Units you can study
Choose from the undergraduate or postgraduate options on offer across a range of disciplines. As long as you meet the prerequisites, you can choose subjects from any of our discipline areas to suit your interests.
Most units have a lecture and a tutorial each week. Lectures and tutorials for postgraduate units are usually held in the evenings.
Approved units
All students can study these units, regardless of your academic background. These units will be approved on your QUT study plan after you apply.
Architecture and built environment
ABB101 Design 1: Space and Scale
This unit introduces key principles of spatial design, exploring how space and scale shape experience across architecture, interior, and landscape contexts. Through project-based learning, you will investigate spatial organisation, materiality, proportion, and introductory tectonic and stereotomic approaches while developing design ideas, methods, and representations. This unit introduces professional knowledge aligned with AACA National Standard of Competency for Architects, Performance Criteria 18, relating to the communication and representation of ideas through appropriate modes and media.
ABB102 Design 2: Site and Context
This unit introduces principles and elements of spatial design with a focus on site and context. From a platform of foundational knowledge of design theory and process, you will explore the spatial design practices of architecture, landscape architecture and interior design. You will be able to apply creative imagination, design precedents, research, emergent knowledge and critical evaluation in formulating and refining concept design options, including the exploration of the intangible aspects, and tangible formal and spatial qualities of sites and their contexts. Learning in this unit is project-based in collaboration with peers, supported by lectures, readings, practicals and studio activities. You will build from this unit in your discipline-focused second year design units. You will be introduced to professional knowledge that aligns with items 17, 18, 26 and 36 of the AACA national competencies for Architects.
ABB103 Create and Represent: Process
This unit introduces foundational analogue and digital representational processes used in architecture, landscape architecture, and interior design. Through drawing, modelling, and diagramming, you will explore how representation operates not only as a means of communication, but as a method of design thinking. The unit emphasises observation, experimentation, and iteration across multiple scales. Students engage with hand drawing, physical model making, and digital workflows to analyse space, generate ideas, and test formal and spatial propositions. Rather than focusing on resolved outcomes, the unit prioritises design process, decision-making, and the clear communication of development over time. The skills and approaches developed in this unit support concurrent and future design and technology units.
ABB104 Create and Represent: Presentation
This unit provides introductory hybrid presentation skills for communicating design contexts, ideas, intents and propositions for our built and natural environment. It will cover methods and techniques for communicating in two and three dimensions, including visualising and explaining design contexts and ideas as well as drawing, making, rendering, writing, and speaking about design intents and propositions. Through a range of practical exercises and experiments, students will understand how to communicate design concepts and intents to general audiences in different contexts.
ABB105 Spatial Materiality
This unit introduces and explores the materiality of the built environment, focusing on sustainability and technological advances. It will cover several themes of materiality, including physical and psychological properties, extraction and creation processes, positive and negative environmental impacts, and applications for creating sustainable works of architecture, interiors, and landscapes. The unit will consider historical and cultural uses, including historical and contemporary uses by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Through observation, analysis, and reflection, you will understand critical materials and how they can heighten the human experience of spatial environments and have a positive environmental impact through design and application.
ABB106 Create and Represent: Documentation
This unit provides introductory skills of analogue and digital drawing standards for architecture, interiors, and landscapes. Applying conventions including dimensioning, annotation, cross-referencing and scale, students will learn requirements for accurate architectural documentation. Through exploration of orthographic projections students will gain an understanding of drawing conventions for particular audiences and purposes.
ABB107 Small Scale Building and Construction
This unit develops your knowledge, skills and application for small scale buildings and residential construction. The unit introduces current domestic construction techniques and materials that are the core of any construction process. You are taught to read plans and build a house by studying construction theory and legislation, sketching construction details and an introduction to simple BIM models. This first year unit complements other first year units of the course and prepares you for Integrated Construction Management and Low-Rise Construction.
ABB108 Spatial Histories
In this foundation unit you will be introduced to the history of the built environment through the study of global architectures across a wide range of cultures throughout past millennia. The unit will introduce you to the importance of the specific contributions made by architecture, interior design , landscape architecture and urban and regional planning to the global understanding of spatial histories. Through engaging with lectures that introduce you to key concepts, and tutorials that will develop your skills in writing and critical thinking, you will become familiar with the critical moments and paradigm shifts of the built environment through global perspectives and spatial justice theories. This unit provides the foundation from which you will continue to develop an understanding of yourself as a participant in the continuum of the rich cultural tradition of designing and making places for human inhabitation.
ABB123 Sustainability and Design Thinking for the Construction Industry
In this introductory unit, you will gain a big picture view of the strategies and interactions that influence the sustainable development of the built environment. You will also learn about the principles of sustainability and application of them to real-world projects. Using design-thinking, you will consider the end user of built spaces and the social and cultural impacts of decisions at every stage of the project development and planning process. You will analyse problems and consider various innovative solutions. You will learn appropriate terminology and communication strategies to communicate and negotiate with diverse stakeholders including clients, design managers, architects, project managers, urban planners, construction managers and quantity surveyors and cost engineers. You will also learn how and when these roles intersect and how you can have a strategic impact on the project development and planning process.
