Yearbooks

Programme: BSc Architecture

Kindly take note of the disclaimer regarding qualifications and degree names.
Code Faculty
12132018 Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology
Credits Duration NQF level
Minimum duration of study: 3 years Total credits: 384 NQF level:  07
Contact:
Dr N Botes
[email protected]
+27 (0)124204600

Programme information

Architecture entails the design of buildings and the spaces between those buildings. Art and science are employed to create liveable environments, that contribute towards the spiritual and material prosperity of the country. Architects are often innovative, critical thinkers that lead and form part of consultant teams. Although they are employed by organisations involved with development, investment, research, marketing, the industry or even education, many architects prefer to be independent consultants and entrepreneurs.

BScArch is regarded as an exit level that enables the graduate to register as a candidate architectural technologist, and BArchHons as candidate senior architectural technologist, at the South African Council for the Architectural Profession. A architectural technologist is a professional person registered by the SACAP in terms of the Act on the Architectural Profession (Act 44 of 2000). Such practitioners provide assistance in the practices of the disciplines of architecture, interior architecture, landscape architecture and urban design where their responsibilities would be the documentation of projects, project administration and site management.

Students are advised to work in the offices of an architect to gain practical experience during the university recesses and during a year out after completion of the BScArch degree.

A graduate wishing to become a professional architect must apply for, and pursue, a further two years of full-time studies in the professional degree programme. The Master of Architecture (Professional) degree is recognised by the South African Council for the Architectural Profession as qualifying the graduate to register as a candidate professional architect in terms of the Act on the Architectural Profession (Act 44 of 2000).

Admission requirements

  • The following persons will be considered for admission: candidates who are in possession of a certificate that is deemed by the University to be equivalent to the required Grade 12 certificate with university endorsement; candidates who are graduates from another tertiary institution or have been granted the status of a graduate of such an institution; and candidates who are graduates of another faculty at the University of Pretoria.

  • Life Orientation is excluded when calculating the APS.

  • Grade 11 results are used in the conditional admission of prospective students.

  • A valid qualification with admission to degree studies is required.

  • Minimum subject and achievement requirements, as set out below, are required. 

  • ?BSc (Architecture) will only be considered as first study choiceSelection programme: Selection includes an interview.

  • Tuition will be presented in English only.

Minimum requirements

Achievement level

English Home Language or English First Additional Language

Mathematics

Physical Science

APS

NSC/IEB

AS Level

NSC/IEB

AS Level

NSC/IEB

AS Level

5

C

4

D

4

D

27

* Cambridge A level candidates who obtained at least a D in the required subjects, will be considered for admission. International Baccalaureate (IB) HL candidates who obtained at least a 4 in the required subjects, will be considered for admission.

Additional requirements

Please Note: Students wishing to transfer to other programmes in the Department of Architecture must obtain written consent from the admissions committee.

Other programme-specific information

Concurrent presentation

In the third year of study Design, Construction, Design communication, Environmental studies and Earth studies must initially be examined in the same year.

The degree is awarded to those students obtaining all the prescribed credits for the programme modules.

Promotion to next study year

A student is promoted to a subsequent year of study after acquiring all the prerequisite module credits of the preceding year of study.
A student is deemed to be in the year of study for which he or she is registered in Design.
If the student is not registered for Design the highest passed year of Design determines the year of study.

Please Note: Students not promoted to the next year of study must obtain the approval of the programme coordinator and the relevant head of department to register for modules in the subsequent year of study. Students must re-apply for admission to the Department of Architecture in instances where:

  1. a student is not promoted to the second year of study;
  2. a student after repeating any year of study, is not promoted to the following year of study.

Pass with distinction

The degree is conferred with distinction on a student who, at first registration, passes all modules of the final year of study with a weighted average of 75%. The degree must have been completed within the minimum prescribed time and no supplementary/special examinations may have been written.

Minimum credits: 116

Fundamental modules

Core modules

  • Module content:

    Introduction to ecosystemic and systems thinking, ecology, natural resources and stress on the environment; social ecological systems and wellbeing; ecological design principles.

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  • Module content:

    Basic overview and understanding of digital architectural visualisation using tools such as prescribed open source photo editing software that enhances hand drawing techniques.

