Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Design
Incorporating the disciplines of design, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban and regional planning, the Sustainable Design major focuses on the places, things, systems, and policies needed to help solve problems in a sustainable society.
Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Design
The College of Fine and Applied Arts recognized a unique opportunity to draw on the expertise from across the college to create a new degree program: the Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Design. Incorporating the disciplines of design, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban and regional planning, this undergraduate major will focus on the places, things, systems, and policies needed to help solve problems in a sustainable society. Through a combination of existing and newly developed classes, students will experience an innovative, interdisciplinary, and unique course of study that will prepare them to enter jobs in the public or private sector guiding institutions and society to greater sustainability or continue their educational pursuits in a variety of graduate programs.
Why a Degree in Sustainable Design?
- Rigorous broad-based education in design with a focus on building sustainable communities through intentional design of environmentally sensitive products, buildings, landscapes, and cities
- Draws on disciplines of design, architecture, landscape architecture, and urban and regional planning
- Focuses on the places, things, systems, and policies needed to help solve problems in a sustainable society
- Prepares you for the future in a sustainable world where ideas from many disciplines will be necessary to solve complex problems
- After graduation
- Enter jobs in design firms, planning agencies, industry, nonprofits, and public policy institutes
- Continue preparation in a variety of graduate or professional programs such as landscape architecture, architecture, industrial design, graphic design, urban design, and urban planning or accelerated graduate design programs at Illinois
Study sustainable design at Illinois, a 2022 Gold STARS campus for sustainability performance awarded by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education.
Opportunities and Events for Sustainable Design Majors
Join Sustainable Design and related organizations in these ongoing events and activities, virtually and in person! As the faculty committee learns of relevant opportunities related to the major, they will be listed here. RSOs can email sustaindesign@illinois.edu to have their events included.
BSSD Newsletter Archives
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☀️ Jasper Nord, an alum of BSSD, visited Casa Pueblo as part of the Community-Based Sustainable Design in Puerto Rico study abroad program in 2024.
☀️ Q. BSSD: Tell us a bit about yourself and your experience with Casa Pueblo.
☀️A. JN: “I participated in the Casa Pueblo Program in March 2024, and graduated in May 2025. I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to plan a design intervention for an actual physical site. Going through this process of planning, site visits, and community engagement was immensely valuable, and a wonderful experience.
"Our assignment was to propose interventions for a vacant space adjacent to Bosque Solar in Adjuntas, designated by Arturo Massol Deyá and Casa Pueblo. Plazas are an important third space for the community, welcoming visitors late into the night. I was inspired by seeing citizens of Adjuntas playing dominoes at local gathering areas and wanted to create a system of modular seating and tables to inhabit the vacant space. With my design partner, Pooja Paramesh, we proposed a multifunctional system that incorporates sun-inspired shading, community gardens, and a modular system of domino benches. The purpose of the instruction manual is to foster community engagement via workshops to build the furniture together, and it is available in both English and Spanish."
"On our fifth day in Puerto Rico, we also worked planting coffee trees, cultivated by Casa Puelo and grown under shade in a biodiverse forest. The following day, I was able to see the roasting process and then helped to package Casa Pueblo`s signature Madre Isla coffee."
☀️A. JN: “I participated in the Casa Pueblo Program in March 2024 and graduated in May 2025. I’m incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to plan a design intervention for an actual physical site. Going through this process of planning, site visits, and community engagement was immensely valuable and a wonderful experience.
Jan 20 - First day of classes for the Spring Semester 📚❄️
Jan 26- Deadline to add or drop a 1st 8 week class via self-service✏️
🖼️ Ongoing- Casa Pueblo Exhibition | Our first exhibition is on view on the 2nd floor of the Architecture Building, near the BSSD offices. Stop by to visit and learn more!
Attention Sustainable Design Seniors graduating this spring, don’t forget that the guest count for the Sustainable Design convocation must be emailed to sustaindesign@illinois.edu by January 31, and you’ll need to add yourself to the pending degree list by February 3 (link in bio).
Sustainable Design Convocation, Sunday, May 17, 2026 | 11:30 AM at Siebel Center for Design
University-wide Commencement Ceremony, Saturday, May 16, 2026 | 9:30 AM at Memorial Stadium
We look forward to celebrating with you and your guests in May!
