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.

Teresa Serrao

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 Couzens

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.

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.