Course coordinator
Associate Professor Silvia Micheli
Course overview
- Study period
- Semester 2, 2025 (28/07/2025 - 22/11/2025)
- Study level
- Postgraduate Coursework
- Location
- St Lucia
- Attendance mode
- In Person
- Units
- 4
- Administrative campus
- St Lucia
- Coordinating unit
- Architecture, Design and Planning School
Students in this course pursue diverse solutions to the challenge of accommodating rapidly growing, urban populations locally and globally. Students will be required to design innovative housing based in research and fieldwork into formal and informal housing. Issues such as density and amenity, privacy and community, climate and cultural appropriateness, affordability, disability, ageing and changing household demographics are considered in the design of innovative housing. The aggregation of housing projects and their effects at the urban scale in creating or mitigating against segregation, gentrification and suburban sprawl are explored. The detailed design of private, communal and public spaces is expected.
ARCH7004 is an Advanced Architectural Design course in which architecture students will work with a complex problem at a medium-high scale in the urban context. Students will respond architecturally, in a creative way, advancing scenarios involving social, technical and/or environmental challenges. Students will develop and apply critical thinking skills to common problems, resulting in refined and technically resolved design proposals. The studio will take a global approach through research and design investigation and students will be immersed in a collaborative and collegial learning environment.
Course requirements
Assumed background
A Bachelor of Architectural Design or equivalent with either a GPA of 4.5 or above, or a GPA of 4.0 with 6 months post graduate full-time experience to the satisfaction of the Executive Dean.
Prerequisites
You'll need to complete the following courses before enrolling in this one:
Admission to the MArch.
Restrictions
MArch students only. Study Abroad students must seek Head of School permission to enrol.
Course contact
Timetable
The timetable for this course is available on the UQ Public Timetable.
Additional timetable information
ARCH7004 runs on Tuesdays, 9.30–16.30 (1 hour lunch break), in studio 0500D-511/512, UQ City Space, 308 Queen Street, CBD Brisbane.
Students will conduct site visits and will also be involved in learning activities run in the Zelman Cowen Building, as per Course Outline Timetable.
Aims and outcomes
This course aims to extend students' ability to formulate and implement design strategies within the constraints and opportunities of housing.
Learning outcomes
After successfully completing this course you should be able to:
LO1.
Critically analyse and articulate the opportunities within housing and neighbourhood typologies and domain knowledge to inform architectural design through individual and / or collaborative analysis and propositions.
LO2.
Deploy a reflexive experiential and or research-driven design process.
LO3.
Integrate contemporary architectural technology, practice and discourse in the design of a complex architectural project.
LO4.
Communicate design strategies, experiential qualities, and resolution of an architectural proposal across a range of scales from work in development up to an exhibition standard.
Assessment
Assessment summary
| Category | Assessment task | Weight | Due date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product/ Design |
Assessment 01 : Housing Concept Design
|
40% Group |
1/09/2025 4:00 pm
Submission: via Blackboard Ultra |
| Product/ Design |
Assessment 02: Housing Design Project
|
60% Individual |
27/10/2025 4:00 pm
Submission: via Blackboard |
A hurdle is an assessment requirement that must be satisfied in order to receive a specific grade for the course. Check the assessment details for more information about hurdle requirements.
Assessment details
Assessment 01 : Housing Concept Design
- Team or group-based
- Mode
- Product/ Artefact/ Multimedia
- Category
- Product/ Design
- Weight
- 40% Group
- Due date
1/09/2025 4:00 pm
Submission: via Blackboard Ultra
- Other conditions
- Peer assessed.
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04
Task description
Assessment Rationale
You will work in groups to research on residential typology and innovation in contemporary residential design. With your group, you will visit, survey, analyse the assigned residential site and its urban context, understanding the potential of the existing facilities, services and infrastructure. You will work on the brief, functional diagram, master planning and massing study for the design of a multi residential building with common areas and services. By the end of this exercise, you are required to generate an innovative overall strategy – a design concept for residential units that can host a spread of familiar groups. Assignment 1 is a preliminary design proposal that will be progressed and finalised in Assignment 2. For Assignment 1, you work on a design concept seeking innovation in the way we live in the urban context. Four categories are to be observed and resolved in this social housing project following the further details provided in the course outline, which includes description of project deliverables. There is a buddy check component to this assignment.
If, for whatever reason, you find that your group needs guidance, please contact your Course Coordinator for support.