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  • Module content:

    The context of architectural technology and the relationships between technology, theory, structure and materials.  Drawing conventions.The typical city site. The construction and materials of a single storey dwelling with masonry walls and a pitched roof, from preparation for building work to substructure, retaining walls and floors.

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  • Module content:

    Continuation of the construction and materials of a single storey dwelling. Superstructure: walls, opening, roofs, finishes and services.

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  • Module content:

    Quarter 3: Introduction to basic computer aided design.
    Quarter 4: Introduction to the theory of structures: Forces, moments, stresses, strains, Young's Modulus, Structural components: beams, columns and trusses.

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  • Module content:

    Introductory contextualisation of twentieth century artefacts within the framework of history from Antiquity to Modernity. Building types as artefacts of material culture. Approaches and guidelines to the study of history of the environment. Understanding of the process of endemic construction and its monumentalisation, settlement and urbanisation of various ages and environments. An interdisciplinary investigation of living spaces as shapers of social interaction. The history of the environment of the Mediterranean Antique, Bronze Age, Classical and Biblical societies.

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  • Module content:

    The history of the environment of and the link between North-Europe and the Mediterranean area, the Arabic peninsula and the Indies, from the fall of Jerusalem up until the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. Tao, Shinto and the landscape of the Far East.

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  • Module content:

    Introduction to design and integration with supporting modules. Design principles, skills and techniques. Small-scale design projects and environmental influences (physical, social, cultural, historical), space requirements and creative interpretation. Acquisition of skills in design communication through imagination, intuition and conceptual thinking. Relation of internal to external space. Anthropometry and ergonomics; visual literacy (visual media, analysis and interpretation) and criticism. The designer as visual thinker. Perception; ideograms. Development of a vocabulary to describe and illustrate the discipline of design. Pertinent theory that informs and supports the design process.

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Minimum credits: 136

Core modules

  • Module content:

    Designing towards wellbeing within the built environment: responsive and passive design in natural and mesoscale environments.

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  • Module content:

    Environmental filters and forecasting techniques:
    Sound: the physical nature of sound, physiology of hearing, sound and noise sources, transfer, absorption and isolation, noise control; measurement, levels, frequency analysis, A-loading, room acoustics, reverberation periods.
    Light: properties of natural light, design criteria, daylight factors, diffusion, quality, energy requirements and saving.

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  • Module content:

    *This module is for Architecture and Landscape Architecture students only.
    The theory component covers geomorphological aspects of the built environment including landscape identification; weathering or deterioration of natural stone and application to design and preservation of buildings and monuments; slope hydrology and stability conditions; soil erosion processes and construction impacts; drainage modification in urban areas; wetland identification, human impacts and rehabilitation; recreational impacts and management. In addition to the theory a field-based project is undertaken.

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  • Module content:

    This project-orientated module is a form of applied learning which is directed at specific community needs and is integrated into all undergraduate academic programmes offered by the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment and Information Technology. The main objectives with the module are as follows:
    (1) The execution of a community related project aimed at achieving a beneficial impact on a chosen section of society, preferably but not exclusively, by engagement with a section of society which is different from the student's own social background.
    (2) The development of an awareness of personal, social and cultural values, an attitude to be of service, and an understanding of social issues, for the purpose of being a responsible professional.
    (3) The development of important multidisciplinary and life skills, such as communication, interpersonal and leadership skills.
    Assessment in the module will include all or most of the following components: evaluation and approval of project proposal, assessment of oral and/or written progress reports, peer assessment in the event of team projects, written reportback by those at which the project was aimed at, and final assessment on grounds of the submission of a portfolio and a written report.

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  • Module content:

    Double-storeyed buildings: reinforced concrete, steel and timber-framed structures. Offshutter concrete. Load-bearing masonry. Low-pitch roofs and waterproofing, other pitched-roof finishes. Lightweight partitioning. Glass. Joinery. Small precast elements.

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  • Module content:

    Soil mechanics: foundations, basement construction and waterproofing. Site structures: geotextiles and geomembranes, stairs, walls, retaining walls, fences, ramps, gabions, prefabricated retaining blocks. Built planters, lapas, braais, pavilions, decks.

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  • Module content:

    The history of the environment and the link between North-Europe and a newly discovered world from the time of the circumnavigation of the southernmost Cape Point of Africa till the Industiral Revolution.

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  • Module content:

    History of the environment of Western societies and their dominions from the Industrial Revolution up to the intellectual questioning of Modernism. Southern African housing typologies and Western artefacts as manifestation of socio-political realities since 1488 AD.

