Architecture and Design BA: A lecture from the History and Theory course
Karin Jascke takes a phenomenological approach, looking at architecture 'as a body that is engaged with every other thing that is in the world, and every other being'. She describes education for sustainable development as
'a way of making students understand the repercussions of anything they're doing, [giving them ]an ability to think holistically, systematically, and to question what they are doing with respect to even the furthest repercussions and then weigh up what it means to them and how they might change their project...it's really a way of thinking'
As part of the History and Theory course, she delivers an annual lecture exploring where architecture comes from and where buildings come from. She uses a case study of the Eden project as an example of an architectural project which considered the entire life cycle of a building, starting which where the original materials come from.
The Eden project procured copper from a major copper firm and actually visited the copper mine and inspected where it was all coming from so as to ensure that the materials they were receiving support sustainable values. Karin also focuses in on a couple of big mines based in Papua New Guinea that have been problematic, in order to highlight the fact that where sustainability is concerned, 'it is not just buying a bit of copper and putting it on a roof'
This case study helps students unfold and unpack the ramifications of what it means to use copper in a building, which Karin describes as an 'attempt to make them think beyond the narrow boundaries of the subject'. It also introduces to the students the complexity of the sustainability challenge; the particular mining firm used by the Eden Project was not actually very ethical, but by engaging them in a sustainable building project, the Eden Project helped the company begin to understand their role in sustainable development. Thus the trade off between maintaining absolute sustainability and raising sustainability consciousness in the mining firm is illustrated; a dynamic that students are likely to face in any future sustainable architecture projects.