Integrating Sustainable Manufacturing into Architectural Design Teaching through Architectural Design Competitions

Sustainable manufacturing is essential for boosting resource allocation efficiency, as well as sustainable economic development, while the construction industry is one of the main sectors affecting it. However, the complexity of multidisciplinary integration of sustainable manufacturing makes it challenging to fully integrate into architectural design teaching. By incorporating architectural design competitions in architectural design teaching, we can encourage students to systematically reflect on the role of elements beyond traditional architectural design during the architectural design process to help them gain a more comprehensive understanding of sustainable manufacturing. The research results were obtained with a combination of both qualitative and quantitative analysis. We analyzed the survey data through grounded theory and presented the results graphically, which include a framework for promoting the learning of sustainable manufacturing through architectural design competitions in teaching architectural design. In order to gain an in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the teaching effect and to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the results, in addition to qualitative analysis, we also adopted statistical analysis to clarify whether the new teaching method is really effective. In evaluating whether there was a statistically significant difference in the understanding of sustainable manufacturing between students who participated in architectural design competitions and those who did not, according to the established teaching objectives, we found that a statistically significant difference did exist in the results, and further analyzed other contributing factors through regression analysis. Our research shows that introducing architectural design competitions into architectural design teaching is a feasible way to promote students’ understanding of sustainable manufacturing. In architectural design competitions, sustainable-manufacturing-related elements, such as resources and economy, were taken into consideration in line with various design elements, such as site, environment, ecology, and energy consumption, which were integrated into students’ design process of thinking, drawing, modeling, and presenting. In this way, students will have a clearer understanding of approaches to achieve sustainable manufacturing through architectural design. This research helps tap into the value and potential of architectural design competitions in delivering sustainable manufacturing during architecture education and can offer references for college teachers to conduct sustainability education.