Explore, imagine and create cities, cultures and communities

UWA’s School of Design is a collaboration of creative thinkers and makers that includes landscape architects, urban designers, experimental artists, historians and architects. We inspire our students and graduates to be boundary-breakers, navigating knowledge, cultures, habitats and landscapes to the benefit of our communities and environments.

Our School is future-focused and comprehensively prepares graduates for a successful entry into their chosen career of design.

From a unique place, we imagine cities, cultures and communities.

Explore, experiment and create with us.

Welcome from the Dean and Head of School Kate Hislop

Clever and creative design is needed now more than ever. At a time when environments are increasingly coming under threat, we have exciting strategic and instrumental opportunities to make a positive impact on the ways that we understand, shape and inhabit our built and natural landscapes. Preservation and enhancement of public and private realms; considered responses to global and local peoples and cultures; resourceful use of systems and materials; and smart application of technologies are at the forefront of our teaching and research efforts at the School of Design.

Western Australia is a unique place in which to learn and practice within the fields of art and design, and at UWA we distinctively bring these disciplines together. We offer dedicated studio spaces, leading workshop facilities, on-site technical expertise and a range of local and international study destinations. Here, students obtain the knowledge and skills needed to thrive in their chosen careers, guided by dedicated staff internationally renowned as scholars and practitioners. Industry partners and professionals support the School in its mission to educate the next generation of architects, artists, art historians, landscape architects and urban designers. The future of work may be changing, but for these careers there will always be a place.

Look closely, think boldly, work skilfully, act generously. Join our vibrant community and make your future here.

The School of Design acknowledges the Whadjuk Noongar people as the traditional owners of the land on which our campus is situated. The Whadjuk Noongar remain the spiritual and cultural custodians of their land, and continue to practise their values, languages, beliefs and knowledge.

Disciplines and Courses

We deliver courses and undertake research in four areas.

Awards

National awards
  • Planning Institute of Australia WA Awards for Planning Excellence 2019 – Research Fellow Anthony Duckworth-Smith (AUDRC) was awarded the prize for Best Planning Ideas - Small Project for a project conducted with the City of Fremantle and Creating Communities
  • Australian Institute of Architects National Awards 2019 – senior lecturer Emiliano Roia and Associate Professor Andrea Quagliola (MORQ) were awarded a National Award for Residential Architecture (New Houses)
  • Australian Institute of Architects National Awards 2019 – Adjunct Professor Nigel Bertram (NMBW) was awarded a National Commendation for Residential Architecture (New Houses)
  • WA Architecture Awards 2019 – Senior lecturer Emiliano Roia and Associate Professor Andrea Quagliola (MORQ) were awarded the Marshall Clifton Award for Residential Architecture – Houses (New)
  • Australian Institute of Architects National Awards 2017 – Senior lecturer Jennie Officer was awarded the Sir Zelman Cowen Award for Public Architecture for the East Pilbara Arts Centre
  • Australian Institute of Architects National Awards 2017 – Kerry Hill Architects, including Adjunct Professor Kerry Hill, won the Jørn Utzon Award for the Amanemu building in Japan
  • Australian Institute of Architects National Awards 2017 – WOHA Architects, including Adjunct Professor Richard Hassell, won the Australian Award for Skyville@Dawson in Singapore
International awards
  • UWA School of Design Associate Professor, Dr Fernando Jerez and Belen Perez de Juan of SMAR Architecture Studio on being appointed to design Lithuania’s new National Science and Innovation Centre of Lithuania in Kaunas, known as 'Science Island'. Along with their stage 2 collaborators, architecture students Bradley Millis and Amber Martin. This follows on from 2016 when SMAR Architecture Studio placed first in the Design Completion, in a stage 1 collaboration with architecture students Bradley Millis, Amber Martin, Kristen di Gregorio, Joshua Cobb-Diamond, Julia Kaptein and Xinyi Wang.
Student awards
  • Georgia Hunt and Connor Simpson won the 2019 living Over/On/Under the Bridge Student Competition, which gave participants an opportunity to create housing designs for homeless people living around Fremantle’s Traffic Bridge.
  • Architecture PhD candidate Saleh Kaji Esfahani received a prestigious 2019 Western Australian Government Science Industry PhD Fellowship. Saleh receives $30,000 over three years to explore sustainable energy production in residential buildings.
  • School of Design student Hayley Biddle won a 2019 Westpac Asian Exchange Scholarship, which offers an opportunity to study for up to a year at a leading university in China, Singapore or Hong Kong, and participation in a leadership development program.
  • Elham Eshraghian won the 2018 Schenberg Art Fellowship award announced at the opening night of the ‘Hatched: National Graduate Show’ at the Perth Institute of Contemporary Arts (PICA). The $40,000 fellowship is awarded to one exceptional artist as a major investment in their burgeoning career, and this is the first time a UWA student has received the award.

Events and community engagement

News

UWA School of Design Catalogues

Our notable alumni

Emilia Galatis

Abel Feleke

Christina Chau

Jenny Watson

Joe Bean

Sara Padgett Kjaersgaard

Katherine Wilkinson

Contact the School of Design

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Location

Ground Floor, ALVA Building, Corner of Hampden Road and Stirling Highway

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Access

Weekdays 9am to 5pm