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2023 Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Undergraduate major in Architecture and Building Engineering

Environmental Design

Academic unit or major
Undergraduate major in Architecture and Building Engineering
Instructor(s)
Ryo Murata / Kensuke Toki / Yoshie Matsumoto
Class Format
Lecture (Face-to-face)
Media-enhanced courses
-
Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)
Intensive
Class
-
Course Code
ARC.A306
Number of credits
100
Course offered
2023
Offered quarter
1Q
Syllabus updated
Jul 8, 2025
Language
Japanese

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Architectural design has an interest which involves the ingenious use of form and materials to control environmental elements such as light, heat, wind, and water, and to create comfortable spaces and places in harmony with the lifestyles and climate of the people who live there. The ingenuity to take advantage of nature's potential that has been cultivated in vernacular architecture around the world is a prototype, and now, combined with scientific approaches such as environmental engineering, it has become one of the important methodologies in architecture for a sustainable society, such as passive design and life-cycle carbon minus (LCCM).
This course aims to enhance students' literacy to read the environment and utilize it in architectural design by learning about the background, theories, design methods, and examples of architectural design that responds to the environment.

Course description and aims

To understand the background, theory, design methods, and examples of architectural design that respond to the environment, and to enhance literacy in reading the environment and using it in architectural design.

Keywords

Architecture Responding to the Environment, Sustainable Design, Passive Solar Design, Life Cycle Carbon Minus

Competencies

  • Specialist skills
  • Intercultural skills
  • Communication skills
  • Critical thinking skills
  • Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

Through the lectures, the background, theory, design methods, and examples of architecture that responds to the environment will be outlined, and through the exercises, the relationship between climate, building form, and thermal environment will be examined in more detail.

Course schedule/Objectives

Course schedule Objectives
Class 1 Lecture 1: Perspectives on Architecture in Responding to the Environment Understanding the Interrelationships among Architecture, People, Places, and Things
Class 2 Passive Climatic Chart and Solar Designer Understanding Tools for Reading the Environment
Class 3 Lecture 3: Environment, Time, and Circulation Understanding Life Cycles and Embodied Energy
Class 4 Presentation and discussion of exercises Understanding the relationship between climate, building form, and thermal environment

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

N/A

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Dictionary of methods of passive solar design (SHOKOKUSYA)
Nature in the home (MARUZEN)
The design method of the LCCM demonstration house (KENCHIKU GIJUTSU)
Methodology of House Design incorporating Time (SHOKOKUSHA)
Physics design (GAKUGEI SHUPPANSHA)
BIOCLIMATIC DESIGN (SHOKOKUSYA)

Evaluation methods and criteria

Presentation, Reports

Related courses

  • N/A

Prerequisites

N/A

Other

Intensive Class