ABB124 Integrated Construction
This is a foundation unit integrating residential/small commercial construction processes in a collaborative digital environment by utilising building information modelling and related technology. The ability to use building information modelling and related technology in construction processes in a collaborative digital environment involving a project team from different disciplines is important to work in the industry. This unit prepares you for Building Services and other units.
ABB151 Planning and Design Practice
This unit will introduce you to planning and design concepts underlying urban and regional planning, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives. The unit draws on real world urban planning examples to develop spatial analysis and visual communication skills which are key to conducting planning analysis and making recommendations. During lectures you will learn about theories and tools relevant for imagining and designing urban spaces. You will then apply this knowledge to cases studies in Australia and/or abroad. Tutorials will help you build the necessary skills to translate your ideas and concepts into cohesive plans, maps and visual aids. These skills are necessary to communicate spatial concepts and will be of value in your academic and professional career.
ABB153 Urban Analysis
This is a foundation unit that will introduce you to various demographic, socioeconomic and physical aspects of cities and to qualitative, quantitative and spatial methods of urban analysis that you will apply in a real-world context. This unit will also help you to develop your communication and collaboration skills using appropriate techniques.
ABB155 Property Law and Land Use Planning
Professionals involved in planning and property require an understanding of how property rights are defined, regulated, and applied within land use planning frameworks. Knowledge of property law, including land tenure, planning controls, and the registration of property interests under the Torrens Title system, is essential for understanding how land can be used and developed. In this unit, you will develop foundational knowledge and skills in property law, land use planning, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS). You will be introduced to spatial analysis techniques used in planning and property contexts and apply these to examine land use patterns, planning controls, and site constraints. The unit also develops your ability to communicate property and land use planning concepts clearly in writing and through visual and spatial representations.
ABB206 Negotiation and Conflict Resolution
The development of conflict management and negotiation skills is essential for those tasked with shaping the built environment. In this unit, you will acquire skills in effective communication, analysis of disputes and creative problem-solving through active participation in role-playing and reflective activities and intense investigation of real-world conflicts that arise through the development of land. You will learn to manage conflicting stakeholder perspectives, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' perspectives. Learning to think about and respond to conflict in a rational manner will prepare you for group work within your studies and into professional practice. Stakeholder Engagement and Planning Law units build on this unit.
ABB211 Architecture Design 3
This unit introduces you to architectural design through residential projects at the scale of the house and small multi-residential development. Building on foundational design learning from first year, you will explore architectural principles, processes, and problem-solving approaches through precedent research and iterative design work. You will investigate the relationships between dwellings, their inhabitants, and the surrounding landscape, and develop coherent design responses to problems of moderate complexity. The unit emphasises clear communication of architectural ideas through drawings, physical models, and presentations, preparing you for more advanced architectural design studios.
ABB212 Architecture Design 4
This unit provides you with an ability to develop architectural designs of reasonable complexity with particular focus on urban space, planning and form through an understanding of site specificities, topography, urban infrastructure and the natural landscape. In this unit you will undertake a small commercial and larger cultural design project. This builds on prior knowledge gained in the first year design studios. You will also be introduced to urban design expanding your previous knowledge of site planning. You will gain new skills in architectural design, urban analysis, and architectural drawing, modelling and visualisation toward the formal synthesis of buildings in urban settings.
ABB213 Modern Architecture
This unit introduces you to modern architecture and its continuing impact on architectural practice today. You will explore key architectural ideas, movements, and project from the late nineteenth century through to the present and examine how architecture has responded to changes in society, technology and culture. Through lectures, readings and tutorial discussions, you will learn how architects have understood and debated modernity, and how these debates continue to shape contemporary architectural thinking. The unit builds on the historical and spatial knowledge developed in ABB105 Spatial Materiality and ABB108 Spatial Histories, and supports your learning in design studios by strengthening your ability to describe, analyse and discuss architecture.
ABB214 Environmental Principles of Architectural Design
This unit familiarises you with the basic design principles and passive strategies for heating, cooling and daylighting necessary for architectural designs that respond to human needs (human comfort), are climate-responsive and energy efficient. Understanding the importance of climate-responsive design provides you with the tools to integrate environmental design principals in buildings that reduces carbon emissions for building operations. In a world of finite resources, understanding the physical phenomenon we have to deal with in design is essential for responsible professionals. Technical and scientific issues are an integral part of design projects. It is a fundamental task of architectural design to achieve maximum comfort requirements of the building occupants while minimising energy consumption and operational carbon emissions.
ABB222 Construction Estimating
An advanced construction management unit focusing on construction cost quantification techniques linking to previous years’ basic work and understanding. It includes an introduction to the interrelationship between professions in estimating and the techniques available to quantify cost; definition of the fundamental elements of cost and the methods of evaluating labour, materials, and equipment; assessing base estimates for major trades; assessment of offers from sub-contractors and implications for the tendering process; first principles estimating; review of an estimate; subsequent negotiations and application of estimating to variations and profit monitoring; outcome performance indicators; and introduction to current industry practice, tools, and technology.
