The foundation Theory course intends to provide First Year students with theoretical readings and lectures on the work that they are tackling in the Foundation Studio. It introduces key architectural concerns such as design, form, space, material, culture and society and how these interact.

It also engages with ideas of how ideology and representation work in architecture to promote specific views of the world. The conclusion of the course is an academic essay that locates the student’s world and ideas within critically formed world views.

The foundation Building Studies course is presented as a block release course in two modules. The first module comprising 50% of the course mark is a survey of a range of building materials, their application in specific buildings, their embodied energy, origins and processing and their reaction and interaction with other materials and environmental conditions.

The second module and the remaining 50% of the course mark presents these building materials as the basis for a range of structural systems used in buildings. This is done as a survey of historical and contemporary examples of exemplary buildings and structures from around the world and across cultures. Assessment is through a report done at the end of the semester that catalogues a range of building materials and responses as well as a reflective analysis of the structural logic of one or more of the design projects done in the Foundation Studio.