Teaching Sustainability in Calgary

After researching graduate level programs from East to West, I came across the University of Calgary in Alberta. The university’s environmental design faculty specializes in architecture, industrial design, urban design, planning, and sustainable design. [“Teaching Sustainability to Tomorrow’s Interior Designers”] It is refreshing to see a Canadian university assuming the most important role of educating young designers of their responsibility to sustainable design and eco-friendly processes. This devotion to understanding sustainability—then secondly, teaching their students that the design process can fall within this eco-oriented realm—is very inspiring.

In recent years, I have been coursed into moving away from the field of architecture by the horror stories of building Wal-Marts and gas stations. The faculty of environmental design has sparked a dying passion for the built environment and has given me a renewed energy to pursue the growing field of environmental architecture. I sense an overwhelming determination and drive in light of recent events. After such a human catastrophe—right at the moment of New Year’s resolutions—I feel a greater sense of responsibility as a designer to produce products that attempt to mend or sensitize us to our separation with the earth.

Tamara Joy
Canadian Student
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