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School of Architecture and Design

Architecture and Design aims to shape the world we live in by supporting students and graduates to envision and create buildings, products, sites, and experiences that help tackle global challenges in diverse contexts.

Like our island state, Architecture and Design is uniquely placed to excite and inspire students with outstanding experiences. Our goal is to provide the chance for you to discover and develop creative, sustainable, ethical, and viable approaches to challenging three-dimensional problems. So, we provide educational opportunities that focus on learning by active experimentation. We concentrate on place-based design questions. And we foster professional, industry, and community relationships. In our research and learning and teaching activities we work to support thriving and resilient professions, businesses, and communities.

Architecture and Design is full of diverse and innovative thinkers. Our students come from everywhere and can develop their careers anywhere. Culture, history, and global concerns are as much a part of what we are and what we do as the local challenges that face our communities of place and interest in Tasmania.

Housed in a renewed railway workshop that is also an award-winning facility, Architecture and Design has outstanding facilities that provide students and researchers with purpose-designed studio and workshop spaces for learning and creating, and cutting-edge computer technology and equipment, and our reach extends into the online environment to serve distant stakeholders.

Architecture and Design students in paddock setting up hotels for furry guests

Species Hotel 2019

Architecture and Design students at the University of Tasmania have developed a second generation of hotels for furry guests in the State's Midlands region.

Why study Architecture and Design with us?

Be an active participant in your education

Discover and develop creative, sustainable, ethical, and viable approaches to challenging three dimensional problems. We encourage students to forge themselves into professionals with solid career outcomes as a result of our high-grade education. When you graduate, you'll leave with a portfolio of designs and models that aren't just theory based, they will have been tested in real world situations in partnership with our community.

Create and experiment

At the University of Tasmania, we provide students and researchers access to purpose designed studio and workshop spaces with leading industry standard computer technology and equipment. We provide educational opportunities that focus on learning by active experimentation and consider design questions from multiple viewpoints. Our facilities aren't just award-winning, they are accessible, and designed to encourage learning by making and doing.

Headshot of Jackson Wells using VR headset

Jackson Wells, Honours student

As his honours project, Jackson used virtual reality as a design tool in creating a real-world health solution.

Alan, Master of Architecture student sitting at workstation

Alan, Master of Architecture student

Alan is originally from Vietnam and is studying the Master of Architecture. He chose Architecture and Design because of the design philosophies and the facilities in Launceston.

Take advantage of international opportunities

Regardless of which of our three degrees you undertake, you will be surrounded by diverse and innovative thinkers like yourself. We pride ourselves on the fact that our students come from everywhere and go on to develop their careers around the world. You will make connections with peers from backgrounds across the globe and have the benefit of our strong connections with internationally based industry professionals and universities.

Enjoy the Tasmanian lifestyle and identity

Escape the rat race, crowds, and noise to experience the Launceston lifestyle at a slower, student-friendly pace without compromising the quality of your education. Our classes are smaller in size than many other universities which allows for close associations with lecturers and teaching staff. Our Work Integrated Learning program also helps students connect with experiences and industry professionals that provide meaningful and formative experiences. You'll shape the future while respecting the past as we work with the local community to meet real world design challenges.

Student Work

These catalogues present work from the capstone studio for final year Master of Architecture students. It represents the culmination of their education journey, and the stepping-off point for their careers in architectural and design practice, whether in Tasmania, throughout Australia or around the world. For them, now is the time to apply what they have learned, earn a living through it, and contribute their skills to the profession and to society at large.

Our courses

What Careers relate to Architecture and Design?

Architecture and Design offers students the opportunity to tailor their courses beyond core units. This means that whatever your passion or interest, we're here to help you embark on the journey to a diverse range of careers. Our core skills of critical and lateral thinking, design excellence, digital fluency, visual literacy, and working in multidisciplinary teams allow our alumni to work across a variety of industries and with the consideration of multiple issues, from the practical to the sociocultural.

Our Master of Architecture is professionally accredited by the Board of Architects of Tasmania, and the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia. Graduates will also be eligible for accreditation and professional recognition throughout Australia and internationally.


  • Construction and project management
  • Environmental and government policy
  • Exhibition and event design
  • Architectural consultancy
  • Digital fabrication
  • Exhibition design and event design
  • Furniture, industrial and wearables design
  • Digital media design, interaction design and user experience design
  • Interiors and environmental branding
  • Lighting and acoustic design
  • Scenography and production design
  • Heritage preservation and adaptive reuse
  • Urban design and planning
  • International aid, humanitarian architecture, and post-disaster reconstruction
  • Forensic architecture and urban activism
  • Property and urban development
  • Healthcare architecture and therapeutic environments
  • Sustainability design and assessment
  • Architectural education and research

Our Architecture and Design Research

At Architecture and Design, we research materials, design, and architectural and urban futures from a uniquely situated and globally engaged location. Our expertise covers architecture, urban design, building performance, product design and material development, and technologically advanced processes of making – all related to the imperatives of ecological sustainability and social responsibility.

We engage and impact communities, industries, and professions through participatory and collaborative projects of varying scale and focus. Our research design processes connect with reflective teaching practices. In particular, our extensive 'live' projects are opportunities to experiment research explorations in design studios, we apply traditional approaches and emerging technologies to develop creative responses to real world challenges. We are especially interested in forging new knowledge about design, architecture and urban environments from a regional perspective.

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