Architectural Education; An Assessment of the import of

Knowledge and Technology necessary to combat Climate

change within the Built Environment

By

Dr Ferdinand F O Daminabo, 1

And

Dr Wariebi G. Brisibe 2

Department of Architecture
Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nkpolu, Port Harcourt, Nigeria

E mail; ferdydaminabo@yahoo.com 1
Tel; +2347067712966
ABSTRACT

It is a commonly reported fact that around half of all global CO2 emissions can be attributed to construction, and
more importantly the operation of buildings. The emission of greenhouse gases is linked to the ongoing climate
changes that threaten the survival of human and many plants and animal species around the world. There is
potent and new evidence emerging from the scientific world strengthening the argument on climate change, the
impact of which is likely to be severe. As the effect of global warming and climate change continue to remain a
front burner in all spheres, the subject of this paper is the highlight of the need to infuse into architectural
education curricula the necessary tools to equip practitioners’ in the built environment, the capacity to combat
threat from climate change by going green. This paper while considering architectural education will not focus on
educational theories, models and philosophy or the Bauhaus but on how the knowledge necessary in combating
the effect of climate change and enabling technology can be infused into Architectural education curricula to
better the chances of emerging professionals to mitigate the acceleration of the process by sustainable design
and greening. Architects play a crucial role in the production of the built environment as well as providing
imaginative thinking and are at the cutting edge of technology and state of arts. Thus the process that produces
Architects must infuse new ways of relating and appraising professional trends to generate the necessary
curricula of the future. This paper will consider some emerging technologies that will address the capacity of
architects to engage in measures that will produce an environment that is friendly; the built environment of the
future able to cope by going green and having consolidated green footprint. Thus architectural education must be
seen to have mutual and lever arm relationship with practice as well as playing a positive role in producing the
professionals.

KEYWORD: Architectural Education, Global warming, Technology, Built Environment

1. INTRODUCTION
Technology in itself is not Architecture but can become part of the central theme of architecture which
however remains under-explored. The diffusion of technology must be based on the need to orient
practice towards a sustainable Architecture and climatic sensitive best practice in the built
environment and made responsive to the effect of climate change. This therefore makes Architectural
education a means towards the realisation of the set goals that go beyond share pragmatism and
functional requirements. This includes infusing into architectural education curricula; the necessary
framework, targeted training and tools, as well as input of ideologies from stakeholders and operators
of the system. Curricula developments, at many schools of architecture, have been carried out through
expanding the traditional curricula and integrating technology into them through a pragmatic reaction,
formed in line with the training emphasised by architectural practice. [1] However this should have
been choreography of fusion or collusion, supposing dance choreography which does not impair the
inner vitality of its parts in the quest to express a collective statement through them. [2]
It is now impossible to perform construction activities without assessing their impacts on the
environment by virtue of its size, one of the largest users of energy, material resources, and water,
and also a formidable polluter of the environment [3, 4]. The Report on the Emissions for Greenhouse
Gases in the United States [5], estimates that around half of all non-renewable resources mankind
consumes are used in housing construction, making it one of the least sustainable industries in the
world. This therefore brings to a sharp focus the need to train Architects in a manner that equips them
to address these emerging challenges due to the effects of global warming and the fact the our climate
is warming up faster than it was presumed. The most potent route will be the infusion of technology
into the art of making buildings to mitigate this immerging trend and more so through the intervention
of those that train architects specifying thresholds through which intending architects must pass in
order to gain a qualification in Architecture. This paper thus reinforces the call for direct intervention in
the way and manner architectural curricula are framed towards achieving these goals.

2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

Contemporary education in architecture comprises 20 or more subjects each being a specialist area
in its own right. This diffusion is reflected in the indeterminate position Architecture occupies within the
structure of university faculties – hovering simultaneously over the Arts, the Social Sciences and
Engineering and Technology. [6] The aim and objective of this paper is not the production, invention or
application of new educational theories and neither will it precipitate uncharted educational models
that handle technology as a central theme but rather to create the awareness of what technology can
do when fused with Architecture with global warming at the cross hairs. The conception of technology
as a teaching and learning tool or medium has no definite meaning until we define the kind of
Architectural Education we have in mind; one that transmogrifies the traditional norms and assimilates
modern technology without diminishing traditional architectural practice as it has always been known.
The perspective is not to answer all the questions or pre-empt professional trends but to improve the
capacity of architects to produce environmentally friendly architecture within an environment that is
now vigorously threatened by the effects of global warming.

