• Proposed Courses for Sustainable Environmental Design
Courses in a sustainable environmental design curriculum serving landscape architecture and architecture professions blend history, theory, visual communications, materials and methods of construction, structures, environmental systems,and site, all within the context of social, economic, and environmental issues. SEDE differentiates itself from existing curricula in that students from landscape and architecture collaborate in core courses and only differentiate themselves through electives that provide deeper knowledge and specialization. Sample syllabi are listed with course descriptions below.
For sample syllabi of the "greening" efforts at Cal Poly-SLO click on Sustainable Design (for design-related courses) or Sustainability (for all university courses).
Using an architecture curriculum as an example, there are four major groupings of coursework: Design, Professional Practice (including structures and environmental systems), History and Theory, and General Education.
» Click on the BOXES below to read course descriptions.
• Sustainable Design Proposed Course Descriptions
• Sustainable Orienteering:
Preparatory Course
This core course would teach students to recognize
their own preconceptions about society, economic value, and the environment
and how to overcome frailties in the system through design. This is
a form of sustainable design “boot camp” (similar to Outward
Bound or Peace Corps program training) where students have an intensive,
personally challenging experience to begin rethinking the world around
them.
Instructional Objectives:
Students in this course will learn...
I. To recognize their own cultural biases and attitudes.
II. To see through the eyes of others.
III. To become self-reliance through creativity.
This course takes place over more
than one term (typically one year) and builds in complexity. The traditional
disciplines of landscape and architecture are merged.
Samples Courses: Ecological Design-Build and Alaska
Outward Build
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• Introduction to Issues of the
Built Environment: Ecology, Economics, and Ethics
Students in most professional programs begin
with a survey course covering the interaction between their future
profession and society. This core course could be expanded
on to support more emphasis on environmental issues. A number of
introductory courses on sustainability already exist.
Samples Courses I: Sustainability
in the Built Environment and associated
exercise
Samples Course II: Green
Architecture and Health
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• Sustainable
Design I: Foundation Course
The first design course in sustainable design
education will teach students about (a) the importance of design in
society and
in their lives, (b) a definition of design, (c) the tools, skills,
and processes, and (d) design vocabulary. In traditional "basic
design" courses, students were taught to simplify through abstraction.
In sustainable design, students are taught to retain the complexity
of real situations and create solutions that reflect holistic thinking.
This first course will emphasize the social and cultural aspects of
design as students compare worldviews, attitudes, and artifacts from
different cultures.
Instructional Objectives:
Students in this course will learn...
I. The importance of sustainable design.
II. The definition of sustainable design.
III. The tools, skills, and processes for sustainable design.
IV. A sustainable design vocabulary.
(expanded
outline)
This course would be one year in duration with progressively more challenging
projects. The traditional disciplines of landscape and architecture are merged.
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• Sustainable
Design II: Site and Microclimatic Design
The second major design course
series focuses on a site based project that builds on the lessons of
Sustainable Design
I (cultural response) in generating project solutions. Students will
bridge traditional disciplines of architecture and landscape architecture
through a site-context based design project. Building elements are simple
programmatic functions that have important inside-outside relationships
with their site-contextual setting.
Instructional Objectives:
Students in this course will learn...
I. To develop an understanding of the land in terms of aesthetic, experiential,
ethical, and technical issues.
II. To develop aesthetic abilities through spatial, kinesthetic, and visual
(Arts & Crafts) experiences.
III. To generate site and building designs that link physical, aesthetic, and
cultural forms and processes from large (global) to small (local) scale.
(expanded
outline)
This course takes place over more than one term
(typically one year) and builds in complexity. The traditional disciplines
of landscape and architecture are merged
to cover the breadth
of design issues in the project.
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• Sustainable
Design III: Integrated Design - Building and landscape ecology
The third major design course series focuses
on a real site-client based project that combines the lessons of Sustainable
Design I (cultural response) and II (site issues) with advanced applications
of design theory (aesthetics, function, technical considerations) in
generating project solutions.
Instructional Objectives:
Students in this course will learn...
I. Focused schematic design of complex building
and site using nested (fractal) scale.
II. Translation of client program issues into built form.
III. A replicable design process that uses feedback mechanisms such as measurable
environmental impacts to generate and test alternative design solutions.
This course consists of several design projects
over a year of increasing complexity with landscape and architecture
students working together throughout.
