Abstract It is not uncommon that most architectural projects typically start with the analysis of problems on a certain site and finding out solutions to address some of those problems. In this process, architectural concepts, forms, materials, details and spatial atmosphere would revolve around considerations on surrounding contexts. Indeed, every project would be unique in terms of its unique site conditions. This traditional way of thinking about architecture and its relationship with the context creates many excellent works. However, in some cases, this way of thinking also limits architects’ imaginations to some extent and makes them come up with almost the same existing solutions for certain problems. This scenario becomes more obvious when it comes to ecological architectural projects since there are tremendous previous well-done templates that could be used to meet the requirement of sustainability. But what if we reverse the process, looking at architectural design from the perspective of materials first, being inspired by the outcomes of material studies, and finally focusing on the site conditions? In this case, a more special and interesting architectural space could be created. This paper would explain the idea of thinking ecological architectural design process in the view of material studies and environmental simulations by providing some examples from both studio works and some electives. Some initial ideas regarding the aspect of materials and simulations drawn from electives like the Detail by Rodolfo Reis Dias and History of Architecture: A realist and Environmental Approach to Urban, Landscape and Architecture Design History by Philippe Rahm would be talked about in the first half of the paper, and in the second half, how those ideas influence studio projects and how a material-oriented design process helps create special ecological architectural space would be fully illustrated through both texts and drawings.