The building industry contributes to the global environmental challenges; however, sustainable solutions provide opportunities for a relevant architectural response. It is the architect’s role to design with consideration of those issues and potential solutions. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the extent to which architecture graduates demonstrate their knowledge about sustainability principles. A total of 346 Bachelor’s and Master’s theses, defended at the Faculty of Architecture, Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 2023, were analysed in terms of Frequency of Occurrence of Sustainable Priority Areas distinguished based on key contemporary policies. In order to validate and compare the results, a baseline from projects submitted to a sustainable competition was prepared. The analysis revealed that only 40% of the examined theses addressed priority areas. An average difference of 56.6% in the Frequency of Occurrence of priority areas was noted between theses and competitions abstracts. Furthermore, tendencies within Frequency of Occurrence of sustainability priorities, as well as formal requirements of the Polish higher education system, were identified and reviewed. Based on all findings, preliminary diagnoses and respective recommendations were proposed. This study is a foundation for further research on architecture graduates’ readiness to tackle environmental challenges within architecture.

The building industry contributes to the global environmental challenges, however sustainable solutions provide opportunities for a relevant architectural response. It’s the architect’s role to design with consideration of those issues and potential solutions. The objective of this paper was to evaluate the extent to which architecture graduates demonstrate their knowledge about sustainability principles. 346 Bachelor's and Master's theses, defended at the Faculty of Architecture, Wrocław University of Science and Technology in 2023, were analysed in terms of frequency of occurrence of sustainable priority areas distinguished based on key contemporary policies. In order to validate and compare the results, a baseline from projects submitted to sustainable competition was prepared. The analysis revealed that only 40% of the examined theses addressed priority areas. An average difference of 56.6% in the frequency of occurrence of priority areas was noted between theses and competitions abstracts. Furthermore, tendencies within frequency of occurrence of sustainability priorities, as well as formal requirements of the Polish higher education system, were identified and reviewed. Based on all findings, preliminary diagnoses and respective recommendations were proposed. This study is a foundation for further research on architecture graduates’ readiness to tackle environmental challenges within architecture.

Sunlight plays a crucial role in everyday life. Contemporary regulations and research emphasize solar access to buildings, with more limited consideration to open spaces (OSs). This preliminary study aims to explore current overshadowing tendencies in OSs adjacent to recently built residential developments. This comparative analysis is based on simulated shadow patterns observed on March 21st on OSs adjacent to residential buildings completed between 2010 and 2024 in the centre of Wrocław. OSs were analysed in relation to density and their main characteristics, with respect to comparative benchmark based on BRE guidance. Over 150 OSs were identified. The results indicate that 75% of total analysed area received at least 2 hours of sunlight. Nevertheless, nearly 30 OSs received that amount on less than 20% of their area. They were mostly small and enclosed. The varied results indicate that further consideration should be given to overshadowing and its potential performance indicators.

The integration of sustainability into higher education architectural curricula and student Diploma Projects (DPs) remains limited, necessitating further investigation to improve overall outcomes. This study aims to identify, characterise, and compare existing keyword sources to determine their efficacy in detecting sustainability-related solutions within DPs and to define the characteristics of the most suitable datasets for this purpose. A total of 132 academic, professional, and policy-related Keyword Databases (KDs) were identified and analysed through a multi-stage process. Nine of the best-performing KDs were selected for further development into Keyword Search Lists (KSLs), and their effectiveness in identifying sustainability-related solutions in DPs’ descriptions was tested, confirming the correlation of the results with expert assessments. As a result, a method for identifying, developing, and analysing KSLs was developed, titled Mapping the Linguistic Landscape of Architectural Sustainability (MLLAS). This framework provides a practical tool for the large-scale analysis of how sustainable development is linguistically represented within architectural theses, as well as a theoretical basis for understanding the level of sustainability’s incorporation in architectural education. The results indicate that keyword search constitutes an effective identification method within DPs, regardless of KSL size. The future implementation of the MLLAS framework has been proposed.