Construction Methods B

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2011:

For the purposes of considering requests for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website : http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

This subject articulates and tests the idea of construction as a process requiring cultural and technical choices. While Construction Methods A focused on the internal mechanics of building systems, Construction Methods B moves from the analysis of specific architectural ideas, seeking to arrive at the evaluation of implementation alternatives.

Mixing built examples and project proposals appropriate to the stage of pedagogical development of the student cohort, Construction Methods B will show ways to identify, evaluate and engage with the technological underpinnings of architecture.

The objectives of the class are as follows:

• to connect building conception and building implementation;
• to relate construction solutions to design intent and industrial context;
• to develop a problem based appreciation of systems’ integration;
• to help understand ad-hoc requirements of technical representations.

• Written and/or graphic submissions (e.g. tutorial exercises, class presentations, materials, construction or site reports, construction drawings and models) due from weeks 3 to 12 (totalling 60%) to the equivalent of 3000 words.
• A two hour end of semester examination (40%).

Assessment may relate to work undertaken in other core subjects.

Regardless of assignment results, a minimum of 40% must be achieved in the examination in order to pass the subject.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, students will have developed the ability to:

• identify and intervene on the logics of construction;
• communicate with peers and the community at large concerning construction strategies;
• select materials and systems coherently to achieve explicit objectives;
• select and work with technological types suitable to building scale and function;
• identify the need for specific knowledge and to build it.