Programmes / Masters and MBA Programmes / Master of Science in Sustainable Design of the Built Environment / Module Descriptors – Master of Science in Sustainable Design of the Built Environment
The primary focus of this course will be the analysis of the thermal, luminous and ventilation performance of buildings within the built environment context. The module examines the basic scientific principles underlying these phenomena and introduce students to a range of technologies and analytical skills for designing comfortable indoor environments. Students are challenged to apply these skills and explore the role light, energy and air can play in shaping a Built Environment.
The module emphasises the links between sustainability, improved performance and resource management using renewable resources. The module addresses reuse, recycling, and renewal, exploring material, energy, and water consumption as well as waste throughout a building’s life cycle. The module also emphasizes a wide range of renewable energy technologies, their economics, and the influence of policy and regulation on promoting the implementations of such resources.
This module introduces students to a number of investigative and analytical methods and techniques, including surveys, simulation, experimental and measurement. It will consider both physical and human perspectives of the built environment and draw on methods appropriate to both academic and practice-based investigations. Students will also be introduced and trained to use some handheld instruments that are used to assess thermal comfort and air quality.
This module emphasises the need for a symbiotic and functional relationship in which ecology, culture and technology evolve and adapt. The module introduces the fundamental principles guiding sustainable development of the built environment including avoidance or minimisation of negative impacts on the environment; conservation and efficient use of natural resources; preservation of cultural patterns; and ecological harmony and respect for biodiversity. The concept of sustainable development is also discussed.
Skin of the building is the physical separator between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building. In order to achieve successful design for comfort, health and energy efficiency, architects, urban planners and services engineers need to have a common understanding of the basic principles and techniques involved in integrating the environmental performance of the envelope, surrounding enclosure and space.
The module prepares students for playing a participatory role in the practice of designing passive buildings. It demonstrates techniques for selecting strategies appropriate to climate and brief, and introduces passive methods of lighting, heating, and cooling of buildings. It will introduce ways for assessing the effectiveness of design decisions, as well as giving students opportunities for furthering their use of current environmental software. The discussion of strategies will be given an international context for a wider scope of applicability.
The design of ‘environmentally friendly’ buildings depends critically on the choice of appropriate servicing strategies. This module explores the principles behind current low energy solutions to servicing strategies, and deals with basic application information and strategies. Students will have an opportunity to extend their use of current environmental software to take into account service loads.
The module focuses on the design of urban areas and cities in order to enhance the quality of urban communities through innovative design. It covers the latest research with regard to the structure of urban form and the creation of urban places in order to respond to major opportunities and challenges. The module covers place-making, transportation, landscape, urban conservation and regeneration issues, urban design theory, and recent technologies and applications in order to make the world’s growing cities healthy, attractive and sustainable.
This module covers quantitative techniques for developing efficient transport plans to meet forecasted travel demand. It explores strategies to maintain urban mobility through integrated land-use transport planning, public transport provision, and shared mobility services while minimizing the negative impacts of excessive private car use on the environment, social cohesion, and health.
Focusing on the relationship between land use and transport, as well as methods for achieving sustainable mobility, students will learn key transport planning techniques. They will gain insights into policy-making, transport management, and sustainable development, recognizing how land-use decisions both shape and are shaped by transport objectives.
This module covers the principles and applications of Building Information Modelling (BIM) in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries. Students will learn BIM fundamentals, including object-oriented parametric modelling and interoperability. They will gain hands-on experience with leading BIM tools and explore its benefits for owners, architects, engineers, contractors, and facility managers. The module highlights BIM’s role in sustainable building, including clash detection, energy analysis, life cycle assessment, and modular construction and prefabrication design.
Students will learn the role of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) in achieving a sustainable indoor environment discussing occupants’ health, productivity, and energy consumption. Students will learn of the main causes of poor IAQ conditions and the different strategies that can be implemented to resolve these issues. The energy requirements of such strategies will be discussed with special emphasis on HVAC and Ventilation requirements. Students will also learn how to use some field-testing equipment to measure different IAQ parameters.
Students will learn the role of indoor materials in achieving a sustainable and comfortable indoor environment. Students will explore different options of materials that has less impacts on the indoor environment and achieving high durability. Students will learn how indoor materials affect human comfort and will gain skill in using BIM and LCA to evaluate alternatives. Students will study various sustainable materials including fabrics, finishes and multi-functional materials.
The module explores key issues surrounding the sustainability of building materials and sustainable construction practices. It provides an advanced knowledge of cladding systems, moisture management , building finishes, fire safety performance, and integration of construction robotics. It discusses construction issues related to complex structures and high-rise buildings. It explores 3-D printing technologies and how construction influence and transform architectural design processes.
This module provides a full understanding of the physical characteristics of acoustics and its main principles, acoustics in rooms, and building noise reduction strategies. Also, it illustrates the physical characteristics of the light and its main principles, the light calculations, natural and artificial lighting design principles and its implementation in architecture.
Introducing the concepts and applications of modern energy management practices. Topics covered will include the need and impact of energy management, types and equipment used in energy auditing. The economic aspects of energy sourcing, purchase and use. Economic assessment of alternative decision- making approaches based on present worth, payback period and Life Cycle Costing. The range of available financing options.
This module concentrates on the development, design and completion of student research dissertation as a partial fulfilment of master’s requirement. Dissertations are intended to give students an opportunity to focus on an aspect of sustainability and to investigate it in more detail; the topic will have to be pre-approved by the Programme Coordinator or potential Supervisor. Students will also learn some of the techniques needed to conduct research and develop knowledge in the subject area of the programme of study. The assessment of the dissertation is comprised of two parts: an oral dissertation viva and a written dissertation detailing the research conducted. The written dissertation’s word count is typically in the range of 25,000-35000 words, excluding references and appendices.
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