Unit Synopsis
Building Design 1 will introduce you to creative design as a process of investigation, critical observation and experimentation. You will be introduced to the client briefing process as well as to basic aesthetic and sustainable design principles and their application to the design of low rise residential and commercial buildings. By engaging in a series of short design-based projects that involve critiquing, listening consciously, researching and creatively solving design problems, you will learn how to create spatial environments that are conducive to human well-being and that meet stakeholder requirements.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-requisites:
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Portfolio | 20% |
| 2. Portfolio | 40% |
| 3. Portfolio | 40% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 71.43% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 29.17% response rate.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: SUTE Feedback
The workload and content covered is far higher compared to other units in the course.
A review is underway to identify how the unit content can be delivered across the course to ease the workload in this unit.
The review to identify how the unit content can be delivered across the course to ease the workload is continuing. The unit content should be reviewed to ensure alignment with industry standards and enhance clarity for students.
Source: SUTE Feedback
This is a very interaction intensive subject involving a lot of forum-based activities and feedback sessions that make the unit interesting and also require good time management skills.
The unit is a design studio unit and will remain interactive. to support student learning. The forum based activities and feedback session will continue to be offered. It is recommended that students start each assessment early and participate in the activities that are offered to maximise their learning.
No changes made and interactivity continued.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
The lecture being held at 5 pm also made it difficult to attend due to work commitments. It would be helpful if lectures were held no earlier than 5:30 pm to allow for students who work 8 am - 5pm.
Schedule Zoom sessions at 6 pm.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
Forums did not operate as intended. Students couldn't post to the Q&A forum.
This issue has been identified and should work correctly. If there is an issue, students are recommended to contact the Unit Coordinator as soon as possible.
In Progress
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
The weekly content of assessments, lectures, study guides, and forums added a lot of work to be completed in the 12 weeks; the assignments were very time-consuming.
All unit content and assessment should be able to be completed within 12.5 hours per week or 150 hours over the term.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Develop spatial environments that are conducive to human well-being demonstrating experimentation and self-reflection
- Critique designs through the lens of building design processes demonstrating research abilities, conscious communication skills and critical, creative insight into related thought and design processes
- Design environmentally sustainable low rise residential and commercial buildings
- Create aesthetic low rise residential and commercial buildings
- Creatively solve design problems to meet stakeholder requirements.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Portfolio | • | • | |||
| 2 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • | • |
| 5 - Team Work | • | • | • | ||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | • | |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | ||
| 9 - Social Innovation | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | ||||
| 2 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||
| 3 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||