Architectural education for green building design

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Session 11 Paper 4, Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, 14-15 April 2016

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Education for green building design is currently an imperative agenda within architecture schools. Professional practice is demanding architects with knowledge on green and sustainable design, who are also able to work in a multidisciplinary and collaborative environment. The objective of this paper is to know people´s perception of their education/teaching for green building design. This paper shows results obtained from a study carried out in two universities in Mexico. Questionnaires were answered by architecture and interior architecture students, and lecturers. In addition, interviews with architecture professionals were conducted to know the actual demand for building professionals with sustainability knowledge and skills. We show that students believe they do not have a proper understanding of sustainability and green building strategies; lecturers know and have some experience about those topics, however, they do not include them in their teaching. They also pointed out the need for professional training courses on green architecture. Architecture professionals commented about the vital need to educate architects with solid knowledge and skills in green building design. Both architecture schools´ curricula were analysed and only in two and one courses respectively the content includes green building design and sustainability topics.