by Michael J. Crosbie, PhD, AIA
Contributing Editor

Summary: How will architects be educated for a world where environmental issues shape just about everything we touch as professionals? What will architecture students and architects need to grapple with the effects of global warming and speak “inconvenient truth” to power?

The built environment is a huge part of the problem. By some estimates, every year construction and building operations in North America release more than 700 million metric tons of carbon, and transportation another 500 million metric tons, into the atmosphere. Buildings and transportation account for 75 percent of annual energy consumption in this country. Meanwhile, publicly funded research for solutions is marginal at best. It is estimated that less than 3 percent of the federal budget is devoted to building research. The profession of architecture in the U.S. and worldwide has zeroed in on sustainability and green design and construction as the issue that will color all of our work far into this century. Are the architecture schools ready?

Green design and construction is the issue that will color all of our work far into this century. Are the architecture schools ready?

Readiness and awareness were the watch words at the annual Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) Administrators Conference, which took place earlier this month, hosted by the University of Minnesota. The conference, “Preparing for the Inconvenient Truth,” was organized by Tom Fisher (dean of the university’s College of Design) and John Koepke (chair of the college’s landscape department).

Plan of action
Conferences of academic administrators are not often focused on a plan of action, as this one was. Fisher explains that the imperative of the environmental impact of buildings and how we as a culture must mitigate that impact gave the conference an energy and a focus that administrators could take back to their architecture programs. Students are asking for it, some programs have responded with courses and degree concentrations in sustainable design and construction, but others have been slow to respond. Some student inquiries about more program content on sustainability have been met with faculty pronouncements that the whole green building movement is a “fad.”

Students are asking for it, some programs have responded with courses and degree concentrations in sustainable design and construction, but others have been slow to respond.

The four-day conference was structured by looking at sustainability at a variety of scales: global, regional, and institutional. Kicking things off was a gathering of deans from architecture programs in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, South America, and Europe who spoke about what their schools were doing to prepare future architects in the realm of sustainability. “The biggest challenge is standardization,” explains Fisher, who says that more cooperation is needed between the various countries’ construction and performance standards.

National Academy of Environmental Design?
Second-day presentations laid out evidence of global warming, climate change, and impacts on plant and animal life. Flooding worldwide is hampering human settlements. And relief efforts, as seen in the spotty rebuilding of places like New Orleans, are often undertaken without sufficient foresight into rising sea levels. Discussions about the effects of global warming, duplicated or uncoordinated research efforts, and findings not getting into the hands of professionals for application in the field have spurred efforts to start a “National Academy for Environmental Design.” A proposal for such an academy was drafted during the conference. “The idea,” says Fisher, “is to work with the National Academy of Engineering to help establish it.”

A proposal for a “National Academy for Environmental Design” was drafted during the conference.

Regional responses to environmental impacts focused on legislative initiatives, codes and standards, and the need for more architects and educators to get involved at the government level to promote environmental legislation. At the institutional level, architectural educators can work with their colleges and universities to adopt green standards for campuses. A discussion of efforts at programs where attendees taught revealed that there is something in the works at every school represented at the conference.

As an institution, architectural education has never been noted for its swiftness, but then again, the academy has never been challenged by such dire global circumstances, most of which are the result of poor building design, engineering, and construction. “How,” questions Fisher, “do we transition from debating about it to getting the schools moving forward? That’s the big task in front of us.”