3. Methodology
Architectural education has always focused on the curriculum design, research and evaluation of
precepts that sometimes insist on strict pragmatism and functional requirements to adapt and sustain
a relationship with practice. In order to broaden the perspective to include the technological content of
architectural education, extensive literature studies and use of a range of information gathering tools
have been adopted to understand the technological content of architectural education which is not in
question and also to understand the concept of technology and the way education relates to it. This is
formed at least partially through the ways in which technology is understood and used within the
profession. This focuses on aspects of technology that deals on practical and instrumental aspects in
contrast to the conceptual study architectural education. This paper in this instance is concerned with
the use of technology in architectural education that can lead to new possibilities, new technologies
and new educational practices with technologies that relate to architects’ ability to provide solutions to
questions posed currently by global warming architectural sustainability when considering the building
envelop and comfort within the buildings. This paper will also examine fuel cell and PV/Thermal as
aspects of technology to be considered as the technological supposition.

4. TECHNOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE
As an expression of the principles of sustainable architecture,[7] it is highly desirable that buildings
have substantial capacity to self regulate use of energy, temperature and water use as it responds to
daily and seasonal temperature and precipitation cycles and more so reducing emission level of
greenhouse gases of which the built environment and construction activities contribute the highest
proportion of atmospheric and environmental pollutants thus exacerbating the precarious disposition of
the global climate. If stakeholders and embrace groups who operate beyond the boundaries of
traditional architectural practice, factor specialisation in business, low carbon design, the environment
and sustainability, Architectural education can re-fashion and adjust its modus operandi going forward
and adopt Series of applied environmental technologies designed to enhance building comfort and
performance and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

Figure1. New York's Freedom Tower,

New York's Freedom Tower, Figure 1, the skyscraper being constructed on the site of the World Trade
Centre, is to use fuel cells to power its heating and cooling systems. These technologies are part of a
broad portfolio that will create new American jobs, reduce carbon pollution, and increase
competitiveness in today's global clean energy economy. This pointed example implies that traditional
architecture is here assaulted by cutting edge technology as in the use of fuel cells. For architecture to
thrive and continue to be relevant, it must be acknowledged that the traditional norms are changing
and very fast. Today IT experts have come up with titles like “software Architect” thus making the tag
not a preserve of traditional Architectural practice as we know it. However, understanding how this
technologies work gives further insight into their integration in buildings in the most renewable and
sustainable fashion.

5. FUEL CELLS
Detailed study and review of the relevant literature will reveal not too complex a system to be grappled
by Architects. Fuel cells are devices that produce power electrochemically converting chemical energy
of hydrogen into water and electricity; 2H2 (gas) + O2 (gas) = 2H2O (vapour) + Energy and are
currently in the early stages of development. The system is shown in (Figure 2 and Figure3) [8]. A
fuel cell has two electrodes, the node and the cathode which are the negative and positive polarities
respectively. The reactions that produce electricity takes place at the electrodes with the electrolyte
carrying electrically charged particles from one electrode to the other as well as a catalyst which
speeds the reactions at the electrodes. Fuel cells are normally stacked, as a single fuel cell generates
a very little amount of direct current (DC) electricity and they are not subject to thermodynamic laws
that limit majority of power plants. Electricity is generated electrochemically and not by combustion.
The basic fuel used is hydrogen but also require oxygen and together oxygen and hydrogen form
water as a by - product which normally drains from the cells. Some of the chemical potential energy is
transformed into heat. To produce electricity, hydrogen atoms enter the fuel cell at the anode where
they are striped of their electrons by chemical reaction as the hydrogen atoms becomes ionized
carrying a positive electrical charge. The negatively charged electrons provides the current true the
wires to do work just as oxygen enters the fuel cell at the cathode and combines with the electrons
returning from the electrical circuit and hydrogen ions travelling through the electrolyte from the anode.

Figure2.Fuel cell system

Figure3.Fuel cell electrochemical process

A. Schematic drawing of Alkali cell
Uses compressed hydrogen and oxygen with a solution
of pottassium hydroxide as electrolyte. Has about 70% efficiency.
Operating temperature is 150-200oC. Cell output is 300W-5kW.
Is 650oC and units with upto 2MW exist.
B. Molten carbonate cell
Uses high temperature compound salts, sodium
Or magnesium carbonates as electrolyte.
Efficiency is 60-80%, operating temperature

C. Solid oxide fuel cell
Uses ceramic compounds like calcium or
Zirconium oxides as electrolyte. Efficiency
is about 60%, operating temperature is
1000OC and cell output is upto 100kW
D.Phosphoric acid and PCM Fuel cells
Uses phosphoric acid for phosphoric fuel cells as eletro
-lyte or a polymer electrolyte, a thin permeable sheet for
Proton exchange membrane(PCM) The former has operating
150-200oC and the later has 80oC. Efficiency is 40-80% or 40- 50%;
Cell output is up to 200Kw or 50-250kW respectively.