Complex/Authentic assessment using AI or MT to support learning: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Translation (MT) are emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI and/or MT in completing this assessment task. Students must clearly reference any use of AI or MT in each instance. A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Submission guidelines
The School of Architecture, Design and Planning uses Blackboard and Turnitin for assessment submission. Turnitin is accessed through the course Blackboard site. Turnitin also checks for plagiarism or instances where the original work of others is not appropriately acknowledged. Uploaded files must contain readable text and not be rasterised. Students are advised to commence assignment uploads with sufficient amount of time (consider possible technical problems with computers, internet speed, etc). After successfully submitting an assignment through Turnitin, a ‘Submission Complete!’ screen will be displayed. It is the student’s responsibility to check assignment preview and confirm successful submission. If the ‘Submission Complete!’ screen isn’t displayed, the student should regard the submission as unsuccessful. Students should download a copy of the digital receipt as proof they have submitted the assignment. Students who are experiencing upload issues must advise the Course Coordinator immediately by email and should include screenshots and a copy of the assessment for submission. To meet professional accreditation, public engagement and quality assurance obligations, digital copies of all course assessment items must be submitted in addition to any hard copy submission requirements specified in individual Course / Studio Outlines. Any physical models should be photographed and a minimum of two photographs describing the complete and full model must be included in the digital submission.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 14 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
If a student wishes to apply for an extension, they must apply online on or before the assignment due date. When possible, it is suggested that requests are submitted 2 business days prior to the submission due date for the assignment to allow processing time. Students with outstanding applications for extensions are advised to submit their assessment by the original due date, irrespective of whether the work is complete, so that what has been done can be graded. The maximum extension limit for assessment items in all design studio courses is 14 days.
Oral Presentations - Group Work
If one student has an extension then this student will receive the same mark as their other group members (with agreement from at least 50% of the members of the group, and recognition of potential impacts on the other group members). If 50% of group members do not agree, the extension will not be approved.
Critique panels cannot be reconvened for the presentation component of assessment when an extension has been approved. Students with granted extensions (or pending extension applications) are able to attend but are not permitted to participate in the design review.
Late submission
The late penalty for this assessment item will be calculated as follows:
First 1-hour block - initial 1 hour grace period no penalty.
Second 1-hour block - An penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark allocated for the assessment item will be deducted
Third 1-hour block - An additional penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark allocated for the assessment item will be deducted. (adding up to a total penalty of 20% of the maximum possible mark)
Any submissions received after three hours will not receive any marks unless an extension has been approved. Each one-hour block is recorded from the time the submission is due.
Assessment 02: Housing Design Project
- Hurdle
- Identity Verified
- Mode
- Product/ Artefact/ Multimedia
- Category
- Product/ Design
- Weight
- 60% Individual
- Due date
27/10/2025 4:00 pm
Submission: via Blackboard
- Learning outcomes
- L01, L02, L03, L04
Task description
Assessment Rationale:
The aim of this second assignment is to elaborate on the design concept of the housing typology and the masterplan. Build upon the ideas developed during the first assignment, and refer to the book of precedents too, to meet the goals of this project. Attention will be paid to the design of the apartment layouts, their typology, variations and connections with the communal spaces. The design of the facades, resolution of the social spaces is equally important to overall resolution of the project. Further design brief details will be available in the course reader uploaded to Blackboard.
Complex/Authentic assessment using AI or MT to support learning: Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Translation (MT) are emerging tools that may support students in completing this assessment task. Students may appropriately use AI and/or MT in completing this assessment task. Students must clearly reference any use of AI or MT in each instance. A failure to reference generative AI or MT use may constitute student misconduct under the Student Code of Conduct.
Hurdle requirements
A hurdle is an assessment requirement that must be satisfied to receive a specific grade in the course. 'Assessment 02' is designated as a Hurdle in this course. This means a minimum achievement of 50% (a grade of 4) is required for this assessment item in order to pass the course. Meeting the hurdle requirement for a course does not guarantee a passing grade for the course and in order to pass this course, students also need to achieve a minimum grade of 4 overall.Submission guidelines
The School of Architecture, Design and Planning uses Blackboard and Turnitin for assessment submission. Turnitin is accessed through the course Blackboard site. Turnitin also checks for plagiarism or instances where the original work of others is not appropriately acknowledged.
Students are advised to commence assignment uploads with sufficient amount of time (consider possible technical problems with computers, internet speed, etc). After successfully submitting an assignment through Turnitin, a ‘Submission Complete!’ screen will be displayed. It is the student’s responsibility to check assignment preview and confirm successful submission. If the ‘Submission Complete!’ screen isn’t displayed, the student should regard the submission as unsuccessful. Students should download a copy of the digital receipt as proof they have submitted the assignment. Students who are experiencing upload issues must advise the Course Coordinator immediately by email and should include screenshots and a copy of the assessment for submission.