ABB223 Low-Rise Construction
This unit introduces you to theoretical and practical knowledge to understand concepts, principles, construction techniques and procedures relevant to low-rise construction. You will gain skills to critically evaluate projects in terms of buildability, construction methodology, site safety, planning, scheduling techniques and site organisation. The ability to manage and supervise the construction process of a cross section of low-rise construction types such as residential apartment buildings, and commercial and industrial buildings is an essential requirement for construction management and quantity surveying professionals. The knowledge and skills developed in this unit are relevant to construction management and quantity surveying students and builds upon knowledge gained in earlier units such as small-scale construction, and integrated construction, building services, preparing you for further advanced units in structures and high-rise construction.
ABB224 Construction Legislation
This unit introduces the Australian statutory requirements, building laws and legal frameworks that regulate building works and construction activities to provide a broad understanding of how the mandatory technical requirements dictate the selection of the materials, construction elements, facilities and services in buildings. It articulates the potential risks and issues associated with non-conformance and non-compliance and their impact on project cost, time, and quality. The ability to identify, assess and resolve issues of non-compliance in relation to the application of National Construction Code (NCC), relevant building acts, Australian Standards and associated legislative frameworks is critically important to achieve the minimum necessary performance requirements of buildings in relation to health, safety, amenity and sustainability. The knowledge and skills developed in this unit are relevant to building professional practice in all areas of the built environment.
ABB231 Interior Design: Inhabitation
This unit introduces principles and elements of interior design within commercial contexts, focusing on inhabitation. It addresses small-scale spaces on urban sites. You will learn about interior design practices, requiring you to develop a coherent and foundational knowledge of individual and collaborative interior design processes and theory. Learning in this unit is project-based, supported by lectures, readings, workshops, and studio activities. You will also draw on learning from your previous design units. Learning from this unit will enable you to realise more realistic design and project outcomes.
ABB232 Interior Design: Interiority
This unit introduces principles and elements of interior design with a focus on interiority. You will learn about interior design practices, requiring you to develop a coherent and foundational knowledge of interior design process and theory. Learning in this unit is project-based, supported by lectures, readings, practicals, and studio activities. You will draw on the learnings from previous design studio units and build on this unit’s learnings in future design studio units.
ABB233 Interior Access and Assemblies
This unit develops competency in the technical communication of commercial construction and detailing of interior environments, in particular exploring two dimensional and three dimensional digital drafting conventions. You will learn about the application of building codes and standards with an emphasis on interior construction assemblies and accessibility. These are fundamental skills required by a professional interior designer. This unit links to other core interior design units by expanding your awareness of the commercial sector.
ABB235 Colour and Light
This unit develops a broad and coherent understanding of colour - its psychology and complexity, and interdependence with light, in the context of design theory and application in practice. As such, it introduces you to the attributes, influences and principles of implications of colour and light within the built environment. It develops broad knowledge and the skills to apply theoretical concepts relative to colour and light in the creation of interior spatial projects. It focuses on the human response to colour and light through an understanding of the histories, theories, and methods of application relevant to two and three-dimensional environments.
ABB241 Landscape Design 3: Planting Design
This second‑year landscape architectural design unit builds on your introductory‑level design visualisation skills and knowledge of design principles. An understanding of plant species, characteristics and design considerations is critical to the work of landscape architects, and this unit introduces you to the basic principles and processes of planting design. You will engage in a series of design processes to develop knowledge of plant classification, plant forms and functions, the effects of physical conditions on planting design, the importance of plants for sustainability, site history and character, and the implications of plant selection, procurement and maintenance. You will apply this knowledge to plan, develop and communicate a site‑based planting design using industry‑standard communication conventions. The knowledge and skills acquired in this unit will inform your work in your ongoing design units and in Landscape Ecologies.
ABB242 Landscape Design 4: People and Place
This second-year landscape architectural design unit introduces you to theories, principles and approaches to contemporary place-making through the critical examination of how people perceive, are impacted by, and interact with their environments, both individually and collectively. It builds your introductory-level design visualisation skills and knowledge of design principles, exploring theories and practices of environment and behaviour, place-making and environmental psychology. You will apply these to first analyse a project site and context, and then plan, develop and communicate a design proposition using the site planning conventions. This unit advances your knowledge and skills by guiding you to research and apply design theories and concepts in the creation of place- and people-responsive designs, which will inform your work in ongoing design units. This unit is complementary to ABB202 Design Psychology and students are encouraged to enrol in both.
ABB243 Landscape Design 5: Design and Documentation
This third-year landscape design unit combines both design and advanced technical knowledge and skills, building on knowledge and skills developed in your previous design and technology units. This unit guides you through a high resolution design exploration to the development of a landscape architecture-specific documentation set commensurate to those produced in the profession for landscape construction contractors and other consultants. It encourages you to develop a greater level of skill in design resolution at a range of spatial scales and independent application of technical landscape design specificity, supporting your ongoing landscape design learning and preparing you for final year design studios and professional practice after graduation.
ABB244 Landscape Design 6: Urban Ecologies
More people are living in cities now than ever before, intensifying our unsustainable use of resources, increasing carbon emissions, reducing biodiversity, and increasing social inequities and negative psychological effects. In this third-year design unit you will explore contemporary ecological perspectives on how we occupy and design our urban landscapes such as Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), Ecological Urbanism, Landscape Urbanism, and Design for Social Justice. You will also learn about applications such as urban farming, constructed ecologies, green/blue infrastructure and disruptive urbanist interventions. You will apply this knowledge to research, develop and communicate a design proposition for positive urban eco-social change. The knowledge and skills you acquire will advance those from your previous design units, complement learning in your Environmental Planning and Landscape Ecologies units, and prepare you for complex, advanced-level design units.
