The built environment is the material appearance of human progress and commerce of society. Computers have infiltrated all aspects of the built environment and altered the way in which design content is conceptualised, delivered and displayed. Digital technologies provide innovative pathways to produce and creatively present technical and aesthetic solutions to the challenges that confront the built environment. The Computational Design degree at UNSW is the nexus of architecture, design, engineering and science through the understanding and application of computing and computation. Cutting edge computer skills and digital fabrication technologies are taught in interlinked modules that allow participation and collaboration on a wide variety of themes to face the challenges of the 21st century and beyond.

The program enables design ideas through connected modules that outline creative, technical and artistic solutions through the implementation of an extensive range of emerging digital tools that capture, optimise, rationalise and fabricate digital design solutions. Empowered with a toolbox of digital skills, students engage in projects and ideas spanning from industrial design to architecture and construction to urban design.
Students collaborate interdiscipline within and outside of faculty to apply learned skills on practice-based projects. The degree offers all aspects of the utilisation of digital technologies to engage in the progress of the built environment.

Lectures and practical sessions comprising:

1. Computational Design Theory
2. Optimisation and Decision Support
3. Smart and Ubiquitous Cities
4. Responsive Environments
5. Digital Fabrication and Construction
6. Gaming and Visual Representation
7. BIM modelling

The main focus is the practice based teaching trajectory ‘Constructing’.

Students construct virtual and physical artefacts, objects and buildings using Gaming and Visual Representation and Digital Fabrication and Construction in courses.

Second semester focuses on the practice based teaching trajectory ‘Contextualising’.

Using digital technologies including sensors students create responsive environments and study the impact of technology on Smart and Ubiquitous Cities in the courses.

This semester focuses on the teaching trajectory 'Calibrating'.

Students optimise design outcomes through computational support using software packages in the courses.

Students build on the foundation of previously established skills.

The courses CODE2250, CODE2230, CODE2270 are taught in intensive mode blocks of 5 weeks per course in a consecutive manner.

For recommended electives please refer to the table below.

Announced at the beginning of the year, a grand narrative frames the direction of the final year.

Students will define their field of proficiency in one of the seven paths.

In the final semester students are asked to demonstrate their proficiency through completing a Graduation Project.

NOTE: Students are required to choose 2 courses from the suite of Built Environment Interdisciplinary courses to complete a minimum of 12 UOC of BEIL courses.

A list of current Interdisciplinary Learning Courses is below:

Refer to General Education

High achieving Bachelor of Computational Design students who have successfully completed all program requirements may apply for admission to a separate year honours program 4523.

Pass with Distinction:

Students completing the 3-year Bachelor of Computational Design program, may graduate with Distinction if they achieve an overall WAM of 75.

Students completing their Bachelor of Architectural Computing in 2014 can enrol into Honours in Architectural Computing in 2015.
Honours in Computational Design 4523 will be offered from 2016.

The degree of Bachelor of Computational Design is awarded at Pass level after the successful completion of a minimum of 144 units of credit.

To fulfil these requirements, students must complete:

The standard duration of the program is 3 years consisting of 6 semesters of full-time study (24 units of credit per semester). Students taking less than the standard full-time load will be extending the duration their program and will need to note that many courses are only offered in one of the two main semesters.

Students must complete all courses in each of the first four semesters in sequence prior to enrolment in Semesters 5 and 6.

Students are not able to enrol in two design studios concurrently.

Students must have passed all classes in semester 1 – 4 prior to commencing the final year.

120 units of credit made up of:

24 units of credit made up of:

Open electives can be chosen from any courses offered by any Faculty at UNSW for which the student meets prerequisite or other enrolment requirements. The exceptions are those specific General Education GEN prefix courses which cannot be counted as open electives. Open electives do not need to be taken outside the Faculty, students can choose FBE electives as open electives.

For information regarding fees for UNSW programs, please refer to the following website:  UNSW Fee Website.

The Faculty provides its students with secure, 24 hour access to computer labs with the hardware and software required to complete the program. Students specialising in Computational Design will find advantage in having a laptop computer capable of running the software used through the degree.

For details regarding hardware and or software applications, please contact the Faculty.