The School of Architecture’s housing and energy research group seeks to expand 21st-century housing options to meet the needs of changing urban demographics, sustainability targets, and alternative energy requirements. Long term, multivalent focus on what constitutes a viable public and affordable private realm is at the core of our effort. Faculty and students from architecture, building construction, high-performance building, and engineering, with diverse backgrounds in design and science, contribute to this growing body of knowledge.

Emphasis is placed on the analysis of the energy performance and environmental impacts of urban housing, as well as on the integration of these metrics in the development of innovative, socially conscious architecture. The key metric for our design-driven research is “prove it” – design decisions and building system selections are justified through analysis, simulation, and calculations and cover a variety of research topics, including:

• site cost and choice
• building ecology/ecological influences
• demographic influence/changing household structure
• private and public realm design
• energy demand and energy production
• building operational strategies
• mechanical and electrical systems
• initial cost estimating through development and return on investment
• risks associated with implementing new technologies
• building simulation
• life-cycle assessment

The Zero Energy Housing group, as part of the design and high performance building group, is engaged in a number of campus, city, and regional initiatives.