Sustainability and Habitability in Architecture. Teaching Complex Concepts

Abstract

This paper presents the teaching experience developed in the course Architecture Analysis IV of the School of Architecture and Design, University of Colima, Mexico. Within the course, 30 hours are dedicated to work with the students on the concept of sustainability and another 30 hours to work on the concept of habitability. The challenge of this course in terms of teaching lays on a teaching methodology based on projects, in such a way that students hardly receive any theoretical-conceptual lectures, but it is through the search of information and -most essentially- through debate, that knowledge gradually builds in a collective manner. For this purpose, tasks are carried out in teams and also personally –during and outside class time- so that the work developed outside class hours is used in the next in-person session to discuss with others and progress, making students responsible for their own progress and with their schoolmates. This method enables a deep study of concepts and themes and ensures participation and involvement of all the students in the definition of the concepts they will have to work on later, also in new subjects they will take in the future. Surveys were carried out among students with regards to the methodology used and the results were largely satisfactory.