Figure 4: Types of electrolytes for fuel cells

However, the electrolyte must permit only the appropriate ions between the anode and cathode to
avoid disruption in the chemical reaction. An inverter is required to convert the DC output to an
alternating current (AC). Fuel cells operations depends on the electrolyte, Figure 4,[9] some requiring
pure hydrogen while some can tolerate some impurities but requiring higher temperatures to operate
and waste heat from some cells can be harnessed boosting the system efficiency as chemical
potential energy is converted into heat. The heat can be used in heating and domestic washing. This
knowledge comes handy to any architect as the building will have electricity and will be heated with
energy from a renewable source. Renewable sources of energy when compared to fossils make for a
healthy and clean built environment and thus a potent mitigation strategy to global warming. Should
this body of knowledge be embedded in architectural education curricula? This author feel strongly
that technologies that border on energy efficiency and clean energy in buildings be considered a
moderator in architectural education curriculum fuelled through the didactic model of education.

6. SOLAR/THERMAL POWER [PVT]

Conventional solar panels have become important aspect of the building motifs and external skin, and
most of the time found on roofs of major buildings. Carelessly placed, the visual impact can be
disturbing but can be used to an aesthetic advantage with a little bit of creativity. However, the PV/T
Figure5 [10] is an integrated system involving the combination of Photovoltaic cell and solar thermal
collector. This results in a device that simultaneously converts solar radiation into heat and power.
Their high efficiency per unit area makes it suitable for heat and power generation compared to either
a separate photovoltaic panel or solar thermal collector. Most PVT development uses silicon
technologies though crystalline and amorphous silicon or thin films are also in the mix. PV panels have
about 10-15% average efficiency with 85% of solar heat rejected and by integrating solar collector
which can use upto 70% of the heat resulting in hybrid system efficiency of 50%. The various types of
PV/T collectors are; PV/T liquid collector, PV/T air collector, PV/T concentrator and the ventilated PV
with heat recovery. [11]

Figure5.PVT AIR COLLECTOR

7. ARCHITECTS AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Energy is required for virtually every industrial, transport and commercial activity and also needed to
meet our household needs of heating, lighting and cooking. At the global level, consumption of energy
is growing steadily by around 2% a year in the decade 1990 - 2000 and probably more in 2000-2020
[12]. As head of the Government Economic Service and adviser to the Government on economics of
climate change and development and commissioned on the 19th of July 2005 by the Chancellor
Exchequer, Gordon Brown ex-British Prime Minister, he did come out with some strong but grave
appraisals on the effects of climate on the economy and environment thus;
 Rising sea levels will result in tens to hundreds of millions more people flooded each year with
warming of (3 or 4°C). There will be serious risks and increasing pressures for coastal
protection in South East Asia (Bangladesh and Vietnam), small islands in the Caribbean and
the Pacific, and large coastal cities, such as Tokyo, New York, Cairo and London. According
to one estimate, by the middle of the century, 200 million people may become permanently
displaced due to rising sea levels, heavier floods, and more intense droughts.
Dorset and southern London flooding seems to have proved STERNS predictions right as the UK
recorded the wettest December to January period in the UK since records began. Heavy rains
combined with strong winds and high waves led to widespread flooding and coastal damage, causing
significant disruption to individuals, businesses and infrastructure and to mention the American stormy
winter that inundated major cities including Washington. The severe weather in the UK coincided with
exceptionally cold weather in Canada and the USA. These extreme weather events on both sides of
the Atlantic were linked to a persistent pattern of perturbations to the jet stream, over the Pacific
Ocean and North America as reported by yahoo online news.[13]
DAWLISH [DEVON]

Figure6. Flooding in the UK

The Met Office said that it has been the wettest winter since records began almost 250 years ago. Around 6,500
properties have been flooded this winter causing many families' lives to be turned upside down and devastation
to farmland. Disruptions to travel services, such as the damage to rail services in the West Country, have also
had detrimental consequences on business and tourism. And the provisional rainfall figures show that the UK has
had its wettest winter since records began in 1910. So me 517.6mm (20.3 inches) of rain fell this winter, the
previous highest total was 485.1mm (19.1 inches), set in 1995. [13]
Figure 6 shows that the current weather patterns and the effects of climate change will currently and the future
re-orient the perspective on Architecture and Architectural education; its perceptions, concepts and technological
contents with respect to how design are ordered and how architects are trained to meet current challenges. This
might be flooding or contending with higher temperature or strong winds and altering the way design is ordered
and much more.

