Building Green: Past, Present, Future

This lecture/seminar course provides a historical foundation for the creation of sustainable architecture and is designed for students to investigate issues of sustainability in architectural and urban form, past and present. It posits that traditional vernacular design holds many inspirations for contemporary design and life and therefore starts with a historical analysis.

This course requires active class participation. It aims to model scientific research through in-class research, presentation of small research themes, and in-class presentation of readings and personal research topics. Students will submit a final paper or a portfolio on the research.

The design project is awarded a grade that is a whole or half number between 1.0 and 10.0. Students pass the course with a 6.0 or higher. With a grade below 6.0: students who presented assessable work during the course are allowed to do a repair to change the grade into a ‘pass’. The repair is unsupervised and needs to be completed within 2 weeks after the end of the course. When the repair is unsuccessful, the student needs to follow the entire course again.