ABB245 Landscape Histories and Criticism
This second-year landscape architecture unit builds on your introductory-level design knowledge of spatial histories. In it you will explore and critique landscape histories and design precedents to contemporary landscape architecture. Drawing on critical literature and frameworks for historical and design critique learnt in class, you will investigate how environmental, social and cultural histories have shaped landscapes and our environmental and cultural heritage, and how landscape architecture has responded through time. You will apply this knowledge to research and critique works of landscape architecture within a social, cultural and environmental context, communicating these in visual and written assessments. The knowledge and critical thinking skills learnt in this unit form a solid basis for your ongoing exploration and development in landscape architectural units.
ABB246 Landscape Ecologies
This unit builds on principles learnt in your Planting Design unit. You will learn about and apply theories and methods of landscape ecology and restoration ecology in combination with an introduction to the hydrological and geomorphological processes creating landforms and underpinning ecological systems. This unit expands your conception of landscape as site-based to understand it as a dynamic web of systems, including a focus on the role of vegetation within these systems. You will first demonstrate an understanding of these base theories, through synthesising and analysing information then apply them in the development and communication of an ecological restoration plan to improve a specific site’s ecological wellbeing. This unit complements learning undertaken in your Environmental Planning and Urban Ecologies units, and the understanding of landscape systems you will develop across these prepares you for your advanced-level studio units.
ABB247 Landform, Technology and Techniques
This second-year landscape technology unit provides introductory landscape technology principles and processes of landform manipulation as part of the landscape architectural design process and practice. It introduces essential techniques, including landform grading design for drainage, circulation, and to create platforms. It introduces analogue and digital moulding of landforms, expanding on visualisation skills developed in the Create and Represent: Visualisation for Documentation unit. Knowledge gained in this unit will inform your work in your ongoing design studio units, landscape architectural materials, constructs, and documentation units.
ABB248 Landscape Materiality and Constructs
This second-year landscape technology unit builds on your introduction to the principles and processes of landscape construction, introducing landscape structural theories, material properties, design and construction techniques, principles and processes, and the legislative environment governing landscape construction. You will critically evaluate, explore and apply appropriate sustainable materials and construction techniques to landscape systems and communicate a detailed landscape design proposition using industry-standard communication conventions. The knowledge and skills gained in this unit will inform your work in the advanced design unit, Design and Document.
ABB252 Transport Planning
This unit introduces you to transport systems in selected cities around the world, facilitating an investigation into schemes and policies for promoting sustainable transport. The unit also assists you to integrate transport modelling theory with a set of analytical approaches which are frequently used in transport planning practice, including revealed and stated preference approaches. You will learn about how to design data collection instruments, analyse transport-related data, and communicate results effectively.
ABB253 Site Planning
This unit will enable you to develop an understanding of the processes, techniques, and skills involved in the development of a site. This capacity is essential for planning professionals, whether they work in the public or the private sector, and is integral to basic development assessment related problems. This unit further develops the skills that you have gained in the first year of your degree by giving you a grounding in the planning regulations and technical skills related to development. Through the use of a development brief you will learn, practice and apply site planning processes, techniques and skills on a selected project site from initial site appraisal through to the submission of a development application. This unit establishes capacities at an individual site level that will be further enhanced throughout the course at a variety of different scales in different applications.
ABB254 Stakeholder Engagement
In this unit you will learn about the theory, principles and methods for effective stakeholder engagement in planning processes, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders. You will be introduced to when and how to use different engagement methods to address planning conflicts, and gain important practical experience in stakeholder engagement.
ABB255 Planning Law
In this unit you will have the opportunity to develop an understanding of the basic political, policy, and legislation essential for planning professionals, whether they work in the public or the private sector, and the capacity to apply this understanding to basic development assessment related problems. Your capacity to understand the law as it relates to the regulation of development and the planning of infrastructure is integral to being a built environment professional. Your grounding in the legal framework surrounding planning and development is an important aspect of professional development, particularly with respect to employment that requires skills related to development assessment, and urban policy development.
ABB302 Project Management
Project Management is the overall planning, control and coordination of a project, from inception to completion, aimed at meeting a client's requirements to complete the project on time, within budget and to the client's quality, safety and environmental standards. This unit introduces you to project management for built environment projects, which includes an overview of the framework, processes and critical knowledge areas of project management. You will develop a project plan to manage the project through its life cycle and learn to identify and engage stakeholders, monitor project costs, and mitigate project risks and opportunities. You will need to develop these core skills to be an effective project manager. Case studies will be used to embed key learnings in a real-world context. The knowledge and skills acquired in this unit are particularly relevant to architectural design and construction management and related majors.
