Deterioration in Buildings because of Design Mistakes. Teaching Prevention in a Civil Engineer Course

This contribution will explore the importance of understanding deterioration in buildings and the role deterioration prevention can play in design within a course of study for the building engineer. We propose to present the following process within a "Technical Architecture" orientated course: - The student has to choose any type of building to design, - The student has to find a similar existing building and identify the problems of technical deterioration due to the passing of time and design faults, - The student must research the reasons for the deterioration and study any design errors made that might have caused this deterioration, - The student must then develop the most appropriate technological solutions that will avoid the deterioration that were observed. This contribution will illustrate several actual studies, will define causes of deterioration due to design specifications and offer solutions to the problems that could be used in the future.