"Education in Sustainable Architecture for the future - For a joint climate action!"

The paper shortly presents a teaching method, the Integrated Design Process (IDP), used for the Architecture specialization at the Architecture & Design in the problem based learning environment at Aalborg University (AAU. It also explains the difference between this approach and traditional approaches designing buildings. When using this IDP method designing sustainable buildings we can bring down the energy use in the building with a considerable amount. The IDP focuses on combining the architectural approach with engineering parameters in order to achieve a more holistic approach to sustainable environmental architecture. The goal is to reduce the use of energy for heating and cooling and thereby bringing down the emission of CO₂ by reducing the amount of fossil fuel consumed by the built environment already in the early stages of the design process. Since 2005 the Master of Science education in Architecture has been offered in English at AAU enabling foreign students to participate in the master class. The education has lecturers from architecture and design and civil engineering. Graduates from AAU are highly valued in industry, typically because their expertise in group work and their focus on problem-solving in context are well developed compared to graduates from traditional engineering and architecture programs. The students are trained in interdisciplinary problem solving and how to build low energy buildings. The paper also includes a case of a housing proposal in Environmental Sustainable Architecture from the master program and discusses barriers and benefits from that approach.