Articulation, space and sustainability a report on diploma student projects at the Technion, Israel

This paper reports on recent final-year undergraduate projects completed at the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. The final-year studio, which followed the conceptual framework of Research-Based Design, was entitled 'Articulation, Space, and Sustainability', and focused on the adaptation of the Israeli built environment through the articulation of a responsive architectural language. The paper uses four student projects for demonstrating the challenges and opportunities involved in the application of environmental research-based design in projects of undergraduate architecture students. The process of learning in these projects, beyond the traditional qualitative focus on design outcomes, demonstrate the pedagogic value of a generative learning process that is based on quantitative indicators and aims to equip future architects with new design tools urgently needed for pushing the local common practice in Israel towards its responsive phase.