Home
   
Graduate School > Masterstudiengänge > Architecture > Curriculum > Sustainable Design > Studio Dietrich Schwarz
   
Design Studio Dietrich Schwarz
Three major approches to sustainablity
Cultural

Durable appreciation of buildings and urban densification combined with infrastructural improvements define the basis for socio-cultural revaluation Phases of life, new models of living together Economic powerful regions: strong migration, integration, individualization > Ioneliness Economic week regions: emigration, loss of culture

Economical

Efficient construction and maintenance guarantee positive return of investment for architectural projects. A building that requires minimal operating energy is characterized by a well-balanced interaction between its skin, structure, building technology and service procedures.

Ecological

Sustainable Design is hereby defined as the quest for an optimized energy balance throughout the entire lifecycle of a building. Beside heating and cooling demand, grey energy and recycling energy are considered as integral components of planning. The choice of materials is further affected by environmental impact and emotional phenomenology, which close the circle to cultural sustainability.

Studio Themes

Constructive Ornament

Precise construction leads to beautiful detailing. The phenomenology of the materials leads to sensual aspects of spaces. Focusing on the tectonic rules of the material, efficient and aesthetic buildings are developed beyond an understanding of architecture as decorative surfaces.

Multitasking 1 to 20/200/2000

Since the building envelope is one of the key issues, construction in scale 1/20 is not done at the end of the design process. Parallel to plans and sections, urban design and construction are developed over the whole semester. Still, scheduled periods help to focus.

Quality of Life

In the end architecture was invented to increase quality of life. We wonder about true values and think about a paradigm shift from “more quality of life - more energy consumption” to “more quality of life - less recourse consumption”


Learning Sustainable Design

Learning Objectives

The Concentration ‘Sustainable Design’ is part of the Master of Science in Architecture Degree Program of the Institute of Architecture and Planning of the Hochschule Liechtenstein. Going straight forward to detailing of the buildings envelope, Students develop an aesthetic expression by sensual construction. One could name it tectonics. The projects will be developed on the basis of the strictest Energy-Standards. The design-course will be supported by the four mandatory courses in Building Physics, and Structures, Mechanical Systems and Material Ecology. These mandatory courses are structured in three parts: communication of basic principles, application there of through the use of particular software, and project related integration.

Integration

The mandatory courses are integrated by experts. The goal of the integration is to use the acquired knowledge of the lectures in the design studio project. Each student works out the key elements of his/her project to reach the goal of high level energy efficiency and a sustainable building structure.

Goals

Sustainable design requires energy-optimized constructions. The aesthetic is mainly influenced bya precise handling of details. The design project of Studio Schwarz shows the connection from sensualism to material and further on, to construction.


Team

Prof. Dipl. Arch. ETH Dietrich Schwarz, Professor for Sustainable Design
Dr. Daniel Gstöhl, Projektleiter for Sustainable Design

The One‐Planet Project
Design Studio Assignement

Tonight 7.027.305.000 people will inhabit the planet, by the end of this semester there will be 26,5 million more. To serve all these peoples needs, for food, energy and living‐space, it needs according to WWF 1,5‐times our planet. Unluckily we only have access to the one we are living on, and there is nothing about it to change within short and long distance future. If we cannot enlarge the earth, we really need to reduce our demands. Another – much easier ‐ method is we become more efficient with the resources given to us, be it fossil energy, agricultural land, infrastructure or living space.

As intense as biologists aim for the artificial prolongation of life urban development and architecture needs to face human and their environmental needs, to critically question and overcome the current movement of bigger, broader and more. Designing constructive perfect buildings should be basic. Moreover we should be concerned of creating places, what in german is called „Heimat“. These are places where the human individual could raise, live, challenge and last but not least call homeland, efficiently created by local resources to ensure identity and life quality in the context of the constantly growing population and constantly shrinking resources on this planet. Along the railways between Zurich and Basel is Schlieren. The developing urban space sprawls all over the area consuming constantly agricultural land. Project developers discovered the potential of
this region and try to benefit of the economic growth by realising as many settlements as possible. The development “amRietpark” claims to be a sustainable project‐development a current and future residential area with high identity by offering a huge variety of living typologies. Therefore we will use this site in this semester as our laboratory.

Vertical Semester
Think global – act local

This semester we grab the idea of the 2000‐watt society. Yet the vision of the continuative reduction of our energy demand is an important aspect within the on‐going sustainability debate but needs to be supplemented from other than this only one point of view. Having “Heimat” in mind we will develop in short exercises concepts about Living‐quality and identity to create a starting point and strengthen the individual design projects of each student. Bachelor‐Students will pick the existing master plan of the development “amRietpark” and start right away with their projects.

Master‐Students will make a larger analysis of our defined parameter for the development of their individual sustainable strategy which works against the on‐going sprawl at his region. The aim is to critically question the ancestral cell „amRiepark“ and process it that way that future urban developments can connect and benefit of it. During the semesters we will touch all scales of architecture starting at urban scale down to details.

Integration

The courses “building mechanical systems” and “Material ecology” are mandatory for this design studio. Regarding the studios task we also recommend to attend the course “responsible property development”.

Goals

The aim of this sustainable design studio is to create a general understanding of different concepts in the field of sustainability. The students are educated in constructive, economical, ecological and social sustainability; to discrete develop responsible strategies in the todays and future global and local environment.