Sustainable design is a hot topic at DIA as students actively practice the aesthetic of sustainability in the context of studios and other courses. The multitude of backgrounds composing our graduate school showcases an incredible sensibility towards this crucial paradigm of contemporary design. At the same time, several digital tools arose in the software market to perform environmental analysis. Toolkits like Ladybug Tools, Climate Studio or Insights for Revit enable architects to add sustainability as a new dimension of the design, beyond 3D. Many design firms structure their workflow to interpret the performance of their proposals by mean of environmental models and simulations. Nevertheless it´s crucial to understand that everyone can do sustainability, but this topic is complex and must be understood in its essence. In other words: plotting an environmental study is literally two clicks away from students´ design resources - but using the auto-pilot may not deliver any tangible result. This course proposes a structured approach to Environmental Analysis, from understanding the building physics behind it to using environmental design tools. 

We start from a paradox: the original Bauhaus was not meant to be “sustainable”. 

A good example is the actual Bauhaus building in the campus, whose environmental performance have caused discomfort to the users i.e. too hot on a sunny day, too cold in winter. A series of theorical lectures on building environmental performance of (energy consumption & production, nearly Zero Energy Building principle, lightning and illumination among others) lead the students to confronted with a folly: redesigning iconic Bauhaus heritage buildings from a sustainable angle - using the same software infrastructure (LadybugTools for Grasshopper in Rhino) envisioned by other CADlogic courses (i.e. Form, DIAGeD). 

Environmental analysis will be performed on the Gropius building as a test model. The students are asked to study this or another iconic building from the rich Sachsen heritage https://www.bauhaus-entdecken.de/ in order to 1. Perform environmental analysis and describe their actual performance, to identify the topics the architect may not have addressed from a sustainability perspective, 2. Produce a viable alternative that integrates the actual masterpiece, or reproduce a virtual design space of better performing, as a generative design model for the Gropius Building will be presented later on in the class. The course fosters the key pillars of European sensibility towards the architectural practice: beautiful, sustainable, together.