Green Design: Introduction to Sustainable Sites

Architects think about buildings. Our experience and training often predispose us to see buildings as isolated objects. Buildings insistently hold our attention to the exclusion of all else. For us, too often the building is the project. Yet, for the architect who wishes to practice in a green manner, the focus must be broadened. By its very nature sustainability deals with interconnections between natural phenomena and human interventions across multiple scales. True green design demands that we look beyond buildings to understand both how projects are shaped by wider concerns and how our decisions affect the broader world. As such, a reconsideration of how one approaches site design is often a first step on the path to a greener mode of practice

This 1-hour interactive online course provides students with the conceptual foundation necessary for exploring many aspects of environmentally progressive site design. Aspects of site sustainability covered in the course include water, solar environment, natural ventilation, transportation, and civic patterns. Each is considered at a variety of scales ranging from the individual parcel to the neighborhood and placed within larger regional and global contexts. In this way, students are equipped to immediately begin making ecologically informed decisions about the site design of their projects, while simultaneously preparing themselves for further, more detailed study of various issues related to site sustainability.