Teaching Dynamics of Cultural Dimensions In Design To Create Sustainable Environment: A Cross-Cultural Comparison Of Architecture

Sustainable design is the concept that recognizes human civilization as an integral part of the natural world, and that nature must be preserved if the human community itself is to survive. Cultural dimensions of design are the tangible and intangible aspects of cultural systems that are valued by or representative of, a given culture and reflected in the built environment [12]. There was no existing course in our curriculum to cover the topic of culture and design. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a new course to fill this gap. The author was awarded a Summer Instructional Development Grant in summer 2005 to develop INTR330 – Culture and Design: A Cross-cultural comparison of Architecture. This course is designed as an interior design elective course as well as a general education course in Area IV Humanistic Thoughts to fulfill the diversity requirement on campus. It has been approved as general education course. The goal of this course is to provide an opportunity for students to have an exposure to diverse cultures through a cross-cultural comparison of Western and Eastern architecture. This course emphasizes the interactive and complex relationship between human beings and their built environment. It also emphasizes the creation of sustainable environment by encouraging meaningful cultural reflections. The inter-relationship of architecture and culture is examined through design theories and philosophy expressed by means of architecture digital photos and DVDs. It is expected that students will better understand the dynamics of cultural dimensions of design in the creation of a sustainable environment. This paper presents the innovative teaching methods with technology and non-traditional class activities for educating our students to understand the dynamics of cultural dimensions in design to create sustainable environment. As the second objective of this paper, it presents the proposed assessment methodology, data collection and analysis methods to assess the learning outcomes. It is anticipated that the results of assessment will be used for future course improvement and cross-culture studies.