3907829: Building Life Cycles

back to overview
Semester:SS 15
Type:Module/Course/Examination
Language:English
ECTS-Credits:2.0
Scheduled in semester:1 - 4
Semester Hours per Week / Contact Hours:16.0 L / 12.0 h
Self-directed study time:48.0 h

Module coordination/Lecturers

Curricula

Master's degree programme in Architecture (01.09.2014)

Description

During your studies you are mostly preoccupied with the design phase for new buildings. However in this early phase of a project you only set the framework, in which the building has to evolve over the next decades or even centuries. What makes some buildings last, what makes others die? We need to understand what implications our design decisions have in terms of environmental impact, cost as well as usability and adaptability over the whole building life cycle. Exploring different models of our building helps us to project our design options into the future. We can then analyze the projected results and steer our design in the “right direction”.

Lecture Goals

On successful completion of the course, you will be able to…

  • recognize the tremendous environmental, economic and social impact buildings have
  • access resources that help you to understand elements of your building
  • represent a building as a model that allows you to simulate the impacts of your design decisions
  • analyze results in a multi-criteria framework
  • assess your own work, and
  • critically acknowledge design choices that were made by others
… all this from a life-cycle perspective.

You will also sharpen your (online) research skills and experience the advantages and challenges of teamwork.

Learning Outcomes

Professional competence

  • Understand principles of building life cycles and long term impacts of construction.
  • Consider maintenance, materiality, recycling and re-/ deconstruction as crucial parameters in sustainable design processes
  • Show confidence in analysing case studies and the ability to infer principles and motivations
  • Explain competently, discuss and critique own work through oral presentations, writing or visual communication

Methodological competence
  • Identify key elements of problems and choose appropriate methods for their resolution in a considered manner

Social competence
  • Discuss and articulate ideas and information fluently
  • Demonstrate the ability to work with other students for assignments, exercises, experiments, presentations etc

Qualifications

Lectures Method

Lecture and seminar: case studies, discourse, experiment, exercises

Literature

An updated literature list is issued each semester this module is taught

Exam Modalities

Paper

Exams

  • PAR MA 14_Building Life Cycles (SS 15, in Planung)