Architectural Education: A Step towards Sustainable Teaching Strategies

Abstract

Environmentally sustainable architecture is the basis of a country's long-term growth. Our resources are not unlimited. It is high time to re-visit our teaching methods and awareness of teachers at architecture schools regarding environmental sustainability and start educating our future architects about sustainability. This research paper is a survey-based analysis evaluating the role and awareness of teachers at existing architecture schools focusing on conscious implementation and incorporation of sustainability issues in the curriculum of architectural institutes of Pakistan. A quantitative analysis of the teachings of sustainability was performed at various architectural teaching institutes using a questionnaire. It was found that none of the institutes is teaching sustainability as a separate module, and most of the teachers knew only little about sustainability. Based on this study, recommendations have been made to increase the awareness of teachers about sustainability. It is anticipated that the recommendations of this research would help the institutes train the teachers responsible for producing future architects. The acquired knowledge of the teachers would be transferred to the future architects, who in turn would, by default are expected to create a much-needed green and sustainable environment.