Interdisciplinary and Research-Based Architecture Education through Net-Zero Student Competition on Modular Container School Design

摘要

This is a story about the power of interdisciplinary student engagement in an initiative to bring STEM education to children around the world. Campus in a Box is a non-profit corporation based in Norfolk, Virginia, that views education as a vehicle for global progress. They are committed to the design of a prototypical STEM shipping container classroom that will eventually be linked to other classrooms around the world by state of the art technology. The Hampton University ARC530 elective course "Design Think Tank: Campus in a Box" was designed to address the architecture and engineering problem of how to transform recycled shipping containers from the Norfolk Shipyard into a simple and sustainable STEM school. The course was divided into two parts. The first part utilized the Department of Energy's Race to Zero (RTZ) student competition as a platform for research-based explorations in building science. Lessons learned through this research were then applied in the second part of the class, to the design of a STEM classroom prototype. Participation in the RTZ competition allowed students to be engaged in rigorous and iterative research on the variations of spatial layout and energy optimization of shipping container construction that was subsequently translated into the final prototype version. Through Hampton University and Old Dominion's collaborative effort, a durable, low-cost, and sustainable school facility was designed. By investigating opportunities for expansion, the students were able to exploit the modular aspect of shipping container construction. Through design simulation software, the initial prototypes were studied from a building performance perspective, eventually achieving a net-zero status, based on the DOE's requirements for net-zero school construction. The collaborative union of architectural design and building technology was an ideal learning platform to evaluate options that were utilized for the Campus in a Box prototype. To gauge student learning outcomes and course objectives, a questionnaire survey was conducted. The survey results were analyzed and provide guidance on a teaching method for an effective collaborative learning environment for architecture and engineering students.