Designing Sustainable Environments

3 units

The seminar will introduce fundamental concepts of sustainability and sustainable development. Emphasis will be placed on understanding natural systems, the development of the built environment within natural systems, and the economic, social, ecological, ethical, philosophical, political, psychological, aesthetic, and cultural issues that help shape design decisions. Students will evaluate a range of methods that may be used to identify and select sustainable solutions to design problems, improve existing solutions, and develop critical thinking. The LEED Rating system will be presented within the context of its role in professional practice and larger issues of human and environmental health, including how LEED fits into the realm of high performance design and the effective use of the LEED Rating System and principles of sustainability. The course will be divided into three phases: 1) research current interpretations of sustainability in architecture, examining theories and practices that encourage the development of ecological consciousness as the context of Sustainable Design; 2) critical comparison of the underlying principles of sustainability and design proposed by the different rating systems available today and evaluation of the ways of assessing the sustainability of the built environment currently in use, including the LEEDTM rating system; and 3) the development of a project design in studio that will follow the LEED-NC Version 2.2 Manual as the organizing structure. In this final project, students will be required to obtain a minimum of 26 points on the LEED-NC rating system in order to have their project certified. Students will produce the necessary documentation required for LEED-NC certification and make an oral presentation to a panel of guest critics.