Research and Creative Scholarship

The Center for Design Research (CDR) links the academy, industry, and design practice by creating opportunities for collaboration through applied research; establishes corporate partnerships and sponsorships within the prospectus of design research; expands capacity by building relationships within the design professions and affiliated industries; initiates collaborative research projects within and beyond the boundaries of the university; and strengthens all areas of research through cross-disciplinary team building, and the integration of teaching and research. For more info…

The mission of the International Archive of Women in Architecture (IAWA) is to document the history of women’s involvement in architecture, interior and industrial design, landscape architecture, urban design and planning, architectural history and criticism, and the records of women’s professional organizations. Each year, IAWA hosts the IAWA Symposium and awards the Milka Bliznakov Student Research Prize. For more info…

The Center for High Performance Environments (CHPE) serves as a first-of-its-kind resource for designers, engineers, system consultants, teachers, school administrators, facility managers, building owners and others interested in improving the design and operation of built environments. The CHPE takes a holistic approach to the design of buildings and focuses on a range of multidisciplinary activities, including energy efficiency, sustainability, systems integration, evaluating the building envelope, and integrating appropriate technology into indoor environments of the 21st century. For more information, contact the Director of the center, Jim Jones at wolverine@vt.edu. 

The Community Design Assistance Center (CDAC) is a research and outreach center within the College of Architecture and Urban Studies. The vision of the Center is to strengthen a civil society by linking university expertise and societal needs as they relate to the environment in which we live. CDAC assists communities, neighborhood groups, and non-profit organizations in improving the natural and built environments through design, planning, policy, and research.For more info…

The Henry H. Wiss Center for Theory and History of Art and Architecture (formerly Center for Theory and History of Architecture) was established in 1984 for the purpose of gathering and actualizing interests in teaching, study and research of contemporary and historic art and architecture and theory. From its inception, the Center has been committed to providing students who wish to study the history of art and architecture, architectural criticism or design theory with frameworks for understanding, with methods by which the studies may be pursued, and with opportunities for examining these questions in a discussion forum.

The Center for Advanced Visual Media (CAVM) was established through support received from the Transforming Undergraduate Education in Science (TUES) Program of the National Science Foundation to conduct research related to the application of state-of-the-art computer-assisted visual media in design. The current research of the center focuses on the development of a computer-assisted visualization system for better understanding of the relationship between structure and form. This research is a collaborative effort between the School of Architecture and Design, Research Computing, and the School of Education at Virginia Tech. More info…