Ball State University is home to Indiana’s only state-assisted architecture program and one of the largest and most comprehensive environmental design colleges in the country. Graduates from the R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture and Planning are professionally prepared, creatively curious, globally aware, and locally engaged.

Students receive a rigorous education filled with creative challenges, community engagement, and world cultures. Students experience the latest technologies in virtual and augmented reality, digital fabrication, and robotic construction. Students learn how to apply design thinking principles to challenging problems, create solutions that transform professional practice, and foster results that improve communities.

Since 1965 the hallmark of our college has been community engagement. Today, this commitment extends to Indianapolis with the Ball State CAP: INDY initiative and the Center for Civic Design. Ball State CAP: INDY is an outreach and education center. It provides opportunities for students to work with professional firms, gain applied experience, and develop extensive portfolios. The Center for Civic Design generates opportunities to offer design, planning, and visioning support to community organizations, neighborhoods, and civic leaders statewide.

We prepare students to become responsible environmental practitioners by teaching and practicing sustainability alongside the institutional practices of the university. Students in the LEED Lab—a U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) initiative, became the fifth university team in the world and the first collegiate team in Indiana, the Midwest, and the Mid-American Conference to examine a LEED-certified building’s performance over ten years. The student’s work underpins the building’s second LEED certification for Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED O+M). For the past three years, our students were net-zero competition finalists in the U. S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon Design Challenge (formerly Race to Zero). Presently, architecture studios are in the design phase of a net-zero structure culminating in a spring 2020 build in Indianapolis. In our college, the Center for Energy Research, Education, and Service (CERES) provides consultation services on energy and resource use, alternative solutions, and conservation. The new graduate certificate in sustainability prepares students for how to guide businesses, organizations, and communities toward social, economic, and environmental sustainability achievements.

Follow this blog to learn more about all of the projects and research are students and faculty produce each semester.