Samples Course: Landscape Ecology (core course to supplement studio)
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• Sustainable
Design IV: Integrated Design - Constructability and economics
The fourth major design course series combines
the lessons of Sustainable Design I (cultural response), II (site issues),
and III (integrated design) with the added requirement of economics and
constructability in generating project solutions. Constructability includes
working within a regulatory environment as well as identifying building
solutions that match local labor and materials resources, scheduling,
and other project management functions in a complex setting (such as
urban scale or brownfield sites).
Instructional Objectives:
Students in this course will learn...
I. Project design development and constructability
issues.
II. Consideration of economic issues such as life-cycle costing.
III. Project evaluation using LEED™ Rating system.
This course consists of several design projects
over a year of increasing complexity with landscape and architecture students
working together throughout.
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• Sustainable
Design V: Comprehensive Studio Project
The final design course in the series combines
the lessons of the previous courses. The project scope allows for detailed
project development with participation from consultants at each stage
of the design process (planning, engineering, interiors, etc.).
Instructional Objectives:
Students in this course will demonstrate...
I. How to design for a client's needs and project uses.
II. How to analyze a design project using the nested (fractal) scale approach.
III. How to generate and test a series of alternative schemes based on sustainable
design principles.
IV. How to integrate design development
and constructability issues.
V. How to assess economic issues such as life-cycle costing.
VI.How to exceed the LEED™ Rating system's highest standard.
This course consists of several design projects
over a year of increasing complexity with landscape and architecture students
working together throughout.
Samples Courses: Sustainable Building Studio and class schedule
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• Sustainable
Design V: Thesis
This core course emphasizes architectural
theory and design tools related to the fifth year studio course.
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• Co-operative
Education Experience (or Internship)
This core course gives students academic credit for real
world experience in design, construction, or other environmental
design
field (such
as
planning
or interiors).
Instructional Objectives:
Students in this course will gain...
I. Internship experience in the construction field – “get out there!”
a. Habitat for Humanity
b. Builders without Borders
c. Workshops
d. Community college building programs
II. Office practice experience.
a. Interdisciplinary firm (multiple disciplines present in one firm or as team)
b. Experience in practice of another discipline (e.g., architect interns in
landscape firm)
Students should have a common skill set early in their
careers (such as drawing or CAD) that will allow them to explore a number
of different disciplinary settings. Students should be encouraged to explore
the range of environmental design fields. This experience should be repeated
as students advance through sustainable design course work. In some cases,
they may be the most experienced with sustainability in the firm (similar
to what happenned with CAD in the 1980s).
Sample course: San Francisco Urban Design Internship Program
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• Materials and Methods of Sustainable Construction
This core course teaches the principles of wood, steel,
concrete, plastics, and alternative materials in the context of sustainable
design.
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•Design Development and Green Building Systems Integration
This core course teaches students how to write specifications,
develop site designs, properly address handicapped accessibility, detail
roof, wall, and floor sections, as well as integrated building electrical,
mechanical, and structural systems.
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• Architecture and Landscape Architecture History of Sustainable Design Ideas in the Built Environment
This core course introduces the emerging and enduring ideas of sustainable design in landscape and architecture. The course provides a social, economic and environmental context for the sustainability principles that are applied to design projects.
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This core course introduces design with climate and site resources for conservation, efficiency, and appropriateness to the local, regional, and global contexts. Fundamentals of thermal, lighting, acoustical, aqueous, and waste are covered. Passive solar heating and cooling are taught as well as HVAC and associated issues of indoor air quality, energy and power consumption.
Sample course: Building Technology
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This core course introduces the basics of statics, mechanics, and structural systems.
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• Professional Electives: Advanced Topics for Landscape and Architecture
Support courses in sub-topics listed below would complement and allow for specialization in the curriculum. This is where the differentiation between landscape and architecture professions occurs.
- Alternative materials
- Daylighting
- Energy simulation
- ... Natural ventilation
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Students in undergraduate programs have as part of their degree requirements, General Education and Breadth (GEB) support courses. As an example, the course categories for Cal Pol-SLO are listed here.
- Communications (wriing, speech, and reasoning)
- Science and Mathematics
- Arts and Humanities
- Society and the Individual
- Technology elective
Many of these courses can include content related to ecological literacy. A few examples are included in the flow chart above (eg., Eco-Lit, Environmental Ethics, and Energy for a Sustainable Society).
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