Autodesk’s Sustainability Workshop is helping green building professionals understand practical applications of sustainability strategies by testing them on real world designs – from a virtual classroom. Louise Bateman finds out more.
Connectivity is changing the way we learn. Student now expect to have access to information whenever they want, using whatever device.
Educational and other
training providers are responding with online tools, webinars, videos and much more. The need for the latest, easy to access information is no more apparent than among the UK’s growing
green workforce.
Autodesk is responding to this
green skills gap with a '
virtual classroom’ that allows students to 'dip in’ or 'dive deeper’ online in order to understand practical applications of
sustainability strategies. The programme is free and is called
The Sustainability Workshop. It provides quick online videos, tips, tools and tutorials and was first launched last year as part of the Autodesk’s Sustainability Initiative.
Back then it was aimed at mechanical engineers and product designers, but explains Dawn Danby, Sustainable Design Programme manager for Autodesk’s Sustainability Initiative, it has just been re-launched widening it focus to include green
building professionals. "We’ve been wanting to include young architects and building engineers […] to get them to think about energy in designing buildings," says Danby.
Lightweight curriculum
The new workshop, says Danby, provides "a very basic introduction" to designing green buildings and includes new video footage on 'Net Zero Energy Buildings’. "Even if you are not specialist or trained designer [you can learn] the basics of green building," she says. "It’s not a deep curriculum. It’s a lightweight format; we are really trying to support students in teaching themselves."
The introductory video lasts no longer than 20 minutes and offers a basic level vocabulary that is intentional, says Danby. "Students have limited time and patience and are consuming huge amounts of stuff on the web," she points out.
More advanced software
The online introduction, however, is paired with a more "rigorous process" that includes a tutorial on using more advanced software (which Autodesk will offer on a three year license for free). Danby describes the software as offering "fairly deep levels of curriculum", which allows students and educators to explore and test the concepts and lessons learned through the workshop on real-world designs.
"The BIM (Building Information Modeling) curricular is very detailed tutorials on technology required to create green buildings. It provides the ability to not just design building, but work out how the building will function [and] how much energy [it] uses. Energy often has the greatest environmental impact so [the curriculum] is focusing on building performance," says Danby.
The Sustainability Workshop has already been used by "10s of 1000s of viewers across the world" according to Danby, and is proving so popular in its English language version that it is now being translated into Chinese.
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