Evaluation of Environmental Sustainability Components and Architecture Design of Iranian Educational Buildings

Aims & Backgrounds: Today, environmental developments, climate change, and energy problems are major challenges in the world. Although Iran has been at the beginning of sustainable development regarding the buildings sustainability evaluation systems and has developed general guidelines and standards in this area, no effective action has been taken about schools. The present study aim is to determine priorities and sustainability indicators of designing sustainable educational spaces in Iran. Methodology: This study is descriptive-analytical in nature and descriptive applied-development in terms of purpose. The method of data collection is library-based and questionnaires are completed by experts. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is used to determine the importance and weighting of components and indicators. Findings: Based on the hierarchical analysis of the components and indicators obtained from previous research, three components of energy, water and site design, as well as three indicators of water recycling, using renewable energy and optimizing water use for landscaping and irrigation were ranked as first to third. Conclusion: The tables and analytical charts showed that the priority and the rating of the effective factors on environmental sustainability in Iranian educational spaces include: energy, water, site design, indoor quality, materials, regional priority and design innovation. Among indicators, water recycling, renewable energy use and optimization of water use for landscaping and irrigation are ranked first to third.