BDES2027 Architecture Studio 2B

Credit points: 12 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: (BDES2026 and BDES1011) or BDES2010 or DESA2001 or BDES2622 Corequisites: BDES2024 or CIVL2410 or BDES2623 Prohibitions: BDES2624 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Architecture Studio 2B demands of students a critical engagement with modern architecture and its histories. It couples the methods of humanities research, including analysing both historical precedents and primary sources, with the creative processes of architectural design. Through a weekly lecture series on key modern protagonists, movements and their historical consequences, as well as undertaking a number of analytical tasks, students become increasingly aware of the role of the architect as an active agent in history and negotiate some of the attendant ethical, political, technical and aesthetic challenges and opportunities. The learnings so gained are used to underpin the students' own design process and outcomes. Participatory and collaborative work processes are promoted and students are encouraged to develop and question their understanding of site, responsibility, architectural ethics and cultural competence.
BDES3026 Architecture Studio 3A

Credit points: 12 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: (BDES2027 or BDES2020 or BDES2624) and (BDES2013 or BDES2613) Corequisites: BDES3011 or MATH2061 Prohibitions: BDES3010 or DESA3001 or BDES3023 or BDES3616 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
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. They are required to integrate multiple criteria, including thematic, conceptual, programmatic and technical concerns into a persuasive architectural proposition.
BDES3027 Architecture Studio 3B

Credit points: 12 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: BDES3026 or BDES3010 or DESA3001 or BDES3616 Prohibitions: BDES3020 or DESA3002 or BDES3012 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
As the culminating design studio for the degree, students are presented with the opportunity to develop an architectural position within their projects. Architecture Studio 3B continues themes from Architecture Studio 3A, extending design understanding with respect to programmatic ambition and situating a symbolic public building proposal within a specific urban site.
Particular attention is paid to the conventions of architectural representation as 'Communications' to doubly generate as well as conceptually clarify design opportunities.
Computational modes of modelling are a particular focus. Structural, technical and material thinking is encouraged in coherent relation to students' strategic design intent and through studied historical and cultural awareness. The studio consolidates students' abilities in communicating and translating architecture using advanced modes of graphic visualisation through 3D modelling software and associated fabrication potentials. Hybrid techniques for moving between computational and actual realms are promoted in parallel with clarifying attitudes toward contemporary built and un-built environments.
Depth of design development is promoted via a dual emphasis: early analysis of exemplary architectural thinking coupled with intensive speculative and projective exploration. Students aim to produce conceptually challenging, integrated and compelling pre-professional architectural design projects confronting a variety of spatial contexts.

Architecture Elective units

BDES2024 Art Processes

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: BDES1026 or BDES1024 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Drawing upon the processes developed in Architecture Studio 1A, students will extend their ability to work with complex ideas while drawing on interdisciplinary practices. Conceptual and technical skills are further devloped in this unit to creatively explore dynamic transactions between art and architecture. A range of studios and labs will host the production and critical discussions of work in conjunction with a series of lectures and independent research. By treating art as a field of open-ended experimentation with direct consequences for architecture, this course encourages architecture students to undertake a self-directed and research-based approach to their studies, working across multiple streams of information specific to contemporary art.
BDES3011 Architectural History/Theory 3

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 1 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: BDES2027 or BDES2021 or DESA2111 or BDES2616 Prohibitions: DAAP3001 or BDES3611 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
The objective of the Architectural Theory unit is to equip students with a critical understanding of key Western architectural theories and philosophy from the Enlightenment to the present. Emphasis is placed on the specific historical situations and cultural and philosophical contexts in which those theories arose, and ultimately how they were represented within the domain of architectural embodiment. It is organized to clearly identify particular trains of thought. Students will become generally conversant in the principles of central theories, and will understand their terms and references. Through readings, lectures, and tutorial sessions, students will acquire the literacy required to perceive and articulate contemporary theoretical standpoints, and will refine their research and writing skills through independent research into a particular aspect of recent architectural theory and philosophy related to their concurrent studio design project. Close attention will be paid to the exchange between practice and theory and the relevance of the discussed theories to the formation of current circumstances, and to the place of architecture within contemporary culture as a whole.
BDES3025 Architectural Professional Practice

Credit points: 6 Teacher/Coordinator: Refer to the unit of study outline https //www.sydney.edu.au/units Session: Semester 2 Classes: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Prerequisites: BDES3023 or BDES3026 or BDES3616 Assessment: Refer to the unit of study outline https://www.sydney.edu.au/units Mode of delivery: Normal (lecture/lab/tutorial) day
Architectural Professional Practice introduces students in the final semester of their undergraduate degree to the professional practice of architecture, focusing on design development within regulatory and practice management frameworks. Students are introduced to the fundamental principles of key regulatory requirements and critically deploy their understandings by investigating local practice case studies. They further develop a capacity to apply their knowledge in a particular context through an architectural design project that they take to Development Application level using current best practice.
Students wishing to continue with further studies in Architecture at Sydney University should choose BDES3025.