IDA: International Design and Art Journal (Dec 2021)
Architectural students’ attitude towards using recycled materials in building design
Abstract
People are discarding massive quantities of waste. The use of recycling waste in building construction was suggested as an effective solution to optimize resource management and to reduce the serious impact of waste on the environment. There is little information about the attitude of architectural students towards this matter and to what extent they are prepared and willing to integrate recycled materials in their designs. Architectural students at Bilkent University watched two videos of a house built from recycled materials which were visible as recycled waste in the structure of the building, and a house built from recycled materials but not visible as recycled waste. Then, students filled an online survey about their experience after watching the videos. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data. Results showed that over half of the students would give priority to using recycled materials in their projects, and that students’ preference for using recycled materials was mainly based on the quality of the design rather than the source of materials. The authors identified the importance of educating architectural students about factors related to integrating recycled materials in building design; and addressed the lack of a holistic database related to waste recycling in the academic learning process.
