Mapping the Landscape of Circular Design Thinking and Practices in Architecture Education in Greece

¹ University of Thessaly, Department of Architecture, 38334 Volos, Greece
² Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Architecture, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece

^* Corresponding author: mvrontis@uth.gr

Abstract

The present contribution discusses how circular thinking and design-and-build practices are implemented in architectural curricula in Greece. Run simultaneously with a broader survey that seeks to identify the adoption of circular construction in different educational contexts across Europe, this study investigates the features of the Greek paradigm across the seven accredited public schools of architecture in Greece and the one in Cyprus. Both works are situated within the broader scope of the ERASMUS+ project Crafting Circularity: Rethinking Sustainable Design and Construction in Architecture Education, aiming in building a methodological framework on project-based learning-through-making methodologies to embed circular thinking in architecture education, eventually resulting in a paradigm shift towards circular design practices. The current mapping assignment is built on the outline of the principal survey, which has three axes: investigating institutional backgrounds, theory courses and design studios, and design-and-build modules in architectural curricula. A modified version was employed to respond to the peculiarities of the Greek paradigm: broadening the scope of the survey under or around the wider sustainability umbrella, adding a fourth axis on elements in-between education and research or informal extra-curricular activities, including an actual mapping component and revising the structure and content of the original survey.