Architecture and Environment
In this module, students are introduced to basic environmental awareness through lectures and discussions. The module aims to introduce students to the basic elements of climate and its influences on architecture in order to facilitate students to create acceptable environmentally conscious and comfortable building designs. After going through this module, students are expected to discover strategies that encourage effective environmental design principles and building practices, manipulate variables such as heat, light and ventilation to achieve optimum building design, and appraise passive building design strategies used to achieve thermal comfort in tropical climate.
Assignment 1 (Creative Essay)
In groups of 4, we were tasked to choose and research a topic revolving around "What is Sustainable Architecture?" The research topic can be on the historical, present, or prospective aspects. It can be written in data-centric, analytical, fictional, critical, or conceptual style. The creative essay is to be submitted on 2A4 paper, neatly compiled.
Assignment 2 (Case Study)
In groups of 6-7, we were tasked to choose a building of our choice and do a case study on the selected building. We were to analyze the reason for the chosen building, the location and surrounding contexts, the use of daylighting, how the ambience is created in terms of light, shadow, and spatial experience, about the architect and his style. From there we were to input our understanding of the research on the passive design strategies, the principles, and the details needed for these passive design strategies to perform best in the location and to achieve comfort in the selected building. We were to then analyse the daylighting and sustainability of the space by modeling it in Autodesk Revit/Sketchup. The dates and times required for the analysis of the daylighting model are 21 June, 21 March, and 21 December, at 9 am, 12 pm, and 4 pm respectively.
Reflection:
From this module, I learned about how to analyse the condition of the surroundings of the buildings such as sun path, daylighting, and how it affects the spatial experience and ambience of the building. Other than that, I also learned how to use the collected information on the condition of the surroundings to apply it on the passive design strategies for daylighting and how those strategies will affect the comfort level of the building. I also learned the benefits of sustainability and how it affects living conditions and experience. I found this module very interesting, it makes me want to learn more about passive design strategies so that I can apply it in my future architectural designs.