Faculty and Research
Our research activities leverage our skills and experiences as designers.
Our faculty
Featured faculty member: Wanda Dalla Costa
In this episode of “Between Classes with Steven Tepper,” Wanda Dalla Costa talks about celebrating and honoring indigenous cultures and working with communities through design. Dalla Costa, who is a member of the Saddle Lake First Nation, Alberta, recently joined the Herberger Institute as our newest Institute Professor, with an appointment in The Design School.
We support the scholarly inquiry, applied research and creative activity of more than 50 faculty.
View current funding opportunities and make sure your research is getting the support that it merits.
ReDesign.School is an online platform created by The Design School to listen and engage with the best minds in the design world and rethink the future of design education. The platform is part of the larger redesign initiative to examine how to meet the needs of a new generation of young designers. Through local and national roundtable discussions and committees focused on key areas of design education, we are collaborating to create an innovative design school for the New American University. Read more.

The Interdisciplinary Cluster Competition is an annual competition held within The Design School that fosters cross-disciplinary collaboration among our junior students, providing students an opportunity to apply knowledge, gained within the studio, to solve real-life design projects. Read more.

ASU’s Solar Laboratory is a nationally recognized facility for research and education in active and passive solar heating/cooling/electricity and in climate responsive building material design concepts. Read more.

InnovationSpace is an entrepreneurial joint venture with The Design School, Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and W.P. Carey School of Business at ASU. Read more.

The Biomimicry Center offers educational programs for both students and professionals across disciplines to learn to create sustainable and effective design solutions by answering the question: "What would nature do?". Read more.

Green roofs are living systems designed to provide multiple ecological and resource benefits. Municipalities in the United States and abroad are using green roofs to enhance urban sustainability. Read more.
Indigenous Design Collaborative
The Indigenous Design and Construction Initiative (IDCI) is a use-inspired design and construction program, which brings together tribal community members, industry and a multidisciplinary team of ASU students and faculty, to co-design and co-develop solutions for tribal communities in Arizona. Read more.

The “Frame a Dream” project is in partnership with the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Design School sophomore students are asked to “frame the dream” of long care patients. Each student was given a patient’s “dream”. Read more.

SHADE / Solar Decathlon Project
SHADE: Solar Homes Adapted for Desert Equilibrium is a prototype designed and constructed for the U.S. Department of Energy's 2013 Solar Decathlon, a biannual International Competition for net-zero homes built with integrated photovoltaics and other sustainable features and technologies. Read more.