Handbook

ARCH7112 builds on prior knowledge gained in the Bachelor of Architecture and introductory studio to the Master of Architecture programs. ARCH7112 prepares students for their final-year Major Design Studio by providing a foundation in architectonics – the logical resolution and communication of the organising principles of architectural design expressed in the relationship between structure, materiality, form, program and space.

Students will develop the architectonics inherent to their design with a focus on precedent and assembly in order to understand and communicate how buildings and their constituent elements are organised, configured, constructed and integrated to satisfy regulatory, cultural, technical and environmental performance objectives, to represent meaning and to convey design coherence via design resolution.

Architectonics will be explored through the range of elective studio options aligned with the four major streams offered in the M. Arch degree: Architecture and High-Performance Technology, Architecture and Urban Conditions, Architecture and Housing and Architecture and Social Agency. Within the context of each stream students will develop fundamental design and documentation competencies – informed by environmental, regulatory, social, ethical and disciplinary considerations – with an emphasis on architectonics. Architectonics provides a learning framework for the development of the architectural skills, knowledge and application necessary to design, progressively resolve and document a complex project1.