These are ATARMAxxing’s course-guide summaries. Review all required areas, including school assessments, practical work, performances or folios where applicable. Follow your course’s option rules.
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Unit 4 — Passive Solar Design and Sustainability
This unit is about achieving thermal comfort with design rather than machinery. You study energy sources for housing, then passive solar design for two climates: in cool temperate areas you orient living spaces and most glazing to the north, store winter sun in thermal mass inside a well-insulated, draught-sealed envelope and size eaves to exclude summer sun; in hot humid tropical areas you shade the whole building, catch prevailing breezes with single-room-depth plans, elevate the floor, vent hot air high and keep construction light. Sun angles, window percentages, insulation R-values, landscaping, embodied energy, Tasmanian heating costs and social sustainability complete the unit.
Unit 3 — Form and Function
This unit covers functional use of space — layout, flow, circulation and zoning — together with ergonomics and anthropometric data, the design of kitchens, bathrooms, studies and outdoor living, and design for groups with specific needs, especially universal design for wheelchair users. It includes ramp gradients and ramp-length calculations, basic construction and materials, and the elements and principles of design used to justify aesthetic choices.
Unit 1 — Design Communication
This unit builds the drawing and presentation skills the whole course depends on: freehand and scale sketching, floor plans, sections, elevations, site plans and setback diagrams, sun angle and shadow diagrams, architectural conventions, and the numeracy of scale (1:20, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200), area, ratio and gradients.
Units 2 and 5 — Design and Systems Thinking; Project Management (design folio)
These units teach the design process — brief, aims, client needs, context, site analysis, precedents, iterative design development, final design and evaluation — with systems thinking and individual and collaborative project management. They culminate in the externally assessed design folio: a maximum of 20 A3 pages on a small-scale project of the student's choice, with three critically analysed design iterations and final drawings at 1:100, 1:50 or 1:20.
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These links come from this subject’s existing official-paper archive. A listed year is the document’s year, not a claim that it matches the 2026 course. Written papers may cover only part of your assessment; use the official requirements for practical, performance and folio components.
HDS315118 Housing and Design Level 3 course document (accreditation renewed from 1 January 2026; current for 2026), read with the HDS315118 External Assessment Specifications Version 4 (Feb 2026) and the HDS315118 Information Sheet Version 1.1 (Mar 2026)
Personal preparation priorities, not predicted exam questions, probabilities or grades.
Check current requirements and course options: https://www.tasc.tas.gov.au/students/courses/technologies/hds315118-8/