Skip to main content
Unit of study_

CIVL5535: Building Envelope and Adaptive Engineering

2025 unit information

Students will gain insight into the role, behaviour and design from an engineering viewpoint of adaptive technologies and building envelopes. The Unit of Study is articulated in the following three components. In the initial part of the Unit of Study, students are exposed to available building envelope technologies and their engineering challenges. Based on selected case studies, key aspects governing their design, manufacturing, erection and performance are covered. Examples are presented on how structural adaptation provides buildings and structures with additional functionalities that can vary over time and that, otherwise, could not be achieved with conventional structural solutions. In the second part of the Unit of study, students are introduced to basic methodologies that can be used for the engineering analysis and design of adaptive components and systems. In this part, students are also exposed to the needs and complexity in performing optimisation studies to satisfy specific project design requirements. Latest trends in adaptive technologies and building envelope engineering are presented in the remaining part of the Unit of Study.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Engineering

Study level Postgraduate
Academic unit Civil Engineering
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
? 
None
Corequisites:
? 
None
Prohibitions:
? 
None
Assumed knowledge:
? 
CIVL1900 Introduction to Civil Engineering and CIVL1110 or AMME1362 Materials and CIVL2201 Structural Mechanics and MATH2061 Linear Mathematics and Vector Calculus

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. Demonstrate written, oral and graphical communication skills at professional engineering standard including capacity to justify an engineering position.
  • LO2. Develop team skills through the completion of a project-based assignment.
  • LO3. Evaluate & synthesise a wide range of resources demonstrating research skills & ability to work across disciplines.
  • LO4. Apply fundamental methods of analysis for building envelopes.
  • LO5. Design of building envelopes with consideration for indoor comfort requirements.
  • LO6. Design of adaptive shading devices.
  • LO7. Develop adaptive strategies for implementation with different building envelopes to account for indoor comfort requirements.
  • LO8. Address complex problems requiring interdisciplinary approaches amd solutions.

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2024
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2025
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 2 2022
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 2 2022
Normal day Remote
Semester 2 2023
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

Find your current year census dates

Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.