Integrating Energy Performance Assessment Tools in Architectural Design Studio Education

Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an essential part of both architectural education, and practice. Contemporary architects rely on various digital and information technology tools starting from early design stages to construction and manufacturing stages. All these tools are reshaping our approach to architectural design, and consequently, to architectural education. As the environmental issues raise in our current approach to architectural design, available technologies are employed to solve these issues in every possible way. Previous studies investigated the potential of adopting simulation techniques in architectural education in simulation labs as a way of knowledge production in environmental education courses. However, the correlation between environmental competencies and architectural design studio education need deeper research. Departing from this point of view, energy performance assessment (EPA) tools seem to be useful in the architectural design pedagogy as it affects major design decisions and may completely alter the design process itself. The aim of this paper is to investigate empirically the potential of employing EPA tools in architectural design studio education with the focus on its impact on the design process. A workshop study was held in the design studios of the second year – which consists of 198 students –at the department of Architecture at the faculty of Fine Arts, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt. A number of thirty six students participated in the study as an experimental group represents varies studios while the rest of them represented the control (null) group. Evaluation of the validity of this study was based on the students’ feedback on the experiment through short structured questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews either individually, or in groups. A comparative analysis between both experimental and control groups was conducted. The students of the experimental group could make better judgements on the environmental aspects in their design process. This confirms the applicability of the integration of EPA tools in architectural design studio education to enhance the understanding of the knowledge gained in environmental design projects. Furthermore, this study can help mapping out strategic recommendations for further studies for a model of implementing such tools in the design studio pedagogy.