A green collaboration

Lebanon’s poor environmental record is certainly no secret; where any green initiatives are usually the outcome of independent, individual projects. It is therefore welcome news that LAU’s Department of Architecture and Design is pushing environmental issues forward with an exciting green-tinged collaboration with a German partner, the Brandenburg Technical University in Cottbus.

The exchange program between the two universities will see the development of a green curriculum, an area of study that BTU Cottbus is already well versed in. In collaboration with DAAD (The German Academic Exchange Service) and BTU Cottbus, the project “Establishment of a Long Term University Cooperation and Dialogue in the Field of Voluntary Standard Systems — a tool for Sustainable Production and Consumption” will encourage student and professor exchanges between the two universities.

Two architecture students have already been selected with full scholarship to join the project this fall 2013. They will be swapping their school year for a rather different experience in the university city of Cottbus in Brandenburg, close to Germany’s East border with Poland. A BTU Cottbus student will also join LAU’s architecture program. Added to that a one-week workshop this November at BTU Cottbus will invite four LAU faculty members and two interior architecture students.