Architecture

Studying architecture at UNSW prepares you for a meaningful and rewarding career in various roles across the architecture profession.

Here, you’ll learn from leading academics and practitioners in how to design buildings and places  that help everyone live more comfortably and sustainably. Our suite of architecture courses will sharpen your thinking, enhance your creativity and technical skills and help you confidently enter the workforce as one of Australia’s most employable graduates (AFR Top100 Future Leaders Awards).

Sitting within our School of Built Environment, Architecture at UNSW will teach you how to design buildings and cities shaped by sustainability, inclusivity and connectivity.  Discover how architectural design impacts people and the environment and how you can excel as an architect in professional practice. 

With 96,000 new homes needed globally every day, you’ll learn to design buildings that truly benefit the people who inhabit them. Lead the fight against climate change with architectural design that boosts environmental performance and sustainability. Understand low-carbon architecture and help the industry achieve its goal of Net Zero buildings by 2030. Recognise your practical, ethical and moral responsibilities in architecture – lead the way in a rapidly changing profession. 

* QS World University Ranking, 2024

Architecture is the design of space, materials, environment, and human experience to create places of habitation. It involves creating spaces that are safe, healthy , functional and, of course, beautiful. Architecture involves blending creativity with technical knowledge to meet societal needs and environmental responsibilities. 

Architects play a critical role in shaping the culture of cities and communities. They design buildings and spaces that improve the way people live, work and play, are in tune with climate and the environment and benefit the economy.

As cities continue to expand and transform globally, demand for architects is projected to grow 35% over the next ten years (Labour Market Insights, March 2023). The UNSW Bachelor of Architectural Studies, combined with the UNSW Master of Architecture gives you the qualification that puts you on the pathway to becoming a registered architect in Australia and a number of other countries including the United Kingdom, Singapore, Canada, the USA, and New Zealand.

Our graduates work across a range of architectural and design disciplines. You can specialise in designing housing or commercial buildings, or in a number of related architectural professions. 

Jobs you might explore as an architect include:

• Working as an architect in a small, medium or large-sized practice 

• Starting your own architectural practice 

• Specialist architect in housing, high-performance architectural technology or humanitarian architecture 

• Expert consultant in government, policy or the environment

• Architectural critic, journalist or historian

• Architectural teacher, researcher or academic

• Building scientist or environmental designer

Top 40 worldwide

Become a global leader in your architectural career. When you study our bachelor’s or master’s degrees in Architecture, your qualifications are internationally recognised. UNSW is ranked in the top 40 in the world for Architecture and Built Environment (QS World University Rankings, 2022).

Industry partnerships, world-class teachers

Our staff include world-class, award-winning architects and academics. Learn from teachers including UNSW Professor of Practice, Rachel Neeson, a recipient of The Marion Mahony Griffin Prize by the Australian Institute of Architects and Associate Prof. Melonie Bayl Smith, winner of the Australian Institute of Architects Leadership in Gender Equity Prize In 2023, Prof. Matt Santamouris was listed as the number one researcher in the world in Urban Heat Island research, and number two in the world in Architecture.

Gain international experience

Choose to study abroad in our international summer studios in Japan, Vienna or Cambodia. Take an exchange opportunity with one of our university partners around the globe. Or take a studio led by our international Seidler Chairs in the Practice of Architecture, Richard Hassell and Wong Mun Summ (Founders of WOHA, Singapore). UNSW is also the only Australian university that offers our architecture students an internship at Renzo Piano Building Workshop in Genoa, Italy. 

Solve tomorrow’s problems

Navigate the industry's most pressing challenges with hands-on learning in first-class design and research facilities. UNSW was awarded an Australian Research Council grant to establish the ARC Next-Gen Architectural Manufacturing Centre. Learn how advanced technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will improve the industry’s productivity, performance and sustainability. Become trained in advanced design and fabrication tools such as 3D printing, laser cutting, CNC routing and more in our Design Futures Lab. 

Design with and for Country

UNSW has appointed two Professors of Practice, Indigenous, Gillian Barlow and Bernadette Hardy who are running a new studio in our UNSW Master of Architecture. Learn how to design with and for Indigenous communities, and how to elevate Indigenous knowledge across the industry. 

Be recognised

Our graduates receive the highest recognition for their achievements, being recently awarded the 2023 NSW Architects Registration Board Architect’s Medallion and the 2023 NSW Australian Institute of Architects Graduate Medal, Architectural Technologies Award and Students’ Choice Award. 

Each year our student exhibition Luminocity celebrates the achievements of our students, both in architecture, and across all School of Built Environment degrees. 

Embrace flexibility 

Study options include full-time or part-time, with the flexibility to build your timetable to suit your lifestyle and goals. Choose from a broad range of electives across the school of Built Environment including property development, city planning and urban design, landscape architecture, computational design and even designing with robots.

Drive change

UNSW won the Australian Financial Review’s Most Employable Students Award in 2023. Grow the skills and experience to succeed in tomorrow’s workforce. Craft the career you want and become an agent of change in the industry – pushing the boundaries in the rapidly changing architectural profession.

UNSW School of Built Environment is equipped with the latest, industry-aligned tools and technologies. Architecture students will get familiar with the software and techniques they’ll be expected to know when they enter the workforce.

Design Futures Lab

The Design Futures Lab is a workshop and community space for students and researchers to learn through making. Architecture students can experiment through hands-on interactions and work collaboratively with researchers, staff and fellow students to explore and create innovative design solutions. The lab features metal, wood and polymer workshops, 3D printers and robotics labs. 

The Livability Lab

The Livability Lab investigates the design of the built environment for those who are often excluded from design decisions. The lab boasts an 18-camera 3D motion capture system, handheld 3D scanner, pressure mats and an array of anthropometric measurement equipment to assess ergonomics, biomechanics and useability.

Studio spaces

Students can bring their ideas to life in purpose-built, natural light-filled architecture studio spaces. Studios are located within the Anita B. Lawrence Centre (formerly the Red Centre) and Squarehouse. This is where students can come to explore their creativity individually and collaborate with others.