The Designers’ Task, Dynamics and Integration of Solar Energy in Buildings
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Date
2014-01
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Architects' Colloquium
Abstract
Architectural design studio project experience result in a charade of events that take place within and outside the intellectual domains of the students’ designers; both the design studio teachers and practitioners in the field are not unconnected with these realities of knowledge construction in Renewable Energy options. This happens especially when design problems occur to a building and major influences may impinge on the space organization as affected by heat, ventilation, air conditioning and lighting. Such operationalization may result to dysfunction when the knowledge construction of sustainability indices by architectural designers were not properly utilized and integrated in design projects.This study examined a review of Solar Energy systems with respect to designers’ tasks, strategies of integration in Architectural design. A review of design studio works of some selected students as assessed by the jurors and interviews were used to gather the data for the study. The results obtained suggest that although the students were taught aspects of sustainability relevant to the integration of Solar Energy as alternative energy source in buildings, but they may not have utilized and internalized them properly. This is because the responses of the students on sustainability performance of their studio work were skewed and some students indicated little knowledge of some sustainable principles, which had already been incorporated into the curriculum. The study concludes with advocating for Experiential learning in architectural education with the sense of empathy as the user, client and architect-designer of spaces, which portray the principles that are taught in the curriculum of schools.