Intercultural dialogue through design (iDiDe) as a platform for built environment education for sustainability in rural developing contexts: building Ampara, Sri Lanka

The 2016 Pritzker Prize awarded to socially conscious Chilean architect
Alejandro Aravena for dedication towards improvement of social and humanitarian
issues around the globe heralded a firm spotlight on socially responsible architecture
and a holistic view of sustainability. Deakin University’s iDiDe (pronounced
“i-dee-dee”) delivered a global mobility study tour model with structured immersive
learning that focused upon sustainable rural community development in the
Eastern district of Ampara, Sri Lanka. The program facilitated student learning of
sustainability across the realms of environmental, cultural and social dimensions.
Deakin University partnered with a number of institutions and organizations and
pursued community participatory approaches to the design process. Mixed teams of
students engaged collaboratively in context analysis and research for sustainable
design. Three prototype projects being a Community Based Organisation
(CBO) community facility, an adaptable classroom and low-cost teacher’s house,
alongside the introduction of bamboo as an integral sustainable building material
were initiated in 2016. This paper evaluated student assessment outcomes and
reflected upon partnerships in the context of the collective response to community
needs. It concluded that there is academic merit in an immersion unit such as iDiDe
to act as a global platform for education for sustainability in Asia. The adoption for
an integral sustainable design and construction framework appropriate for rural
contexts has been recognized as a way forward and a direction for future research.