Virtual Environments

This subject is not offered in 2014.

120 hours

ENVS10008 Virtual Environments

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

To plan or design requires the imagining of worlds yet to exist. Drawings and models undertaken with analogue or digital media operate as virtual environments that articulate proposals for environmental change in the physical world. An understanding of how media shape real environments is the aim of this subject. A series of lectures will introduce students to the range of spatial media and techniques used to develop design concepts and planning strategies. The emphasis will be on developing knowledge of the critical relationship between media and outcomes, and how tools and techniques encourage or constrain possibilities. Concluding each lecture, students will be introduced to self teaching modules that will enable experimentation with media and techniques typically used in design and planning.

In this subject students will:

• Gain an understanding of the design, reasoning, and application of spatial and analog representations of physical models.
• Develop an historical awareness of pictorial traditions and symbolic representations in both 2D and 3D.
• Understand object-centred representations from aerial, topographic, planar and volumetric perspectives.
• Understand process-centred representations through digital, distributed/networked, time-based, quantitative, and kinetic/performative/responsive applications.
• Develop ways of reading and interpreting such representations with a cultural and critical lens.

1. Analogue/digital drawing and modelling formatted as journal document with oral presentation (equivalent to 1600 words), two submissions (week 4 and mid-semester), 40%
2. Final design project using mixed media, supporting drawings and analysis with oral presentation (equivalent to 1200 words), end of semester (before examination period), 30%
3. Critical review of lectures and design project (1200 words), end of semester (first week of examination period), 30%

Rhinoceros software. Note: Apple-Mac users will require Windows operating system.

This subject potentially can be taken as a breadth subject component for the following courses:

• Bachelor of Arts
• Bachelor of Biomedicine
• Bachelor of Commerce
• Bachelor of Music
• Bachelor of Science
• Bachelor of Engineering

You should visit learn more about breadth subjects and read the breadth requirements for your degree, and should discuss your choice with your student adviser, before deciding on your subjects.