According to Van der Ryn, EDEN was established in response to the lack of ecological design courses formally offered in university programs. But there are many students who are interested in ecological design and want to learn now. So, EDEN supplements what they are learning in school. The stepping roofs provide clerestory windows for light and ventilation. In his opinion, most design schools are still mired in the outdated rhetoric of Ayn Rand's Fountainhead that sees the architect as form giver without any influence from the outside world.
Schools always seem to be the last to know what's really going on in the world.
They are isolated and insulated and, therefore, tend to stay with ideas long after their usefulness. Just look at modernism and post-modernism. I've spoken with Harrison Fraker, the dean at Berkeley's school of architecture, and we both agree that in order to change the schools we need to support young faculty who are trying to teach sustainable architecture. Toward this goal, EDI soon hopes to offer a summer institute in ecological design for college faculty, as well as professionals and school teachers. Here, the participants will work on incorporating ecological design content into curricula and fostering a team among an otherwise isolated group.