Light + Sustainable Design

Sustainable Design Program Director and Associate Profess Matt Fajkus' interdisciplinary seminar on "Light and Sustainable Design" explores the full spectrum of light as it relates to architecture and design in general, from physical properties such as its effect on the thermal performance of buildings to the resultant impact upon comfort, and, ultimately, the way we perceive space, color, and form. The seminar provides insight into the integrated balance of natural daylighting and artificial lighting in habitable spaces. This balance is examined from the larger scale of full building facades and urban environments to the micro-scale of nanotechnology in smart materials, which allow for alterations in embedded light and color properties. 

Students from various departments work in interdisciplinary groups (consisting of a balance between architecture students and non-architecture students) to produce research or design projects, investigating the properties and potential of light in sustainable design. The seminar strives to achieve interdisciplinary collaboration and system integration to the benefit of multi-faceted design approaches and proposals. 

Group One
David Sharratt
Li Shuo
Preethi Sreedhair
Travis Gent

Group Two
Nick Steshyn
Kaitlyn Dietz
Ashleigh Kahler

Group Three
William McCommon
Kristen Fulmer
Yee Sang Wong

Group Four
Ruiha Cai
Eric Cazares
Melissa Flores
Henry Smith
Adriana Vann