EDE Curriculum 2012.pdf - Gaia Education

Module 1: Green Building and Retrofitting
Learning Goals
� Evaluating objectively the problems inherent in ‘modern’ building and construction techniques
� Increasing familiarity with various ‘green,’ sometimes called ‘alternative,’ building techniques
whose designs provide healthier, more energy efficient and less environmentally damaging
structures
� Gaining awareness of the need to discriminate as to the choice of building materials and architectural
styles best suited to a specific bioregion
� Explore issues in retrofitting poorly designed structures, including urban and suburban patterns
� Develop plans for rehabilitating and re-inhabiting partially or completely abandoned existing
settlements; reconstructing lost cultural identity
Content
This module looks at the healthy building issue in some detail and offers a variety of solutions to improve
it. Materials will be investigated one by one and assessed from the aspects of manufacturer and
user health, environmental impact, costs, and user comfort. The concept of “embodied energy” will be
explored at length. The learning will be focused toward providing students with the ability to design
and build, or retrofit, a sustainable dwelling of their own.
This module strongly stresses the importance of insulation and the preservation of energy over add-on
technology. It is far more effective, and cheaper in the long run, to emphasize energy efficiency from
the very beginning of the design process than to have to retrofit later. The module also strongly advocates
adapting vernacular designs and a local bioregional approach, drawing on the traditional knowledge
and techniques of an area.
Specific considerations include:
Siting of Dwellings
� Aspect, Aspect, Aspect! � The impact of the climate near the ground
� Fire! Flood! Designing for catastrophe
prevention
Designing for Comfort
79
� Siting - relationship to supporting infrastructures
and terrain
� Passive solar design principles � Passive and active insulation
� The breathing wall � The importance of cross flow