ABB303 Environmental Planning
This unit increases your understanding of environmental issues, environmental policy frameworks, and strategies that support decision-making and problem solving in the face of uncertainty. You will learn about the multi-faced aspects of environmental issues and the multi-scaled policy frameworks that guide ethical, and responsive practice. You will build on your existing spatial and non-spatial analysis skills and work in diverse teams to analyse a complex real-world environmental sustainability problem and identify integrated recommendations to address it. The knowledge and skills learnt in this unit will inform your work in advanced design and project units as well as in professional practice.
ABB311 Architecture Design 5
In this studio unit, you will learn how to engage with building types to aid you in the design of architectures of intermediate complexity. Through a series of formative exercises, you will explore how to adapt typological precedents to meet the specific needs of peculiar programs, as well as relevant legislative requirements. You will critically assess composition rules, tectonics, materiality and aesthetics to nurture your own personal style and language. You will gain an in-depth understanding of the relationship between site, type, structure, and legislation, undertaking your own independent research and project development. You will advance your communication skills, engaging with different levels of detail and different media. At the end of ABB311, you will be able to operate as a reflective practitioner with a good understanding of building types and composition rules as tools to address the current societal, economic, and environmental challenges of our times.
ABB312 Architecture Design 6
This unit will assist you to develop more complex architectural design skills focusing on ethical and sustainable design solutions and practice. This requires the synthesis of issues, ideas, knowledge, and techniques of architectural design as a holistic practice. This unit also advances understanding of the interdependencies of social, cultural, economic, and environmental dimensions at local and global levels, which are crucial to sustainable design of human settlement. You will synthesise and integrate knowledge and skills from various domains of knowledge into a major project(s) in an urban context. As part of the research and learning focus in the course, emphasis will be placed on the exploration and application of concepts of sustainability in the design of multi-residential and mixed used building types in local and international contexts.
ABB314 Integrated Architectural Communication
This unit develops visual communication skills previously acquired with emphasis on the ability to communicate technical intentions. Architects recognise that visualisation or communication of process, decisions and outcomes is crucial. To date, you know how to effectively communicate your architectural intentions using both analogue and digital means, skills primarily intended for the communication of design and technical aspects of buildings. However, the ability to communicate technical intentions is equally important. This unit integrates both these aspects through technical communication and documentation skills using Building Information Modelling (BIM).
ABB321 Highrise Construction
This unit covers the construction of high-rise buildings – buildings above 12-storeys high. The major differences from other buildings lie in the impact of increased height on design and construction processes, with structural systems, services and safety being the most significant. In this unit you will learn about the below topics:• Demolition;• Temporary works;• Excavations and foundations;• Retention and shoring systems;• Engineering of structural components;• Formwork systems;• Selection of construction methods and equipment;• Interaction of building components, systems and services;• Common building faults and rectification;• External cladding systems;• Construction planning for high rise construction;• Using generative AI to inform the construction process. This unit builds upon the principles learnt in Small-scale Building Construction, Low-Rise Construction, and Building Services.
ABB331 Interior Design: Intersection
This intermediate unit provides you with the opportunity to undertake a Community-focused ‘real world’ design project . You will develop design methodology and undertake an informed design exploration; critically analyse and generate solutions to unpredictable and complex problems. You will refine your written, verbal and visual communication skills to present design processes and solutions. You will develop your critical knowledge of contemporary social contexts within actual built spaces, focusing on ‘process’ and ‘solution’. The projects will address the role and relevance of research, while applying theoretical, technical, ethical and legislative constraints. Through semi-directed learning and studio delivery, the projects allow for the exploration of interior environments with an increased level of complexity and resolution. You will build on learnings in ABB231 and ABB232 and prepare for the capstone units of ABH431 and ABH432.
ABB333 Interior Systems
This advanced unit aims to develop an understanding of the relationship between design, environmental quality, access and egress and technology while developing your technical communication skills. It introduces a greater complexity in commercial interior construction, services integration and code compliance while also developing your technical documentation skills. The unit links directly to your previous studies in ABB233 and provides the necessary knowledge, skills and application required to document the construction of your designs through all of your core units. This unit sits at the developmental stage of your course and provides you with opportunities to develop your knowledge of services integration, digital drafting and documentation requirements in a commercial workplace application with an emphasis on meeting codes and standards relating to fire safety, access and egress.
ABB335 Materials, Products and Processes
This unit explores the complex nature of materials and products to enhance bespoke interior design project outcomes. Your knowledge of materials and products relevant to interior design applications will be developed with a focus on sustainable and advanced manufacturing processes. This unit introduces appropriate digital design, documentation and fabrication tools to communicate material research and understanding to relevant project stakeholders. Specifying materials, products and processes for innovative use, is a fundamental process in the delivery of a creative interior design project.
ABH322 Cost Planning and Control
This unit applies the fundamental principles of cost management including design and construction cost planning (pre-construction) and project controls (during construction), including important techniques in managing project cost in the context of working closely in multidisciplinary teams. It covers cost management in different types of projects.
ABH323 Contract Administration
This unit develops your knowledge and skills in the administration of construction type contracts, allowing you to apply the developed skills to all types of contracts used in the building and construction industry. This unit represents one of the core applications for construction managers, quantity surveyors and cost engineers and will allow you to gain an appreciation of the commercial implications of contract administration. You will study administrative implications for both parties to the contract for both head contracts and subcontracts that can be applied to contracts of all types at all levels. You will draw on work undertaken in the earlier years of the course such as Commercial Construction and prepares you for the final semester projects.
