Professor Brian Deal Advocates Sustainable Design

By Meghan Dufresne, News Editor

Visiting assistant professor Brian Deal has recently been working hard to bring sustainable design issues into classrooms and studios at the University of Illinois, especially in the School of Architecture. A number of new classes, initiatives, and programs reflect his efforts.

Deal has been leading an effort to open a sustainable design center for architects, urban planners, and landscape architects at the University of Illinois for several years. One recent result of his work is the Illinois Small Business Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, which opened last spring with assistance from the Illinois Department of Commerce and is overseen by the School of Architecture’s Building Research Council (BRC). Run by Deal with assistance from Professors Jim Anderson and Rick Strand, the center works with Illinois small businesses and their architects to find ways to conserve energy and promote energy efficiency in both existing facilities and new construction projects. So far, the center has worked with about 200 Illinois businesses. The center often uses Energy Plus, a software program that analyzes energy efficiency in buildings and which Strand and Deal both helped to develop for the U.S. Department of Energy. Deal hopes that by setting up one of the first sustainable design centers in the country, the University of Illinois can lead the way in developing a certified program for architects interested in sustainability.

Through the Building Research Council and the Office of Continuing Education, Deal has also introduced a new series of online courses focusing on sustainable design practices. These courses are designed for practicing architects and other design professionals; they can provide AIA/CES continuing education credits, which are required for continuing licensure in many states. Those who complete the online courses can currently gain up to 12 hours towards a degree program and/or a sustainable design certificate.

In 1995, Deal decided to leave his position as principal of a design-build firm in Chicago and return to school to learn more about the sustainable building practices then emerging in the construction industry. As a 1983 graduate of the architectural studies program, Deal chose to return to the School of Architecture for his Master of Architecture degree; he then remained at the University to earn a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning, which he completed in 2002. While earning his Ph.D., Deal also worked as a researcher at the Building Research Council and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Construction Engineering Research Laboratory (CERL).

Currently, Deal divides his time between teaching architecture courses and research at the BRC. He has a joint appointment in the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, the School of Architecture, and as Director of Research at Robert Allerton Park. This semester he is teaching two classes that focus on sustainability: a seminar and a studio. Both courses are multi-disciplinary, open to architecture, landscape architecture, and urban and regional planning students. Deal hopes to introduce students in his seminar to an ethic of sustainability that goes beyond the discipline of architecture; he hopes students will explore such topics as sustainable agriculture and ecological processes.

In Deal’s design studio, students are working on a “green” visitors’ center for the University’s Robert Allerton Park in Monticello. The program is based on actual work he is doing at Allerton as its Director of Research. Students are working in teams to develop design solutions and are focusing on research in sustainable construction materials, building systems, and design strategies.

Another project Deal is leading at the BRC is Land Use Evolution and Impact Assessment Model (LEAM) Laboratory which studies the ways that cities grow and the factors that stimulate their growth. He is also part of the technical review committee of the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program; recently he has been working with 10 other universities to develop a system to analyze how well university buildings perform in terms of energy efficiency.

Deal is currently involved in a few construction projects seeking LEED certification. As a member of the Campus Sustainability Committee, he is overseeing the new College of Business building which is being designed by Cesar Pelli and Associates, with the goal of obtaining a LEED platinum rating. (Currently in design development.) He also is working with fellow BRC researcher Don Fournier to advise Faith United Methodist Church in Champaign about building a new silver-rated facility.

Deal believes that an increasing number of design firms are looking for new employees to arrive with knowledge of sustainable design and construction practices. He hopes that his research through the BRC and his sustainability-focused courses will help position the School of Architecture to produce graduates who are increasingly well versed in sustainability standards such as LEED and prepared to employ sustainable design strategies as they enter the profession.