About the Faculty

The Faculty is housed in the Wilkinson Building, named after Leslie Wilkinson, the foundation professor of architecture in Australasia. The building provides extensive lecture, seminar, studio and laboratory space for all students in a collegial and friendly atmosphere. It houses the architecture, design and planning library and a CAD/computing resource centre.

The Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning was established in 1919 to conduct an undergraduate professional Bachelor of Architecture program. In 1948 the Department of Town and Country Planning was founded within the Faculty and in 1989 was renamed the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. In 1954, a Chair of Architectural Science was created around which the Department of Architectural Science developed. In 1989 the Department was renamed the Department of Architectural and Design Science. The Art Workshop became part of the Faculty in 1990 having previously been a central academic service unit that developed from resources provided by the Faculty in the 1960s. In 1984, the Faculty moved into the purpose-designed Wilkinson Building.

The Faculty contains four major research centres – the Key Centre for Design Computing & Cognition, the IB Fell Housing Research Centre, the Planning Research Centre and the AHURI Housing & Urban Research Centre – together with many other specialised research laboratories and groups.

The Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning has a fine internationally recognised tradition of undergraduate, graduate education and research under the direction of the senior academic staff. Many former students now hold senior professional and academic posts in Australia and around the world. The University of Sydney and our Faculty have a deep and abiding commitment to undergraduate and graduate education. It is an exciting time to be with us, as our academic staff, associate researchers and postdoctoral fellows and students push forward on the frontiers of knowledge and professional practice pertaining to architecture and other allied fields of the built environment.