ABH324 Modern Construction Business
This unit explores the role of construction firms as business entities in the construction industry. This unit introduces the business, social and economic environments in which construction firms operate, and the industry-specific challenges of growing and managing a socially responsible, forward thinking and profitable construction business. The ability to develop a business plan to competently guide business direction and growth is a core skill needed to navigate the dynamic and competitive nature of construction business. Key elements of the business plan include a competent analysis of the market, identifying and engaging key stakeholders, financial analysis, mitigating business risks and opportunities, and build a caring and inclusive corporate culture. The knowledge and skills acquired in this unit are relevant to construction management and related majors.
ABH332 Interior Design: Interaction
This unit provides you with the opportunity to undertake a ‘real world’ design project in a Workplace scenario. You will further develop design methodology and undertake an informed design exploration; critically analyse and generate solutions to unpredictable and complex problems. You will refine your written, verbal and visual communication skills to present design processes and solutions. You will develop your critical knowledge of contemporary social contexts within actual built spaces, focusing on ‘process’ and ‘solution’. The projects will address the role and relevance of research, while applying theoretical, technical, ethical and legislative constraints. Through semi-directed learning and studio delivery, the projects allow for the exploration of interior environments with an increased level of complexity and resolution so you can build on earlier learnings from your degree.
ABH334 Design in Society
This unit addresses the relationships between design and everyday socio-cultural practices enabling you to apply this knowledge in contemporary designed environments analysis such as work and exhibiting environments and service scapes. It provides critical, theoretical and analytical opportunities to develop knowledge of the way the designed world intersects with social life. These insights are crucial to the capacity of design to respond in an evidenced-based and socially responsible way to the designed world as lived and experienced. The unit reviews theories and case studies to illuminate the injustices between design and everyday practice across cultures and time and provides an opportunity to apply these critical insights in an analysis of a designed environment. It focuses on inclusion and the socio-cultural aspects of design and complements the unit, ABB202 Design Psychology, while also helping consolidate your final year learning in preparation for professional practice.
ABH442 Landscape Design 7: Resilient Landscapes
This fourth-year design unit builds on your understanding of landscape systems developed in your Landscape Ecologies and Environmental Planning units. It advances your understanding of resilience theory, and its implications for landscape appraisal and design. This understanding is critical to respond in an ecologically, socially, culturally, and economically responsible manner to ecosystems in crisis. In this unit you will learn about resilience theory including and understanding of system thresholds, anti-fragility, adaptability and transformability. You will apply this knowledge in the research, development and communication of a design proposition in response to a current issue within a selected landscape system. The knowledge and skills you acquire in this unit consolidate and advance those from your previous design units, and will prepare you to display professional and ethical judgement and initiative as a landscape architect.
ABN401 Research Strategies in the Built Environment
In this unit, you will examine how research informs practice across the built environment disciplines, including architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, construction management, quantity surveying, and urban and regional planning. You will develop critical thinking, information retrieval, and synthesis skills necessary for professional, evidence-based practice. You will explore qualitative and quantitative research methods for data collection and analysis, with concepts introduced through lectures and applied primarily through tutorial activities, where you will develop literature reviews, research questions, and research plans that support subsequent research and design projects. This unit is taught concurrently to Bachelor of Built Environment (Honours) and Master of Architecture students, with learning activities and assessments aligned to AQF Level 8 expectations appropriate to both cohorts.
ABN402 Sustainable Urban Design
This unit explores the principles and integrated approaches that shape urban design as a creative and problem-solving discipline. It focuses on enhancing the quality of urban spaces and spatial experiences while reinforcing sustainability, resilience, and cultural diversity. You will engage with complex urban challenges through a design lens, exploring how different perspectives inform urban design practices and spatial outcomes. The unit also examines the role of emerging technologies in shaping contemporary urban environments, equipping you with the tools to integrate digital innovations into design processes. Through key principles, frameworks, and methodologies, you will develop the skills necessary to create responsive, inclusive, and sustainable urban spaces.
ABN403 Transdisciplinary Design: Communities
This is a studio-based design unit, with a cohort comprising students of both the Masters of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (Honours) programs. Your skills in designing highly resolved design propositions that address critical real-world scenarios will be developed via intensive collaborative processes within the design studio. Here, transdisciplinary collaborations and industry-informed scenarios will set the framework for project-based speculations that investigate and engage with and across different programs, scales, cultures, contexts, technologies, and environments. You will conduct design-led research while working jointly with others from outside your discipline area to create new conceptual, theoretical, methodological and translational propositions that integrate and move beyond conventional discipline-specific boundaries and approaches.
ABN405 Digital Collaboration & BIM
Building Information Modelling (BIM) is having a significant impact on the AECO industry as its use gradually expands: Improved access to data and analytical tools is allowing more detailed and wider ranging studies that are improving the quality of the built environment; The development of standardised libraries of objects are improving consistency in documentation; Interoperability between software tools supports higher levels of collaboration and improves risk management; This unit exposes you to the important methodologies, technologies and software underpinning BIM collaboration through simulating project teams working on real world problems. This results in authentic and proven design proposals and construction choices.
