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Unit Synopsis
This unit provides a broad introduction to the history and theories of building design with a specific focus on the cultural importance, practical uses, construction, and stylistic designs of those buildings. The fundamental knowledge gained in this unit will underpin many design processes and decisions that you will encounter in your work as licensed building designers. The study topics and assessment tasks will develop skills that will enable you to identify and evaluate the successes and failures of historic and contemporary building types as well as the suitability of those buildings for conservation, re-use, or re-development.
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 |
Prerequisite: BLAR11045 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 3 - 2026
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 |
Part Weighting
(% of assessment) |
Assessment Security Level | Gen AI Guidance Levels |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Assessment 1 ( 30% of unit • 1 part ) | |||
|
Part 1
– Case Study
|
100% of 30% | Medium | AI-Assisted (Guided Collaboration) |
| 2. Assessment 2 ( 50% of unit • 2 parts ) | |||
|
Part 1
– Case Study
|
60% of 50% | Medium | AI-Assisted (Guided Collaboration) |
|
Part 2
– Presentation
|
40% of 50% | High | AI-Assisted (Guided Collaboration) |
| 3. Assessment 3 ( 20% of unit • 1 part ) | |||
|
Part 1
– Online Test
|
100% of 20% | Medium | No Gen AI Use |
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.
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: Student Feedback
Students report that the weekly activity forums help keep them on track with the unit content throughout term.
The weekly activity forums should continue to be offered to support student learning.
Assessment tasks were refined to reflect the weekly activity forums exercises.
Source: Student Feedback
Students report enjoying learning from the interactive assessment tasks and finding the unit content well structured.
Assessment tasks will continue to be designed with interactive components and the structure of the unit content will be maintained.
Refined rubrics were embedded in assessment items to ensure clarity of the assessment tasks.
Source: Students' written comments in SUTE survey
Students suggested that some learning materials were outdated and were not accessible via the library.
A formal review of the learning materials should be conducted to include up-to-date resources. Requests to obtain any required materials will be submitted through the library.
In Progress
Source: The teaching team reflection
Lecture slides, in some instances, require further written details to complement the highly useful visual materials used.
Lecture slides should be thoroughly reviewed and updated to include additional texts describing the visual materials used.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Analyse the historical development of building design and construction
- Explain culturally diverse values in buildings and spaces
- Recognise, discuss and compare the major stylistic trends of building design around the world
- Describe the historic and contemporary styles of building design in Australia
- Constructively discuss and collaborate within an online team environment to explore and propose potential design solutions for the renovation and extensions of heritage buildings.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
|
1.
Assessment 1
Part 1 -
Case Study
|
• | • | • | ||
|
2.
Assessment 2
Part 1 -
Case Study
Part 2 -
Presentation
|
• | • | • | • | |
|
3.
Assessment 3
Part 1 -
Online Test
|
• | • | • | • | |
| 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 | • | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |