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Where Every Issue is a Green Issue| Providing Wisdom in Building a Sustainable Future | ||||||||||||||||||||
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A Masters in Sustainable Architecture —Just the Beginning In a city that's already home to some of the country's greenest buildings, it should come as no surprise that students studying architecture there will soon focus on bringing sustainability into building design. Starting this fall, Columbia College Chicago, a private arts and media college, will incorporate the principles of low-impact, sustainable architecture into its Masters of Fine Arts programs in Architectural Studies and Interior Architecture. The programs were developed in partnership with the city's Department of Environment, and will make use of some of the Windy City's green buildings and technology programs to enhance students' experiences, including Chicago's Center for Green Technology and the LEED Silver-certified Access Living headquarters. "These two graduate programs will train our students with the most current sustainable design advances," said Sabina Ott, chair of Columbia's art and design department. "Our graduates will be the innovators in what is becoming one of the most critical disciplines of our time and will have a chance to directly impact the greening of the city, the nation and the world." The sustainability focus of the programs were influenced by two schools of thought: the ideas of recyclability and preventability. The "cradle to cradle" ideas developed by William McDonough emphasize the viewpoint that materials function like nutrients circulating in ecosystems, and that the end of one kind of use for a material should serve as the beginning of a new kind of use. In terms of preventability, the programs' designers look at how the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED standards for green buildings have been put to use in cities like Chicago to build healthy communities. The school's programs offer students concentrations in four areas of study: sustainable design, museum design, adaptive reuse and exhibit/furniture/product design. Tim Cozzens, the associate director for the new MFA programs said the school began exploring the sustainable MFA option four years ago when it became clear that adding a simple few sustainability-focused classes into an existing program would be insufficient to fully train future architects and designers in the methods and ideas of sustainability. "Our mission is to educate future designers to understand the practice of sustainability," said Joclyn Oats, graduate director of the MFA programs in interior architecture and architectural studies. "We believe that sustainability is paramount to the current practice of architecture and interiors. By the end of a student's tenure in our programs, he or she will be ready to transition to a professional team and become a valued contributor to architecture and design practice." |
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