Integrating Environmental Performance Criteria in Architectural Design Studios

Authors

  • Hazem Rashed-Ali

Abstract

In recent years, the need to increase the environmental sustainability of the built
environment has been clearly established, and an increasing number of built environment
professionals are now aiming to design high-performance buildings. However, numerous studies have

clearly indicated that achieving high-performance buildings, not to mention zero-energy or carbon-
neutral ones, necessitates the integration of environmental performance criteria in the early stages of

the design process, where they can be most effective. While a couple of decades ago such integration
was difficult to achieve beyond the general design guidelines or rules-of-thumb level, both of which are
inadequate to address the specific circumstances of each project, recent advances in building
performance simulation tools now allow architects to effectively include building performance criteria in
the early stages of their form-making processes. In the case of architectural education, an even more
urgent need exists to introduce new generations of architects to the principle of integrating
environmental performance criteria in the design process, and to train them to utilize the latest
available tools to achieve this. This, however, requires a change from the traditional studio format in
which projects are evaluated solely or primarily based on their form/image into one in which projects
are evaluated comprehensively based on multiple criteria that include environmental performance as
well as other relevant design objectives. The time limitations and wide range of issues typically covered
in studios, however, make it difficult to also teach students the skills needed to effectively utilize
performance simulation tools. This paper aims to provide a review of previous efforts to integrate
environmental performance criteria in the design process in general and in design studios in particular,
and presents a proposed collaborative seminar/studio model, which utilizes a seminar to introduce
students to the different topics and building performance simulation tools necessary to understand and
integrate issues of environmental performance in their designs. These performance considerations are
then integrated into design projects in a studio, which runs concurrently with the seminar. In addition to
describing the proposed model, the paper will also present results and conclusions from its first year of
implementation in the University of Texas at San Antonio.

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Published

2018-09-25

How to Cite

Rashed-Ali, H. (2018). Integrating Environmental Performance Criteria in Architectural Design Studios. ARCC Conference Repository. Retrieved from https://www.arcc-repository.org/index.php/repository/article/view/918