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The main objective of this paper is to investigate how Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be integrated into architectural design education through a second-year architectural design studio experience, exploring ways to create awareness among students regarding SDGs.

To arrive at this aim, a case study has been conducted. In this study, the entire curriculum of the second-year design studio has been specifically tailored to correspond with the SDGs and their three dimensions. This alignment covers all stages of the studio, from concept development to material selection, ensuring a direct association with different SDGs. At the end of the semester, all qualitative and quantitative data obtained from the final project submission of the students and the results of a comprehensive questionnaire that has been applied to students aiming at assessing their awareness of the SDGs were evaluated simultaneously.

The design studio process during the semester, the data obtained from the final submissions of the students, and the student survey have proved that the integration of SDGs and related targets widens the vision of students and creates awareness not only of environmental issues but also of social and economic sustainability.

Although there are many studies in literature searching for opportunities to integrate SDGs into the architecture curriculum, there are only a few studies directly using SDGs as the main concept generator of the design studio course. This paper contributes to this missing point in the literature.

This paper aims to present a data mapping analysis that can be used for aligning the studio course with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by teaching professionals.

The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), released in 2015, has received global attention from various disciplines and sectors. Professional organizations in architecture have accelerated the engagement between their members and SDGs. This paper analyzes the two volumes of the Architecture Guide to the UN 17 Sustainable Development Goals prepared by the efforts of professional organizations or consortiums and published by the UIA between 2018 and 2020. The buildings presented as best practices in these guidebooks were analyzed to demonstrate various ways of capturing the SDGs in the architectural studio when designing the course content, process and teaching materials.

The analysis presents the kinship among the SDGs and architectural concepts, which are retrieved from the sample buildings in the guidebooks. The findings also refer to the targets for each goal to generate an easily applicable pedagogical path in architectural education. The results are presented as a model approach for SDG-focused studio teaching.

An in-depth review of the literature reveals the need for research based on SDG-focused pedagogies and the UN Architecture Guide.