Course leader: Erik Vardanyan

Home Institution: National University of Architecture and Construction of Armenia 

Course Overview

The world is becoming more sustainable with every new building, which is aimed to create healthier, cleaner and safe environment while consume fewer natural recourses. Buildings are responsible for land degradation, resource depletion, energy consumption and air quality deterioration. They use 128 EJ energy annually and emit 9.7 gigatons (39%) of carbon dioxide. [Kellert S., 2005; UNEP, 2019]. There are different ranking systems that are being used for sustainability assessment of buildings, to show the building’s impact on the environment. Thus, the course aims to explore and analyze different cases of assessed buildings with that finding out the basic and common principles that are being used nowadays to achieve possible minimum impact on the environment.

During the course an overview of the worldwide spread assessment systems and different local directives will be given. Building cases with high sustainable rankings will be the key point to understand different contemporary principles that are being used nowadays to design and build highly ranked sustainable buildings. By the end of the course, participants will be able to understand the ways of implementing different sustainable approaches in different public buildings taking into consideration local context and regulations. Participants will gain knowledge about different assessment systems and their requirements which will guide them to design sustainable buildings in practice.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course students should be able to:

• Describe the sustainability ranking systems structures and features
• Analyze the differences between ranking systems and application approaches/cases
• Analyze local regulations and approaches
• Analyze buildings’ sustainability features by reviewing the project or visiting the building
• Develop sustainable approaches for new buildings
• Develop sustainable approaches for existing buildings

Course Content

1. Environmental movement in architecture: historical overview.
2. Directives, resolutions, local legislations and different assessment systems: From Rio 1990 to Johannesburg 2000, EU directives and assessment systems (i.e. LEED, BREEAM, Green Star and etc.) (Week 1, Day 2,3)
3. Environmental impact of the buildings: site, materials, energy, infrastructure
4. Assessment systems’ criteria and assessment process.
5. Case study session: Passive and active methods for energy efficiency
6. Case study session: Advanced technologies and engineering
7. Case study session: Site and Nature
8. Future of sustainable architecture
9. Analysis of sustainable approaches

Date	Lecture/Activity/Topic
Week 1, Day 1	Ancient green strategies
	Environmental movements and architecture
	Different styles of architecture and sustainability
Week 1, Day 2	Buildings and Environment
	Energy and Materials in buildings’ lifecycle
	Environmental Footprint
Week 1, Day 3	How architecture is happening?
	International agreements and Declarations
	Regulations and directives in different countries and regions
Week 1, Day 4	Building assessment systems
	LEED
	BREEAM
	Quiz 1
Week 1, Day 5	Passive methods for achieving sustainability
	Case studies analysis
Week 2, Day 1	Active methods for achieving sustainability
	Case studies analysis
Week 2, Day 2	Buildings’ engineering systems
	Innovative and digital technologies
	Case studies analysis
Week 2, Day 3	Building’s Site and Nature
	Case studies analysis
	Group work site visits
Week 2, Day 4	Future of Sustainable Architecture
	Review
	Group work analyze/presentation preparation
Week 2, Day 5	Group work presentation

 

Instructional Method

Lectures and seminars will be the main methods during the course.

There will be group works that can require visiting different sites. Groups will examine different buildings, sites around the campus or in city. Based on their examination, they will analyze implement or possible sustainable approaches.

Required Course Materials

Laptops or tablets will be needed for making presentations.

Also, projector will be needed for lectures and group work presentations.

Literature/references include but are not limited to:

• The Greening of Architecture: A critical History and Survey of Contemporary Architecture and Urban Design. Phillip James Tabb, A. Senem Deviren, 2016
• Understanding Green Architecture. Terry Williamson, Antony Radford and Hellen Bennetts, 2003

Assessment

Active participation – 10%

Quiz – 25% - assessing the first week knowledge gain.

Review – 40% - each student must write a review of an article or a building.

Group Presentation – 25%