Environmental Building Design. Two EBD degrees help architects learn the new skills and knowledge required for environmental design and especially in the design techniques with which those skills must be integrated into the practice of architecture.

With the renewed urgency of environmental issues—from global climate change and resource shortages to “net zero” design—architects are faced with demands for new kinds of services that require new approaches to design.

The MSD in Environmental Building Design (MSD-EBD) is a research-oriented, four-semester, post-professional degree focused on innovation in the integration of performance analysis and architectural design.

Learn to design buildings that positively contribute to local, regional, and global ecosystems. Apply Now

William W. Braham, PhD, FAIA is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he previously served as Department Chair and Chair of the Faculty Senate, and is currently Director of the Master of Environmental Building Design and of the Center for Environmental Building + Design. He has worked on energy and architecture ...

Diagramming energy and resource flows and understanding the ecological theories of self-organization, maximum power, and energy exchange hierarchies provide a scientific basis for the different kinds and scales of design practice involved.

The Environmental Building Design Certificate (EBDC) provides an opportunity for students enrolled in the Masters of Architecture to complete most of the required courses for the MEBD degree and to participate in the Bioclimatic Studio in the final semester of their degree.

The course draws on systems ecology and the history and philosophy of technology to examine the complex task of environmental building design.

Work from design studios, courses, and seminars. Student work from the Bioclimatic Studio (708), the EBD Research Studio (709), and from required and elective courses.

The course introduces the basic principles of building science used in bioclimatic design, using a series of focused exercises and case studies to ground the principles in real examples. The work of the course develops with a case study of an exemplary environmental building that exhibits innovative techniques or raises useful questions.