about - Building Design

Who we are & What we do

Built Form Design Academy is the first private building design college in Australia. At BFDA we provide professional training and skills for the next generation of building designers and design technicians. Our courses equip you with the skills to succeed in a career in the building design and construction industry.

 

As well as offering the Certificate IV in Building Design Drafting, we also offer opportunities to develop professionally with our short courses and workshops that help keep students up to date and support lifelong learning in the industry.

 

Providing a range of short courses targeting the variety of services provided by building designers and architects means that we can bridge the gap between education and professional practice.

Our Core
Values

Education within reach

We believe that education should be within reach. Everyone is entitled to pursue a career that they are passionate about. We aim to provide a culture of learning that will develop throughout your lifetime.

Industry Relevant Technical Skills

We believe the development of technical skills equips students with the confidence to enter the workforce.

Developing Community Networks

We believe in encouraging students to value networks they develop within the community of peers and forge professional relationships within the industry.

Sustainability

We are committed to educating our students in taking ownership and responsibility in achieving a sustainable future.

Our People

Bring together decades of experience in architecture, design and education.

Educators

teresa- Building Design
Teresa Serrao

Educator / Managing Director

Teresa Serrao is a registered architect having studied at the University of Technology, Sydney. During her career she has worked with builders, architects and interior designers as well as running her own practice for the past 20 years. She has worked on a range of projects from bespoke housing, multi storey commercial work, institutional buildings, and medium and high density housing.

She started teaching about seven years ago, first interior design and then building design and construction management at a variety of colleges and universities, offering courses both online and in the classroom. Teresa is an active member in both the architecture and building design communities.

vanessa- Building Design
Vanessa Couzens

Educator / Training Manager

Vanessa Couzens is both a building designer and Interior Designer. She has qualifications in architecture and training and assessing, and over 15 years of experience working in architecture and interior design practices, both in Australia and the UK.

For over seven years she has mentored the next generation of interior designers as an educator and design department manager in both online and face-to-face design education. Over the past nine years Vanessa has been an active volunteer for the not for profit educational organisation the Australian Architecture Association,  promoting contemporary Australian design to the general public, as an architectural tour guide, volunteer trainer and editor and writer for the Association’s monthly e-publication ‘All About Architecture’. For the past five years she has served on the Australian Architecture Association’s management committee.

BIM Specialists

Priya Ramani
Priya Ramani
Revit

Priya has a bachelor’s degree in interior design from a leading overseas university and has studied Building Design from TAFE in Australia.

She is a creative interior designer full of artistic flair and has worked on several residential, commercial and housing developments both in Australia and overseas.

Priya has made the move to coach and mentor the next generation of Australian designers sharing her wisdom and lessons learnt over the many years being successful in the industry. She believes in transferring that real world experience and knowledge to up and coming building design aspirants via education, active community involvement and online sharing.

Elise01
Elise Sorge
ArchiCAD

Elise has completed the Cert IV in Building Design Drafting and is currently studying the Diploma of Building Design.

She won the Student Residential Design award at the 2021 BDAA Sydney Regional Design Awards and was a finalist for the 2021 BDAA National Design Awards.

Elise has been working in the industry since the completion of her Cert IV. She also has 15 years experience in IT as a business analyst, managing projects and digital production.

Support

Sarah Henville
Sarah Henville

Sarah studied Media Arts, majoring in graphic design at the University of NSW.

She has most recently completed study in jewellery design and manufacture and is currently working part time in the industry.

Her appreciation for design and CAD has brought her to BFDA.

Sarah assists the team with managing new/current students and general administration duties that help keep BFDA running.

Dale Smith
Dale Smith
Manager Operations and Compliance, Special Projects

Dale is an experienced Project Manager and Management Consultant who has delivered a portfolio of projects in both contractor and client side roles in the Renewables, Infrastructure and Health and Education sectors, with project values up to $300m.

Dale has extensive experience as a chartered civil and structural engineer, and business development and process improvement skills fostered and developed in both professional roles and MBA studies.

Industry Contributors

Nathan Hildebrandt Headshot
Nathan Hildebrandt

Nathan Hildebrandt is a registered Architect in Queensland Australia. He has 18 years industry experience including Director level experience in large and small Architectural practice.

Nathan founded and is a Director of his own practice Skewed Consulting. Skewed provides Architectural services, BIM advisory to Government agencies, and Archicad and openBIM implementation and training. Today he is considered one of the best users of ArchiCAD in the world.

Nathan is the current chairperson for BrisBIM, chairperson for the AIA QLD/ ACA QLD|NT BIM Taskforce, Director and board member of buildingSMART Australasia, and is a committee member of the BILT ANZ conference.

Over the last 5 years Nathan has presented on over 50 occasions at technical conferences, sharing his expertise and knowledge with his peer and industry. He has also managed, organised and presented, 4 of his own Archicad conferences under the Archicon and Archintensive brands.

Nathan also mentored and trained university students as part of the BILT Academy program in Slovenia in 2018.

David Springett Paragrid Architecture
David Springett

David has over 30 years experience as an Architect and has lectured at UTS, UNSW, Whitehouse School of Design and TAFE Sydney.

From 1988 till 1993 he was teaching at TAFE Ultimo as part of their Heritage Mapping Program. Then, from 1994 until 2006 he was part time Senior Lecturer (Professional Practice) at the UTS DAB Architecture Program, and also taught Architectural Technology, Management and Architectural Practice Sydney Technical College, NSWIT and at UNSW College of Fine Arts (COFA).

David has also taught at Whitehouse Institute of Design, Professional practice at UNSW Interior Architecture Program and Architectural Technology at TAFE Ultimo College. 

Since 1983 David has been a consultant with Archicentre and has acted as Director of Practice, to the RAIA (NSW Chapter), 1987 to 1990. He has served on various committees at chapter level since 1988 and have been elected as a fellow in 2001 and to RAIA NSW Chapter Council, 2010 to 2015. 

David has an active architectural practice with up to 5 staff at Paragrid Architecture.

Alex Chistiakoff
Alex Chistiakoff

Alex Chistiakoff is a Registered Architect in NSW and is a casual lecturer at the UTS.

His professional career spans over 40 years in architectural design and construction with specific focus on coordination and quality control components of project delivery.

His past experience covers both the residential and the commercial components of the industry including project management of large-scale fit outs.

He is a regular presenter on the topic of Specification writing and believes that cooperation between components of the industry including builders, architects and engineers is vital for improvement of building standards.

Alex is a member of Spun Executive (Small Practices Upper North Shore) and has taught design and documentation at University of Queensland, UNSW and UTS.

He is presently involved in forging a link between Sydney architectural networks and the regions which he believes, will be critical for enhancing knowledge within the profession.

amanda- Building Design
Amanda Fox

Amanda studied BA Communications majoring in Film and TV at the University of Technology followed by a Post Graduate at the AFTRS in Production Design. Following her studies she worked on short films, TV series and commercials as a production designer, set dresser, and props buyer.

However her love of interior design led her into designing children’s bed linen for boutique stores. And later into studying interior design at Enmore TAFE, graduating with a Diploma of Interior Design.

Work at BFDA

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