Incorporating sustainability principles into architectural design education: Results of an experimental design studio

Abstract

Design is a structured process or a tactical guideline to accomplish a unique expectation of a product, while a design studio is the environment where students are taught the skills to design the product, which may be a building. Hence, the design studio course is the most important component of the architectural education curriculum; it is where the students get an opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge gained through lecture-based courses. Yet most theory is not put into practice; consequently, the principles of sustainable design solutions are developed. There is an urgent need to teach future architects how to integrate sustainable design principles into their projects in order to prevent or mitigate environmental degradation due to the negative impacts of building projects. This experimental study initiated a new design studio pedagogy and a novel teaching structure for integrating sustainability principles into the architectural design projects of 3rd year students. It also evolved a testing method to assess the success of the new pedagogy and the students' final design projects. This paper presents the results of the experimental design studio and delivers recommendations for subsequent sustainable design studio courses.