8. DISCUSSIONS
In trying to identify and or locate the past and present of Architectural education, the cursor points to
pre- institutional era across contemporary architectural education. In-between will be the institutional,
the Beaux Arts, and the Bauhaus. Under the present circumstance, this author will like to introduce an
additional element; “Architech” representing an embrace of technology into Architectural education
that goes beyond strict pragmatism and functional requirements to addressing the issues that border
on climate change and the built environment. Architectural education within the wider context seems
to exist within the confines of the arts, environmental science, construction, town and urban planning,
the property industry. Why technology? This is essential in developing a critical understanding of these
technologies and their use within an equally critical pedagogy and education.
Educational theory is defined as 'a kind of practical theory which would ideally furnish useful guidance
for every aspect and office of educational practice. Such guidance would rest in a well-grounded and
elaborated account of educational aims and the moral and political dimensions of education, and also
inadequate conceptions and knowledge of teaching, learning, evaluation, the structure and dynamics
of educational and social systems, the roles of relevant stake holders and the like'(Concise Routledge
Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2000; web.[14]
The dogmatic structure of architectural education has meant that the production and application of
new educational theories, leading to educational models that handle technology as a central theme, is
still a relatively under-explored area. One source of this dogmatic structure is its relationship to
architectural practice. Jeremy Till explains; 'The relationship between architectural practice and
education is one that is usually fraught with tension. Typically, the profession complains that the
schools are not producing students trained in the basic skills. For their part, the schools suggest that
the profession does not support their effort in developing an architecture that goes beyond strict
pragmatic or functional requirements. The debate between the two polarises to the ends of training
and education - the profession looking to the schools to train, the schools insisting on their
responsibility to educate'. [15] Thus education is forced to adapt accordingly to sustain this
relationship. In other words, not only the technological content of architectural education but also the
understanding of the concept of technology and the way education relates to it, is formed at least
partially through the ways in which technology is understood and used within the profession.

9. CONCLUSION
There are different ways and different degrees of the diffusion of technologies into architectural
education environments from conscious decisions (based on practice oriented ideologies) to
completely unconscious instrumental engagements as a reaction to the general discourse formed by
technological developments. Studies of technology in relation to architectural education are focusing
more and more on to practical and instrumental aspects of this relationship while the conceptual study
of the bigger picture of architectural education - technology relationship is still lacking interest. [16]
Educational discourse in classroom, in researches and through conferences books and examinations
must refocus attention and beam a searchlight on technology as a moderator of concepts, ideologies
and models to increase the capacity of Architects to produce environmentally friendly architecture.
This will be a positive move going forward in order to contend with the emerging uncertainties in the
global climate and climate change. Today design and construction of buildings in earthquake prone
regions has received attention with designers specialising in executing projects in this zones. This can
be replicated on climate change.

10. REFERENCES

[1]TILL, J., (May 1999) 'Five Questions for Architectural Education', unpublished paper presented to
RIBA, 1997. [Revised version;].
[2] BLOOMER, KENT C., AND CHARLES W. MOORE. (1977) Body, Memory and
Architecture. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. pp 105-107.
[3]. DING, LEI, ROBERTO G. QUERCIA, WEI LI, and JANNEKE RATCLIFFE. (2010) “Risky
Borrowers or Risky Mortgages: Disag- gregating Effects Using Propensity Score Models.” Working
Paper. Durham, NC: Department of Urban Studies and Planning and the UNC Center for Community
Capital.
[4]. DING, G.K.C. (2008) Sustainable construction – The role of environmental assessment tools,
Journal of Environmental Management, Vol. 86 No.3, pp.451-64.
[5]. United States Department of Energy (USDOE). (2010) Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.
Federal Energy Management Program. 1-34.
[6] Preliminary Report; (2013.-10) The UK Architectural Education Review Group,
[7] KOSTER, EGBERT. (1998) Natuur onder architectuur: Architecture for nature.
Schuyt & Co.: Haarlem,. P 7.
[8]. Fuel cells basics; www.energysolutionscentre.org/distgen/AppGuide/Chapters/Chap4/4-
4Fuel_C...12/05/2009.
[9] http://americanhistory.si.edu/fuelcells/basics.htm..12/05/2009
[10] http://www.pvtsolar.com/how.html
[11] HE WEI, TIN-TAI CHOW, JU JI, JIANPING LU, GANG PEI, and LOK-SHUN
CHAN; (2006) Hybrid photovoltaic and thermal solat collector designed for
natural circulation of water, Applied Energy 83(30):199-210.
[12] PABLO FERNANDEZ RUIZ, (2005) Energy;. Report/ Executive Summary to the EU
Commission,
[13] http://uk.news.yahoo.com/wettest-winter-since-records-began-121119633.html.
[14] Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2000, 'Concise Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy',
Routledge, London, 209
[15] J TILL, (1994) 'Architecture and the Ethics of Technology', Delft Conference Proceedings,
[16] FEVZI OZERSAY, (2003) A Post-structuralist Analysis of the Architectural Education -
Technology Relationship; Thesis submitted for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) School OF Architecture
University of Sheffield.