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
Catch up on news, opportunities, and events through our weekly newsletter! Subscribe here.
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Over spring break, two of our students from Sustainable Design went on a trip to Adjuntas, Puerto Rico for a short-term study abroad course, UP 494: Community-Based Sustainable Design In Puerto Rico.
Students worked alongside and supported the work of @casapuebloorg and local community members in collaboration to apply sustainable design principles they’ve learned. They explored the unique socio-political history and community resilience of Puerto Rico, and got their hands dirty working on a solar panel installation project!
Over spring break, two of our students from Sustainable Design went on a trip to Adjuntas, Puerto Rico for a short-term study abroad course, UP 494: Community-Based Sustainable Design In Puerto Rico.
Students worked alongside and supported the work of @casapuebloorg and local community members in collaboration to apply sustainable design principles they’ve learned. They explored the unique socio-political history and community resilience of Puerto Rico, and got their hands dirty working on a solar panel installation project!
As finals season approaches, we urge you to take a break from studying to enjoy campus and spend time with others before the school year ends. Read on for some fun events happening this week!
4/22: Earth Day Trash Pickup
TODAY from 4:00 - 5:00 PM, join iSEE and Illinois Student Council outside of SCD to clean up our campus in celebration of Earth Day! Register using the link in the BSSD newsletter.
4/22: Earth Day Celebration 2025 Better Film Series
Keep the Earth Day festivities going! Visit Room 2079 in the Natural History Building for a screening of two films: “Erin Brockovich” at 5:00 PM and “Chasing Ice” at 7:30 PM. This event is presented by the Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability (ESES) program in the School of Earth, Society & Environment.
4/24: Open Registration Begins for Summer and Fall 2025
Beginning Thursday, classes for the upcoming Summer and Fall terms are open for registration to all except non-degree students. Schedule an advising appointment if you have questions about your schedule!
4/25: Arbor Day Celebration
Gather outside of the ACES Library on Friday from 12-1:00 PM for an Arbor Day celebration! This event will feature a tree planting, “tree-via” questions, and tabling!
4/25: Illinois Race Weekend Begins
This Friday and Saturday, races will be taking place throughout Urbana and Champaign. Visit https://illinoismarathon.com/course-info/ for information on race routes and road closures. Also consider supporting the athletes, or even registering for yourself!
As finals season approaches, we urge you to take a break from studying to enjoy campus and spend time with others before the school year ends. Read on for some fun events happening this week!
4/22: Earth Day Trash Pickup
TODAY from 4:00 - 5:00 PM, join iSEE and Illinois Student Council outside of SCD to clean up our campus in celebration of Earth Day! Register using the link in the BSSD newsletter.
4/22: Earth Day Celebration 2025 Better Film Series
Keep the Earth Day festivities going! Visit Room 2079 in the Natural History Building for a screening of two films: “Erin Brockovich” at 5:00 PM and “Chasing Ice” at 7:30 PM. This event is presented by the Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability (ESES) program in the School of Earth, Society & Environment.
4/24: Open Registration Begins for Summer and Fall 2025
Beginning Thursday, classes for the upcoming Summer and Fall terms are open for registration to all except non-degree students. Schedule an advising appointment if you have questions about your schedule!
4/25: Arbor Day Celebration
Gather outside of the ACES Library on Friday from 12-1:00 PM for an Arbor Day celebration! This event will feature a tree planting, “tree-via” questions, and tabling!
4/25: Illinois Race Weekend Begins
This Friday and Saturday, races will be taking place throughout Urbana and Champaign. Visit https://illinoismarathon.com/course-info/ for information on race routes and road closures. Also consider supporting the athletes, or even registering for yourself!
We are ecstatic to share a little bit more about and highlight Clinical Assistant Professor, Lou Turner, from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Read on to learn more about his work in community sustainability planning.
What class(es) do you teach in the Sustainable Design curriculum?
FAA 330: Making Sustainable Design – the Urban Planning Module
Can you tell us a bit about this class?
“My module is an offshoot from my Urban and Regional Planning class on Community Engagement in Planning (UP 479). It focuses on the CTA Redline Extension. At 130th Street, which is where the red line extension ends, there is the Ford Calumet Environmental Center. I decided to develop a website and a project around why it was not built at Hegewisch Marsh at Altgeld Gardens.”
To learn more about this project, check out his website at: https://publish.illinois.edu/ford-calumet-environment-centre-at-hegewisch-marsh/.
How is sustainability integrated into your practice/research?
“The area at Altgeld Gardens at 130th street and the Ford Calumet Environmental Center is the home of the environmental justice movement in the country. So, I`ve been engaged as an environmentalist when I was living in Detroit and California. I`ve always been involved in environmental issues and environmental justice. Much of the environmental movement deals with the natural environment, but there’s also the human environment, which is where I am at. So, the residents of Altgeld Gardens, who are living in one of the most toxic environments in the country, bring up the question of the ‘human environment’. That’s the thing that the environmental justice movement challenged in the environmental movement. I am looking at human sustainability in relationship to environmental sustainability insofar as that has historically met the natural environment, but not always the human environment."
