Sustainable Design
Sustainable Design calls on a student’s creativity to conceptualize, visualize, analyze, communicate, and build products, buildings, cities, landscapes, and communities that use energy and materials in a more environmentally and socially sustainable manner. You will learn how design can contribute to solving problems of sustainability in a constantly evolving society and building equitable, healthy, and thriving places.
With course work in graphic and industrial design, architecture, landscape architecture and urban and regional planning, the program grounds concrete skills development with opportunities to move between disciplinary barriers and traverse traditional boundaries.
Graduates of this program will be prepared for a future in a sustainable world where ideas from many disciplines will be necessary to solve complex problems.
- FAA 230—Sustainable Design of the Built Environment
- LA 101—Introduction to Landscape Architecture
- UP 136—Urban Sustainability
- ARCH 171—Concepts of Architectural Design
Students should consult with an academic advisor regarding course selection prior to the advanced registration period.
With expertise across disciplines, students in this program will be prepared to enter jobs in design firms, planning agencies, industry, and public and non-profit agencies, or continue preparation in a variety of graduate or professional programs such as Architecture, Industrial Design, Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Urban Planning.
- Creativity
- Analytical and critical thinking skills
- Computer skills
- Oral, written, and graphic communication skills
- Research skills
- Teamwork skills
- Sustainability Coordinator
- Urban planner
- Sustainable design specialist
- Industrial designer
- Product designer
- Green Business marketer
- Architect
- Landscape Architect
- Graphic designer
- Green buildings consultant
- Climate designer
Some careers may require further training or education beyond an undergraduate degree.
- Partake in opportunities and events for Sustainable Designers
- Participating in undergraduate research
- Applying for a study abroad experience
- DIS Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark (summer or semester abroad): Study coursework in sustainable development, environmental impact and policy, Danish design, and innovation through design thinking!
- University of Sheffield in Sheffield, England (semester abroad): Study coursework in landscape architecture and urban studies and planning!
- National University of Singapore in Singapore (semester abroad): Study course work in design and the environment!
- Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden (semester abroad): Study coursework in sustainable design, ecopsychology, climate change leadership, global sustainability, and sustainable development in Sweden!
- Utilizing resources of FAA Career Services
- Joining a Registered Student Organization (RSO) related to this major, such as:
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- Alpha Rho Chi
- Hispanic Organization of Urban Studies and the Environment (HOUSE)
- Illinois Solar Decathlon
- Student Sustainability Committee
- Design Innovation Illinois
- Students for Environmental Concerns
- Business In Environmental Responsibility
- ActGreen
- Growth International Volunteer Excursions
- Brands Give Back
- Design for America at UIUC
- Enactus
- Makers at UIUC
- Student Planning Organization
- The Recyclops Club
- Environmental Coalition
- From the Ground Up
- Project 4 Less
- Red Bison Ecological Restoration
- Red Oak Rain Garden
- Root to Roof
- vermiCUlture
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There are several professional organizations dedicated to sustainable design. Their websites might be able to provide a glimpse of what sustainable designers do. These organizations include U.S. Green Building Council www.usgbc.org, American Sustainable Business Council https://www.asbcouncil.org/, Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute www.c2ccertified.org, Environmental Design Research Association www.edra.org, International Society for Industrial Ecology www.is4ie.org, and Biomimicry Institute www.biomimicry.org