This program explores the context, motivations, frameworks and perspectives necessary to build a deeper understanding of sustainability and to form a solid foundation for sustainable design and put it into practice. We place sustainability in its historical context in relation to other drivers of major world view shifts including Renaissance and Modernist paradigms. A close reading of the first and second invisible hands of wealth will be presented in order to reveal sustainability as a powerful motivation for action towards a sustainable future. A number of frameworks including the Quadruple Bottom Line and Integral Sustainable Design will be studied in order to organize those actions into holistic relationships. The program takes a deeper look at the state of energy and environmental systems and their impacts.
Participants in the program are exposed to the rationale, organization and specifics of a range of rating systems including LEED®, Passivhaus, Living Building Challenge and more. The Integrated Project Delivery is explored in detail with a special emphasis on collaborative design practices as a means to achieve ambitious sustainable design projects in a tough economic context. Green construction practices will follow with a focus on the specific knowledge and techniques needed to build and operate a highly functioning green buildings. We then jump scale to study the practices needed to green cities including eco-districts, eco-villages and more. The future of sustainable design practice is also studied through the concepts of biophilia, biomimicry and more. Finally, students will receive a Green Associate Preparation session and final exam.