Designing a Sustainable Guest Village in Saguaro National Park
Saguaro National Park in ArizonaCopyright 2006 Wendy J. Holmgren, Vanderbilt University
Students are challenged by the associated activity to design a permanent guest village within the Saguaro National Park in Arizona. The design must provide a true desert experience to visitors while emphasizing sustainable design, protection of the natural environment, and energy and resource conservation. To successfully address and respond to this challenge, students must acquire an understanding of desert ecology, environmental limiting factors, species adaptations and resource utilization. Following the introduction, students generate ideas and consider the knowledge required to complete the challenge. The lectures and activities that follow serve to develop this level of comprehension. To introduce the concepts of healthy ecosystems, biomimetics and the importance of sustainable environmental design, students watch three video clips of experts. These clips provide direction for student research and challenge design solutions.
Biomimicry, the study of and design application of nature's evolved systems, generates ideas for new medicines, super-strong materials and earth-friendly approaches to design. Students are presented with the challenge of designing a park facility that addresses and incorporates these same concepts as they relate to a desert environment. Students are asked to think as environmental engineers, while integrating with the fields of architectural, biological systems, transportation, and manufacturing engineering. Students come to grasp the value of industry and urban mimetic designs to assure protection of global resources, minimization of human impact and conservation of nonrenewable resources.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Explain the challenge problem.
- Understand the basic emphasis of biomimicry and sustainable design.
- List what information might be needed to answer the challenge.
- Group together similar areas of knowledge needed for approaching their presentation.