Reminder! If you’re planning to apply for one of the 3 Accelerated Graduate Programs for Sustainable Design Majors, don’t forget the deadline is coming up January 15th! These programs allow you to earn your BSSD degree and a graduate degree in an accelerated timeline. Swipe to learn about each program and see the link in bio for more information.
❄️ Wishing everyone a restful break and a happy new year! We look forward to welcoming you back to campus on January 20th!
Tim is getting a dual degree in Sustainable Design and Industrial Design. Check out a day in his life as he takes us around to see the projects he’s working on and all the great spaces and resources he has access to as a student at the College of Fine and Applied Arts!!
🎉 Congratulations to three BSSD student recipients of this year’s Fiddler Innovation Fellowship for their work with Design for America (DFA)!! 🎉
The National Center for Supercomputing Applications awarded Fiddler Innovation Fellowships to 38 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and NCSA graduate students in a ceremony on October 31 honoring their outstanding achievements and interdisciplinary contributions to NCSA programs, including Students Pushing Innovation (SPIN), NCSA’s Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) program titled “The Future of Discovery: Training Students to Build and Apply Open Source Machine Learning Models and Tools” (REU FoDoMMaT), Design for America (DFA) and those who worked with NCSA-affiliated faculty during the 2024-25 academic year and summer of 2025.
The 38 awardees represent students whose outstanding interdisciplinary contributions to their projects showcased a wide range of research interests and domains, including environmental sustainability, music, personalized nutrition, agriculture and astronomy.
🚌 Dale Sink, one of the BSSD student awardees shared more about her winning project:
“I was on the Transportation team for two semesters. In the first semester, my team focused on safety and comfort for MTD riders through improving bus stops in and around UIUC’s campus. At the turn of the semester, we identified a lack of bus etiquette standardization causing much of student dissatisfaction, most pertinently delaying buses and creating on-bus discomfort for other riders. We then focused on: ‘How can we increase MTD student rider satisfaction in Champaign-Urbana while improving system efficiency through education?’ We discerned that users prioritize convenience and clear communication while our primary stakeholders, MTD and F&S, focus on efficiency and passenger education. This project sets the foundation for a bus etiquette education program through visual posters and catchy tag lines to encourage riders to be more mindful and respectful as they ride the bus.”
☀️ Jeremiah Pope, an alum of BSSD, visited Casa Pueblo as part of the Community-Based Sustainable Design in Puerto Rico study abroad program in 2024. Jeremiah’s photos and video are currently on view in BSSD’s first exhibition in our new gallery space. Stop by the 2nd floor of the Architecture Building to take a look!
☀️ Q. BSSD: Tell us a bit about yourself and your experience with Casa Pueblo.
☀️A. JP: “I graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign in 2024 where I studied Sustainable Design and minored in Media. Through my experience I was able to visit Casa Pueblo in 2024 as a study abroad trip in Adjuntas to bring a physical space for Casa Pueblo to express their purpose in moving forward in sustainability. In this way, I was able to combine skills learned in Sustainable Design and Media to bring their mission to life.
During my time with Casa Pueblo, I helped create Sol-idaridad, a solar-powered community space in Adjuntas where people can connect, recharge, and thrive during difficult times. I helped to design the cultural space and documented the process through photo and video to capture how we shaped a symbol of resilience, unity, and light.”
☀️ Want to know more about what’s on view?: This exhibition features documentation, reflections, and design interventions conceived by students from the B.S. Sustainable Design Program who participated in a study abroad course to Puerto Rico in spring 2024 and 2025. While there, students met with local academics, artists, activists, and communities working with Casa Pueblo in the Altos de Cuba neighborhood of Adjuntas. They were then tasked with documenting and sharing Casa Pueblo’s achievements as well as actively contributing to the improvement of Altos de Cuba through sustainable design interventions. We invite you to visit the Sustainable Design Corridor on the second floor of the Architecture building to learn about their experiences engaging with Casa Pueblo’s energy independence and economic development work, as well as the designs students conceived for a meaningful, sustainable, community gathering space.