ABN412 Master Studio One
This is a studio-based unit in which you design architectural projects. The studio will focus on developing high-level abilities to rationally test and experiment through architectural design projects to explore cultures, contexts, technologies and environments. It requires a high level of design resolution in its projects as well as the practice of a research-led design process. The unit uses developmental exercises to enhance student perceptions of the built environment in a project-based learning environment. The architectural aspects of design theory, sustainability, sociology, history, and critique all form parts of the unit content.
ABN414 Advanced Building Science
This unit aims to develop an understanding of low-energy and high-comfort architectural design solutions for large-scale buildings. This hands-on unit addresses natural means of control of indoor conditions for the achievement of thermal and visual comfort of building occupants with a focus on the evaluation of design solutions through simulation. It explores the role of building science and simulation tools in the design of high-performing buildings. Buildings are large energy consumers, most of which come from their operations. In a world of finite resources, architects must understand the environmental impacts of their design decisions, considering all technical and scientific issues involved to achieve maximum comfort while minimising energy consumption. This unit further develops scientific knowledge associated with architectural practice and, in particular, skills required for designing and evaluating large-scale projects dealing with environmental design.
ABN511 Master Studio Two
This is a studio-based design unit, in which you will develop a complex project for a research community through a process of design-led research, brief development and detailed design. Your skills in designing highly resolved design propositions that address critical real-world scenarios will be developed via intensive collaborative and individual work within the design studio. With a focus on designing for the communities that form around research and knowledge transfer activities, you will conduct your own design-led research to create new conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and translational propositions that move beyond conventional architectural approaches.
ABN513 Contemporary Architectural Theory
This unit explores the contemporary landscape of architectural thought from the late 1960s until the present. It will consider how architecture has been located in interdisciplinary terms as well as through its own disciplinary problems. It will locate the world of ideas in conversation with concrete architectural production, as an active agent through which the discipline of architecture responds to the world in which architecture is practiced, debated and defended. The unit serves as a platform for developing a critical vocabulary and a suite of ideas through which to advance your own design practice and your positions as an architect. It enhances your experience in design studio by fostering the intellectual skills needed to participate in global architectural debate and to make your own design projects theoretically rigorous.
PMN503 Managing Projects as an Integrated System
This unit explores systems thinking and a systems approach towards all project performance domains. Understanding of a systems approach will help project managers to have an integrated understanding of the project. This will achieve better outcomes and value for the customers and project stakeholders.
PMN504 Managing Project Teams
This unit will provide you with the fundamental skills and knowledge to manage internal stakeholders, and to appreciate the role and contribution of the Project Manager in facilitating outcomes critical for the success of a project. It will specifically focus on the competencies required to effectively lead, motivate and manage individuals within the project team. The unit provides an understanding of how to undertake negotiation and conflict resolution, and recognise individual and cultural differences and different communication styles appearing in project teams.
PMN505 Project Procurement
This unit identifies the optimal procurement strategy for a project from a client’s perspective taking a strategic approach and positions procurement in the project lifecycle and provides the detail required to be an effective client or tenderer for projects. Further, this unit considers project procurement from a contractor and contract management perspective recognising that procurement is a strategic and systematic process of acquiring the necessary goods, services, and resources required to successfully initiate, execute, and complete a project. This vital aspect of project management involves planning, sourcing, negotiating, and managing relationships with suppliers and vendors to ensure that the project's objectives are met within specified timelines, budget constraints, and quality standards. Effective project management procurement involves a comprehensive understanding of market dynamics, risk assessment, contract management, and stakeholder collaboration.
PMN601 Managing Project Performance
This unit will provide you with relevant tools and techniques to planning and management of key project performance measures and indicators such as time, cost, budget and resources. You will be exposed to modern project performance domains, principles, frameworks and practices. The changing dynamics of projects and the environment they are undertaken is constantly changing. As such establishing appropriate metrics, baselines and thresholds for expected performance and measurement, analysis and evaluation is critical to ensure that the project is progressing as planned, timely and appropriate actions are undertaken to keep project performance on track, and maintain acceptable performance.
PMN602 Navigating Project Organisations in a Global Context
This unit will provide you with advanced skills and knowledge to manage organisational and people issues required to achieve outcomes critical for the success of projects in national and global contexts. The unit will focus on the aspects of project governance, organisational culture, organisational development and change, high performance teams and leadership in organisations. It will provide the understanding of effectively leading and managing project teams and their performance while managing constraints in time, cost and quality, as well as social, political and environmental influences.
PMN604 Aligning Strategy and Projects in Global Organisations
This unit explores the detailed links between the organisational business strategy and the projects, programs and portfolios delivered by global organisations. It teaches you how to use tools and techniques to extract maximum value from the project, program and portfolio and execute strategies for delivering optimal benefit for the global organisations. This unit links business strategy theories with the project, program and portfolio practices.
PMN607 Strategic Risk Management
This unit takes a strategic approach to risk in the project and business lifecycles. A broader range of risk management frameworks are now available and clients and providers need to understand the features of each before any implementation. The knowledge and skills developed in this unit contribute to effective identification, analysis, evaluation and treatment of risk to the project and the organisation in an integrated and strategic way. This unit builds on a sound understanding of risk and opportunities in projects and programs to inform decision-making and the project and program risk allocation between stakeholders.
