This course develops the scientific and engineering skills necessary to design energy-efficient and sustainable buildings and built environments. The course aims to integrate laterally a wide range of advanced environmental building design aspects that includes building physics, enhanced natural ventilation, sustainable building materials, rational water usage, global energy demands and renewable/alternative energy technologies, bioclimatic building design, perception of human comfort, and environmental management and strategies. The course also demonstrates examples of both sustainable and unsustainable aspects of current building design practice, and how international policy frameworks can act as both drivers and barriers to sustainable solutions. The course involves individual case studies of international environmental design projects. Current sustainability certification schemes are presented and discussed critically.

This course will provide extensive discussions for the design and analysis of retaining systems including gravity walls, cantilever walls, mechanically stabilized earth walls, sheet-pile walls, and diaphragm walls. Students will learn to use computer software to analyze a retaining wall for deep excavations. The course will cover the following topics: lateral earth pressures, retaining wall types, analysis of backfilled walls and in-situ walls, stability of wall and base, settlements due to excavation, strut and anchor systems. Basic concepts of theory of earth pressures behind retaining structures, with special application to design of retaining walls, bulkheads, sheet piles and excavation bracing.