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  • Module content:

    The process and product of design through the integration of supporting modules. Spatial design as response to tectonic and contextual influences. The production of space and the reading of place as central concerns in the design disciplines. The design of residential and simple public spaces and buildings with the emphasis on planning, plan-making, structure and economy as design determinants. Skills: programming, site analysis, time management, advanced graphic and reprographic techniques.
    Pertinent theory that informs and supports the design process in architecture.

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  • Module content:

    Introduction to structural engineering concepts like design, analysis, sizing and planning of structures. Introduction to Newton’s laws, equilibrium, free body diagrams. The application of equilibrium in solving reactions of statically determinate structures. The principles of determinacy and stability of structures. The application of Newton’s laws in determining the internal forces in common structural systems like cable structures, trusses, frames and beams. The fundamental principles of weight and forces and how forces are transmitted through structural members and load tracing.

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  • Module content:

    Introduction to material science in structural engineering. Concepts like stress, strain, elasticity, stress-strain diagrams, elasticity modules, strength and deformation as applied in structural engineering. Cross-sectional properties of structural elements. Types of stresses, and their transmission in structural elements. Introduction to the relationship between stress and strain (deflection) in beams by Coulomb's theory. Introduction to the analysis of compressive structural elements by means of Euler’s theory.

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Minimum credits: 132

Core modules

  • Module content:

    Ecosystemic thinking for the designer in terms of culture, science and environment. The designer as critic; analysis of precedents. Application of principles of sustainable development and ecological design including energy demand and efficiency and energy dissipation.

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  • Module content:

    An introduction to the principles of construction contract law and an overview of standardised conditions of contract for the built environment.

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  • Module content:

    Roads: design and construction, materials and finishes, kerbing. Water features: design and construction. Street furniture. Construction equipment. Site and building services: water lines, sanitary plumbing and pipe systems above ground and indoors, underground sewer systems, electricity and gas. Electrical lighting: light, lamp types, luminaires; lighting requirements. Design application.

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  • Module content:

    Integration of the foregoing coursework. Introduction to construction norms and standards, technical drawing practice and specifications. Cost estimates, feasibility and payability. Advanced materials: ceramics, polymers, adhesives, paint, metals, glass.  Human transportation systems: types, applications. Design of a small commercial building/landscape/interior space (in DESIGN) and the preparation of its construction drawings.

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  • Module content:

    Advanced digital visualisation and representation tools to support design projects. Document and building information management.

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  • Module content:

    History of the environment of African societies between the tropics within global context until the present.

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  • Module content:

    History of the environment of Southern African societies from the old Stone Age until the present.

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  • Module content:

    The process of design through the integration of supporting modules. Lateral thinking and ritual as design informants. 
    The design of a mixed-use project in an urban context with a complex programme developed to construction drawings in the Construction modules. Statutory requirements, feasibility and payability studies. Theory of normative positions and the relationship between global intellectual movements and the local debate. Appraising the state of current design production and the establishment of identity through design.

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  • Module content:

    Management of an architectural practice and architectural project from inception up to local authority submission.

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  • Module content:

    1. Concrete Structures.
    • Loads on concrete structures, Limit-states design principles.
    • Bending, shear and punching: Design of beams, slabs and footings.
    • Compression members: Design of columns.
    2. Load bearing brickwork.
    • Limit-states design principles. Effective length and width of compression members.

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  • Module content:

    1. Timber structures
    • Loads on typical timber structures, Limit-states design principles
    • Bending, shear and deflection: Design of flexural members without and with axial loads
    • Tension members: Tension members in roof trusses
    • Compression members: Design of compression members in trusses and as support members for trusses
    • Bracing systems
    2. Steel Structures
    • Loads on typical steel structures, Limit-states design principles
    • Bending, shear and deflection: Design of flexural members without and with axial loads
    • Tension members: Tension members in roof trusses
    • Compression members: Design of compression members in trusses and as support members for trusses
    • Bracing systems

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The information published here is subject to change and may be amended after the publication of this information. The General Regulations (G Regulations) apply to all faculties of the University of Pretoria. It is expected of students to familiarise themselves well with these regulations as well as with the information contained in the General Rules section. Ignorance concerning these regulations and rules will not be accepted as an excuse for any transgression.

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