PMN609 Leading Emerging Trends in Project Management
Understanding emerging trends and innovations in project management is of paramount importance in today's dynamic and competitive project and business environments. These trends offer valuable insights into evolving technologies, methodologies, and market demands that can significantly impact project outcomes. By staying informed and embracing innovation, project managers can enhance their ability to adapt to changing circumstances, optimise processes for efficiency, and effectively address complex challenges. Moreover, a proactive and evidence-based research approach to adopting emerging trends enables organisations to maintain a competitive edge and deliver projects that align with the evolving needs of clients and stakeholders. Ultimately, this understanding empowers project management professionals to lead with foresight, navigate uncertainties, and undertake innovation research to evaluate outcomes that drive both individual and organisational success.
PMN610 Project Management Principles
This unit introduces project management as a dynamic profession that plays a pivotal role in effectively planning, organising, and executing tasks to achieve specific goals within a defined timeframe and budget. The ability to manage projects efficiently has become a crucial skill for organisations and individuals alike. This unit focusses on project management essentials, principles, methodologies, and tools that empower project managers to deliver projects successfully. The is a gateway into the fundamental concepts of project management, exploring key areas such as project initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and project closure. Further, important aspects of cultural competence and indigenous perspectives are woven throughout the content and reinforced in the assessment items. By mastering these essentials, you will enhance your ability to drive innovation, enhance collaboration, and achieve consistent project success in diverse industries and sectors.
UXH420 Risk Management in the Energy and Resources Sectors
This fourth year unit in the Quantity Surveying and Cost Engineering course builds on the basic knowledge, skills and understanding already gained in UXB120 and UXH321. The unit is set within the real world scenario of the Heavy Engineering/ Capital intensive/Resources sectors, and relates to facilities management and procurement within the Engineering and Construction Management cost controls (capital expenditure/project controls) and procurement areas. It links to work previously undertaken in 'Introduction to Heavy Engineering Sector Technology', 'Cost Planning & Controls' and 'Contract Administration' and provides opportunities to undertake further research within the final year capstone projects. The learning in this unit is provided by study and practice using real world case-studies and tools and techniques, that simulate the challenges, problems, issues and solutions that students will face in the QS & CE practice in the workplace.
UXH431 Urban Planning Practice
Urban planners collaborate within project teams to find and implement solutions to complex contemporary issues. In this unit, we will simulate a planning consultancy with a local government client to provide strategic directions to guide the future development of a specific geographic area. You will work in small groups as a strategic planning consultancy and develop a strategic plan to meet the requirements of the local government. As final year urban and regional planning students, you have developed the technical and communicative skills required to undertake this work throughout your course and professional practice placements but will need to invest significant time and collaborate effectively to produce high-quality deliverables.
Units requiring approval
Students need specific academic background knowledge to study these units, so we will assess your eligibility and determine if you’re able to take these units after you apply. We will let you know the outcome through the application portal as soon as possible.
Architecture and built environment
ABH435 Professional Practice in Interior Design
This advanced unit consolidates knowledge, skills, and practical abilities to understand and participate in an interior design practice as a beginning professional. It integrates the management and technical requirements associated with operating a design practice, the organisation and roles of the regulatory and professional bodies, the cultural and legal context, and values and attitudes that govern professional practice. Interior designers require knowledge of management theory; of building contract requirements and project management; contract documentation and administration, and communication skills. This unit covers a range of ethical, cultural, legal, operational, and technical concerns related to interior design practice.
ABH452 Community Planning
In this capstone unit you will have the opportunity to refine and apply knowledge of and skills in community planning that have been developed during the course. The unit involves you in planning techniques and urban theory applicable to communities which is crucial to the practice of successful community planning initiatives. Gaining skills to confidently apply community planning techniques in urban planning is critical for a planning practitioner whether working in public or private sector. This unit discusses principles of community planning, the relationships of community planning to community development, issues of power and participation in the planning processes, and the linkages and tensions between local and professional knowledge in planning and policymaking. The unit also helps in applying knowledge and skills in understanding key community planning theories and concepts, and in applying methods and analysis to identify and respond to complex community issues.
ABH456 Planning Theory and Ethics
In this capstone theory and ethics unit you will be prepared for planning practice and the dilemmas you will face as a professional. The unit will encourage you to engage with the substantive and procedural theories that inform how and why we plan, and provide the philosophical foundations that justify contemporary planning in both the private and public sectors. In this unit you will reflect on the diverse views and disciplinary insights that are present in a range of alternative theories of planning, and demonstrate your capacity to articulate your own personal philosophy of planning and the importance of ethical behaviour and codes in professional practice. This is a final year unit that will draw on the knowledge and skills you have developed through your previous units and through the experience of practice that you have gained as part of Work Integrated Learning or through working in the industry.
Enrolment restrictions
Postgraduate students can't enrol in:
- first-year undergraduate core units
- postgraduate honours-level units, which change from year to year.
Enrolment in capstone units is generally not allowed, as these units require extended knowledge gained throughout the course of a full degree.
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