International courses
Explore and engage with contemporary global challenges.
International courses offer UNSW School of Built Environment students the exciting opportunity to explore historical and contemporary urban/infrastructure projects, advanced industrial design and manufacturing, and to tackle real-world social challenges with innovative design solutions.
You'll learn how to analyse, document and interpret the local urban condition and design novel responses to address social, cultural and environmental aspects. Site visits allow you to observe first-hand production technologies, culture, methods, techniques and practices within a local context.
During International experiences, you’ll have the opportunity to explore and engage with contemporary global challenges. You’ll work collaboratively with international students, industrial practitioners and professionals to propose positive outcomes, evaluating the impact of local urban morphologies, policy decisions, economic/labour markets and management strategies.
Seidler international summer course Vienna
- Location: Vienna, Austria
- Course dates: 1 December 2019 – 13 December 2019
Affordable housing is a basic requirement and an essential component of a just, inclusive and sustainable city. It's critical to introduce students of architecture, interior architecture, construction, planning and landscape architecture to models of affordable housing that are accessible to the majority of a city’s population.
The Housing in Vienna course takes students to the city of Vienna, Austria, where more than 60% of the population lives in some form of subsidised apartments. The model of social and affordable housing in Vienna is diverse and includes city-owned flats and limited profit housing co-operatives.
Vienna’s housing model represents a successful integration of design, ecology, economy and social sustainability. Major architects, past and present, have been involved in the design of this social housing, built to encourage interaction among social classes and promote innovation and high-quality design.
Key information
Itinerary
In collaboration with TU Vienna students and staff, Built Environment students will spend two weeks exploring the numerous sites of affordable social housing in Vienna. The site visits will be supported and facilitated by local practitioners, architects, urban designers and the residents, providing direct and personal engagement with the projects.
Eligibility criteria
All Built Environment Interdisciplinary Learning (BEIL) students may apply.
March students can also count this course as a prescribed elective.
Seidler international summer course Venice
- Location: Venice, Italy
- Course dates: 23 November 2019 - 6 December 2019
The design project takes place in the historical city of Venice or one of the surrounding islands. Students will investigate the city’s planning system through specific historical and contemporary urban projects.
Key information
Itinerary
This course will include two days of preliminary activities, which include: visiting the Biennale of Arts at the Giardini (Saturday, 23 November), Arsenale (Sunday, 24 November). The design studio includes visiting the historical city and discovering Venice as a modern city through the contemporary projects by Alvaro Siza, Tadao Ando, David Chipperfield, Santiago Calatrava, Renzo Piano and Carlo Scarpa.
The selected group of 20 students from BE will work together with a group of approximately 15 Italian students from the host IUAV University of Venice.
Eligibility criteria
All Built Environment Interdisciplinary Learning (BEIL) students may apply.
Master of Architecture students can also count this course as a prescribed elective.
International construction study trip Indonesia
- Location: Surabaya, Indonesia
- Course dates: 19 January 2020 – 2 February 2020
The Australian construction industry shares many similarities and differences with that of close neighbour Indonesia. Explore construction project management and future trends in industry.
Key information
Itinerary
Built Environment students will visit Indonesia for a 14-day study trip, where they will live near the Petra Christian University campus and participate in teaching and learning activities.
Eligibility criteria
All Built Environment students may apply.
Street Life Studies Cambodia
- Location: Phnom Penh, Cambodia and Sydney, Australia
- Course dates Sydney: 2 December 2019 – 10 December 2019
- Course dates Phnom Penh: 4 January 2020 – 18 January 2020
This annual summer course examines the diverse ways people use public street space in Sydney and Phnom Penh.
Key information
Itinerary
Over Summer 2019/2020 ‘Street Life Studies Cambodia’ will be held in Lakemba, Sydney and Kahn Daun Penh, Phnom Penh. The course will run in collaboration with the Royal University of Fine Arts, School of Architecture and Urbanism. Design tutorials, held on campus, will be intermixed with cultural site visits to key street environments and public spaces in each location, alongside guest talks from researchers and practitioners in the field.
Eligibility
This course is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The minimum requirement is the completion of second-year undergraduate studies.
A rudimentary understanding of hand drawing, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Indesign is helpful but not essential (workshops will be provided). This is a design elective where image is the primary mode of communication.
Architecture/CEPT Asian urbanism lab Ahmedabad
- Location: Ahmedabad, India
- Course dates: 9 December 2019 to 21 December 2019
Investigate the urban fabric of Ahmedabad, which has a blend of historic architecture as well as 20th-century buildings by Pritzker winner B. V. Doshi and acclaimed designers Le Corbusier and Louis Kahn.
Key information
Scholarships
This studio is supported by the Australian Government’s Endeavor Mobility - Asia Postgraduate Programme (Short-term). Ten (10) x $2500 travel grants will be awarded to selected participating students to contribute towards students’ travel and accommodation.
Students who receive this scholarship need to:
- be an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident
- not have previously received a Short-term Asia Postgrad grant under a current or past Asia Postgrad program.
Other students may also apply for this studio and may be eligible for school scholarships.
Eligibility criteria
BEIL elective for Masters in Architecture, Interior Architecture, Landscape Architecture and City Planning. For architecture students, the course will count as a ‘prescribed elective’.
International construction study trip China
- Location: Wuhan, China
- Course dates: 3 January 2020 - 17 January 2020
This international travel course is hosted by Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in Wuhan. During the trip, students will live on HUST’s campus and have a chance to share the learning experience with the local Chinese students while visiting design institutes, construction sites, building-related government agencies and historical buildings.
Key information
Itinerary
A 14-day study trip in Wuhan, China, from early to mid-January 2020. The dates may be slightly adjusted but will be around 3-17 January 2020.
Funding
Students are usually expected to pay for their own airfare and living expenses; however, this course has been generously supported by the Australian government’s NCP funding. The details of travel scholarships will be announced in late July. Students who register their interest in this course will be automatically considered for the travel scholarship.
Eligibility criteria
The course is most relevant to Architecture and Construction students, but all BE students can benefit from it and may apply.
Asian urbanism lab Shanghai (China)
- Location: Shanghai, China
- Course dates: 6 January - 18 January 2020
This interdisciplinary design workshop is open to architecture, landscape and interior computational design students. It will focus on the re-development of the built environment in a site along the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai.
Key information
Itinerary
The workshop is structured as a 2-week intensive series of lectures, seminars, fieldworks and charrette. While the main site is located in Shanghai, there will be visits to relevant projects in Suzhou and other new towns near Shanghai (such as Anting, Thames Town).
Eligibility criteria
BEIL elective for Masters in Architecture, Interior Architecture, Landscape Architecture and City Planning. For architecture students, the course will count as a ‘prescribed elective’.
Scholarships
$1000 scholarships to support travel are available for all students on this course.