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Session 970

Applied Green-Building Technologies: An Interdisciplinary Public Scholarship Course

David Riley; PhD and Elizabeth Workman

Department of Architectural Engineering, Penn State

Abstract Building construction operations significantly contribute to the degradation of the environment, through both the consumption of non-renewable natural resources and the generation of waste. Awareness is increasing, however, of design and construction strategies that can help reduce the environmental impact of the built environment, leading to rapid growth in the popularity of “green” building technologies.

These green or “sustainable” building technologies and materials are evolving at a rate that exceeds the potential for significant documentation, testing, and practice, thus presenting a challenge to architectural and engineering educators. Characterized by an integrative design process, green building projects require professionals to work in new, non-sequential ways. In addition, many of the key issues surrounding sustainable design are contested and subject to debate and misconceptions. For educators, the question arises: How do we effectively expose students to these emerging technologies, while simultaneously engaging them in the integrative design processes specific to these technologies?

This paper describes an interdisciplinary public scholarship course series offered through the Department of Architectural Engineering at Penn State University in collaboration with a sister program at the University of Washington. This three-part course offers students hands-on experiences with new and unfamiliar green technologies, such as straw-bale construction, wind and solar power, and water conservation. Students in various disciplines are provided with opportunities to participate in the design and actual construction of a building that utilizes green building strategies and technologies. To date, these projects have been used to construct six much-needed homes and community facilities on Northern Plains Indian reservations.

The design of this course is presented along with the lessons learned through its emergence as a powerful cross-discipline learning mechanism. An assessment of the course describes it effectiveness at building the collaborative and interdisciplinary skills needed for students to play leadership roles in the future of sustainable construction.

“Proceedings of the 2003 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright © 2003, American Society for Engineering Education”

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Riley, D. (2003, June), Applied Green Building Technologies: An Interdisciplinary Service Learning Course Paper presented at 2003 Annual Conference, Nashville, Tennessee. 10.18260/1-2--12682