To meet professional accreditation, public engagement and quality assurance obligations, digital copies of all course assessment items must be submitted in addition to any hard copy submission requirements specified in individual Course / Studio Outlines. Any physical models should be photographed and a minimum of two photographs describing the complete and full model must be included in the digital submission.
Deferral or extension
You may be able to apply for an extension.
The maximum extension allowed is 14 days. Extensions are given in multiples of 24 hours.
If a student wishes to apply for an extension, they must apply online on or before the assignment due date. When possible, it is suggested that requests are submitted 2 business days prior to the submission due date for the assignment to allow processing time. Students with outstanding applications for extensions are advised to submit their assessment by the original due date, irrespective of whether the work is complete, so that what has been done can be graded. The maximum extension limit for assessment items in all design studio courses is 14 days.
Critique panels cannot be reconvened for the presentation component of assessment when an extension has been approved. Students with granted extensions (or pending extension applications) are able to attend but are not permitted to participate in the design review.
Late submission
The late penalty for this assessment item will be calculated as follows:
First 1-hour block - initial 1 hour grace period no penalty.
Second 1-hour block - An penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark allocated for the assessment item will be deducted
Third 1-hour block - An additional penalty of 10% of the maximum possible mark allocated for the assessment item will be deducted. (adding up to a total penalty of 20% of the maximum possible mark)
Any submissions received after three hours will not receive any marks unless an extension has been approved. Each one-hour block is recorded from the time the submission is due.
Course grading
Full criteria for each grade is available in the Assessment Procedure.
| Grade | Cut off Percent | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 (Low Fail) | 0 - 24 |
Absence of evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 2 (Fail) | 25 - 44 |
Minimal evidence of achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 3 (Marginal Fail) | 45 - 49 |
Demonstrated evidence of developing achievement of course learning outcomes |
| 4 (Pass) | 50 - 64 |
Demonstrated evidence of functional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 5 (Credit) | 65 - 74 |
Demonstrated evidence of proficient achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 6 (Distinction) | 75 - 84 |
Demonstrated evidence of advanced achievement of course learning outcomes. |
| 7 (High Distinction) | 85 - 100 |
Demonstrated evidence of exceptional achievement of course learning outcomes. |
Additional course grading information
Architectural Design courses require the cumulative integration of critical reflection and feedback on original creative ideas in an iterative process of project work developed over time in the studio context. To meet assessment validity and integrity obligations in Design courses, students must regularly present and discuss their work with staff over the course of scheduled studio learning activities including lectures, structured studio activities, workshops, individual and group consultations, presentations and critiques. Students are expected to participate in at least 80% of scheduled studio activities in which the progress of their work is intended to be monitored and reviewed. If participation in such activities falls below 80% students may be requested to submit process work (such as drawings, models and design exegesis). If a student is not able to provide evidence of authorship to the satisfaction of the course coordinator, or if their participation falls below 50%, a maximum grade of 3 will be awarded.
Supplementary assessment
Supplementary assessment is not available for this course.
Supplementary assessment will not be offered in Architectural Design courses to any student with a failing grade of 3 or less. Due to the need for the cumulative integration of critical reflection and feedback on original creative ideas in an iterative process of project work development over time.
Additional assessment information
ﾠ
Learning resources
You'll need the following resources to successfully complete the course. We've indicated below if you need a personal copy of the reading materials or your own item.
Library resources
Library resources are available on the UQ Library website.
Learning activities
The learning activities for this course are outlined below. Learn more about the learning outcomes that apply to this course.
Filter activity type by
Please select
| Learning period | Activity type | Topic |
|---|---|---|
Multiple weeks From Week 1 To Week 13 |
Studio |
Studio Please see Blackboard for weekly studios Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
Multiple weeks From Week 1 To Week 11 |
Lecture |
Lecture Learning outcomes: L01, L02, L03, L04 |
Policies and procedures
University policies and procedures apply to all aspects of student life. As a UQ student, you must comply with University-wide and program-specific requirements, including the:
- Student Code of Conduct Policy
- Student Integrity and Misconduct Policy and Procedure
- Assessment Procedure
- Examinations Procedure
- Reasonable Adjustments for Students Policy and Procedure
Learn more about UQ policies on my.UQ and the Policy and Procedure Library.