Handbook

Architectural Engineering Design 1 provides students with exposure to design in the sustainable built environment within the context of designing a zero energy house.  The subject introduces students to key issues that underpin the design of high performing homes in line with best practice in environmentally sustainable design. The subject equips students with fundamental skills that are critical to the practice of design and offers an introduction to the application of design principles and processes.

The foci of this subject are energy efficiency and renewable technology. Students will develop foundational knowledge and skills related to the design of an urban house to net zero energy standards. Through a range of individual and group exercises applying the visual-based representation and analytical skills introduced in the Architectural Engineering course, students will develop critical skills in observation and analysis of urban environments and residential design for energy efficiency. Students will undertake a precedent study utilising the Solar Decathlon Houses and other Net Zero Energy houses as the initial context and also be introduced to a range of historical and contemporary precedents that provide different frameworks for understanding environmental sustainability and its implications for design. Students will employ a variety of related conceptual design and communication techniques, exploring generative approaches for design.

Topics covered in the subject will include, but not be limited to:

1. Small scale building design
2. Iterative design development
3. Communication through drawing and modelling (physical)
4. Considerations of site, precedent, brief, building users
5. Design inquiry, trial and error experimentation
6. Regulatory constraints
7. Environmental sustainability
8. Construction technology
9. Concept and developed design of a Net Zero Energy house