Learning day-lighting design through studio projects in the school of architecture

Today, architects have to revisit day-lighting design in new ways since good daylight design is recognized as a measure of building quality and value. Educating architecture students into day-lighting design involves not just teaching them the necessary physical and technical knowledge, but also guiding them in the process of addressing contextual issues such as site, orientation, form, openings, glazing and the appropriate integration of technology and architecture. Commonly used approaches involved specific exercises that run parallel but independently to the studio project. A different approach, tested in this work, forces students to apply day-lighting concepts to the development of a still unfinished studio project. In other words, it forces students to use lighting as a ?space generator?. Thus, the present research looks at teaching and learning methodologies for Ecology, based on the studio outcome after using an Architectural Design Project with a view to engage Year 3 students of Architecture with day-lighting during a 4-day workshop. This exercise was carried out in the Department of Architecture in CESUGA (University College Dublin) as an experimental workshop. The main aim of this paper is sharing and discussing a particular methodology for that purpose and assessing its impact on the students? work and on their own position with respects to addressing contextual data when designing architectural projects.