We are ecstatic to share a little bit more about and highlight Clinical Assistant Professor, Lou Turner, from the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Read on to learn more about his work in community sustainability planning.
What class(es) do you teach in the Sustainable Design curriculum?
FAA 330: Making Sustainable Design – the Urban Planning Module
Can you tell us a bit about this class?
“My module is an offshoot from my Urban and Regional Planning class on Community Engagement in Planning (UP 479). It focuses on the CTA Redline Extension. At 130th Street, which is where the red line extension ends, there is the Ford Calumet Environmental Center. I decided to develop a website and a project around why it was not built at Hegewisch Marsh at Altgeld Gardens.”
To learn more about this project, check out his website at: https://publish.illinois.edu/ford-calumet-environment-centre-at-hegewisch-marsh/.
How is sustainability integrated into your practice/research?
“The area at Altgeld Gardens at 130th street and the Ford Calumet Environmental Center is the home of the environmental justice movement in the country. So, I`ve been engaged as an environmentalist when I was living in Detroit and California. I`ve always been involved in environmental issues and environmental justice. Much of the environmental movement deals with the natural environment, but there’s also the human environment, which is where I am at. So, the residents of Altgeld Gardens, who are living in one of the most toxic environments in the country, bring up the question of the ‘human environment’. That’s the thing that the environmental justice movement challenged in the environmental movement. I am looking at human sustainability in relationship to environmental sustainability insofar as that has historically met the natural environment, but not always the human environment."
Congratulations to BSSD senior Abbi Narayanan, who will be pursuing a master`s degree in architecture at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York this fall! While taking courses as a Sustainable Design student, Abbi realized that architecture was her passion. She hopes to focus on mental health and sustainability in her work going forward. These sentiments are echoed in Abbi’s senior capstone project, a temporary relaxation pod that can be installed around college campuses during exam seasons.
After growing up in the suburbs of Boston, Abbi is looking forward to grad school in the big city! In the future, she hopes to work at an architecture firm to gain experience in mental health architecture.
Abbi, we wish you the best of luck in your further studies!
Congratulations to BSSD senior Abbi Narayanan, who will be pursuing a master`s degree in architecture at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York this fall! While taking courses as a Sustainable Design student, Abbi realized that architecture was her passion. She hopes to focus on mental health and sustainability in her work going forward. These sentiments are echoed in Abbi’s senior capstone project, a temporary relaxation pod that can be installed around college campuses during exam seasons.
After growing up in the suburbs of Boston, Abbi is looking forward to grad school in the big city! In the future, she hopes to work at an architecture firm to gain experience in mental health architecture.
Abbi, we wish you the best of luck in your further studies!
BSSD senior, @kendall.murphyy will showcase her capstone project of a modular clothing display structure with a built-in community board in a Spring Clothing Swap event in collaboration with @resistancethreadsvintage, sponsored by @tasty.tart on Friday, April 18 from 12-5 PM 👚👖.
This thrift event will be a clothing swap that everyone can participate in if they bring clean clothes. Kendall has been working hard this year on her capstone project; come support and take a look at her project in action!
Read on to hear what Kendall has to say about her project and this event:
"Throughout my time at UIUC, I have been to numerous second-hand clothing events on campus. I think that they are some of the most significant community events that foster sustainable fashion options. I wanted an opportunity to create an event that everyone could participate in while designing a structure for a person in the community who has had a great impact on the sustainable fashion space. Collaborating with [Resistance Threads] has been extremely fun, and seeing her business grow has been incredible and inspiring. I am so excited to showcase the work that she has been doing in the community, and I hope that you guys are able to come by and find some cool new pieces!"
GO KENDALL!! ✨
BSSD senior, @kendall.murphyy will showcase her capstone project of a modular clothing display structure with a built-in community board in a Spring Clothing Swap event in collaboration with @resistancethreadsvintage, sponsored by @tasty.tart on Friday, April 18 from 12-5 PM 👚👖.
This thrift event will be a clothing swap that everyone can participate in if they bring clean clothes. Kendall has been working hard this year on her capstone project; come support and take a look at her project in action!
Read on to hear what Kendall has to say about her project and this event:
"Throughout my time at UIUC, I have been to numerous second-hand clothing events on campus. I think that they are some of the most significant community events that foster sustainable fashion options. I wanted an opportunity to create an event that everyone could participate in while designing a structure for a person in the community who has had a great impact on the sustainable fashion space. Collaborating with [Resistance Threads] has been extremely fun, and seeing her business grow has been incredible and inspiring. I am so excited to showcase the work that she has been doing in the community, and I hope that you guys are able to come by and find some cool new pieces!"
