Overview

This unit introduces students to the concept of sustainability and to the principles of ecologically sustainable design. The unit will examine the changing patterns in human behaviour and their influences on the environment, examining sustainable materials, site and climatic analysis, living spaces, usage of resources, and social/cultural practices. This unit will also aim to teach students the impact of sustainability in designing interior spaces.

Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025
Semester 2
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
04-August-2025
02-November-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-August-2025
Census date
31-August-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
19-September-2025
Results released date
09-December-2025

Learning outcomes

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

  • Interpret and document sustainability scholarship relevant to the design problem-context, ie. Sustainability and ecologically sustainable design (ESD) scholarship
  • Analyse project specific opportunities base on ESD / sustainability scholarship and apply as relevant to an individual project
  • Examine, re-examine and elaborate the ESD implications of the questions identified (above) within the students response to the design brief
  • Communicate their own research/ project work both visually and verbally, through presentations and peer discussions
  • Develop and design outcomes that responds to the sustainability issues explored within the brief and coherently demonstrates an understanding of the implications of that design in the given context

Teaching methods

Hawthorn

Type Hours per week Number of weeks Total (number of hours)
Face to Face Contact (Phasing out)
Studio		3.00 12 weeks 36
Unspecified Learning Activities (Phasing out)
Independent Learning		9.50 12 weeks 114
TOTAL150

Assessment

Type Task Weighting ULO's
Concept DesignsIndividual 15% 1,2,3,4,5 
Design ProjectIndividual 60% 1,2,3,4,5 
Research ProjectIndividual 25% 1,2,3,4 

Content

  • Principles of sustainability
  • Environmental degradation and environmentalism
  • Sustainability and design practice
  • Consumption and the environmental impacts of consumption
  • Living within ecological limits
  • Social effects of the environmental crisis and design practice
  • Ecological sustainable design (ESD) – models and methodologies
  • Sustainable design strategies – applying ESD techniques to a design project 
  • Communicating design project outcomes

Study resources

Reading materials

A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.