Integrating environmental sustainability in the architecture and interior design studio education: a case study at Universiti Teknologi MARA / Sufian Che Amat, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hj. Mohd. Sabrizaa Abd. Rashid and Sallehan Ismail

The conventional design studio teaching methods since the days of the Ecole de Beaux Arts and Bauhaus is recognised not only as the core of most of the design curricula, but also as the formal learning setting in the training to become an architect. It is a place where basic aspects of design skills such as visualisation, representation and most importantly the ability to 'think architecturally' are acquired by the students. However it is coming increasingly under the spotlight as to its effectiveness in shaping future professionals relative to the quality of the built environments and by the way in which the general public values the contribution of architects in general. There is tremendous diversity of content and methods in studio teaching in different schools and even within one department or school of architecture and interior design. More efforts needs to be made, in the integration of sustainable based education in order to educate graduates towards towering personalities that are able to think critically and having an awareness on current and future global issues. This research will develop an instrument in the form of survey questionnaires using criteria identified from established global sustainability indices. The instrument will then be used to measure level of integration by numerical assessment of environmental sustainability in design studio education at the Architecture and Interior Design departments at Universiti Teknologi MARA.