GO KENDALL!! ✨
Did you know that you can focus your Gen Ed courses to a specific discipline? Gen Ed themes are pre-grouped classes that cover general education requirements within specific areas of study. The Sustainability & Environment theme contains many courses that may be interesting for BSSD students! The website also highlights other themes that can link to Sustainable Design, such as Social Justice, Design & Create, and Law, Justice, Policy, & Ethics. Explore them at https://gened.illinois.edu/choosing/themes/ .
Did you know that you can focus your Gen Ed courses to a specific discipline? Gen Ed themes are pre-grouped classes that cover general education requirements within specific areas of study. The Sustainability & Environment theme contains many courses that may be interesting for BSSD students! The website also highlights other themes that can link to Sustainable Design, such as Social Justice, Design & Create, and Law, Justice, Policy, & Ethics. Explore them at https://gened.illinois.edu/choosing/themes/ .
Join us from April 14-20 at Siebel Center for Design, University of Illinois, to witness the incredible designs of the Spring 25 ARTD 326: Sustainability & Manufacturing class taught by Savio Mukachirayil.
The students of majors, Industrial Design and Sustainable Design were tasked with designing objects with mycelium. Don’t miss out on this unique showcase of creativity and sustainability! 🌱✨
Join us from April 14-20 at Siebel Center for Design, University of Illinois, to witness the incredible designs of the Spring 25 ARTD 326: Sustainability & Manufacturing class taught by Savio Mukachirayil.
The students of majors, Industrial Design and Sustainable Design were tasked with designing objects with mycelium. Don’t miss out on this unique showcase of creativity and sustainability! 🌱✨
Sustainable Design students have lots of events to look forward to in the next few weeks! Read on to learn more!
4/12: Sustainapalooza
Join SSLC for their annual Earth celebration on the Main Quad from 4-6:00 PM! Enjoy tabling by environmentally focused organizations on campus, crafts, vendors, food, a clothing swap, live music, and more!
4/13: Nature’s Palette: Foraging for Ink
The Sustainable Design program is joining the Ricker Library for a day of fun and foraging! Visit the Ricker Library from 2-4:00 PM to learn how to make your own brown ink from materials found around campus. Please bring your own jar or bag for materials!
4/14: ARTD 326 Exhibition Begins
Mycelium marvels from the ARTD 326 Sustainability & Manufacturing students will be on display next week, through April 20th! See sustainable products created from mycelium by fellow Sustainable Design students, including packaging components, small animal containers, and more!
4/17: BSSD Potluck Picnic
Share a meal with fellow Sustainable Design students! Sandwiches will be provided, and we ask that everyone brings something to share. It’s sure to be an evening of fun! Meet us on the South Quad from 4:30-6:30 PM.
4/17: Green Globes + iCAP Reception
Join the Student Sustainability Leadership Council and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the Green Globes + iCAP Reception from 5:30-7:30 PM! Sustainability efforts of student organizations across campus will be celebrated with an awards ceremony. This will be followed by a reception with Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) teams, who will share updated objectives for iCAP 2025 and collect feedback about getting involved in reaching climate goals.
4/18: POT-B Drop Deadline
This is the last day to drop a course that takes place in the second 8 weeks of the semester via Self Service.
Sustainable Design students have lots of events to look forward to in the next few weeks! Read on to learn more!
4/12: Sustainapalooza
Join SSLC for their annual Earth celebration on the Main Quad from 4-6:00 PM! Enjoy tabling by environmentally focused organizations on campus, crafts, vendors, food, a clothing swap, live music, and more!
4/13: Nature’s Palette: Foraging for Ink
The Sustainable Design program is joining the Ricker Library for a day of fun and foraging! Visit the Ricker Library from 2-4:00 PM to learn how to make your own brown ink from materials found around campus. Please bring your own jar or bag for materials!
4/14: ARTD 326 Exhibition Begins
Mycelium marvels from the ARTD 326 Sustainability & Manufacturing students will be on display next week, through April 20th! See sustainable products created from mycelium by fellow Sustainable Design students, including packaging components, small animal containers, and more!
4/17: BSSD Potluck Picnic
Share a meal with fellow Sustainable Design students! Sandwiches will be provided, and we ask that everyone brings something to share. It’s sure to be an evening of fun! Meet us on the South Quad from 4:30-6:30 PM.
4/17: Green Globes + iCAP Reception
Join the Student Sustainability Leadership Council and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) at the Green Globes + iCAP Reception from 5:30-7:30 PM! Sustainability efforts of student organizations across campus will be celebrated with an awards ceremony. This will be followed by a reception with Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) teams, who will share updated objectives for iCAP 2025 and collect feedback about getting involved in reaching climate goals.
4/18: POT-B Drop Deadline
This is the last day to drop a course that takes place in the second 8 weeks of the semester via Self Service.