Our distinguished faculty are engaged in leading research to advance their fields and add value to our world. Students work alongside professors to support these meaningful explorations as well as embark on research about their own interests and passions.

We’ve participated in hundreds of projects to address the following issues and more:

  • affordable housing
  • urban and suburban growth planning
  • economic revitalization
  • transportation
  • land use challenges
  • historic preservation
  • energy efficiency 

Andrew Seager Archives of the Built Environment

This extensive archive features more than 100,000 drawings and renderings by practitioners across Indiana, some from present day and others as old as the late 19th century. The archive also features: 

View the archives

Community Projects

In addition to research, our student-faculty teams work throughout the state to improve Indiana citizens’ quality of life through hands-on, problem-focused experiences. Our signature method is to work alongside community partners through charrettes—intense, on-location community design workshops that build innovative plans with local input. Learn more about community projects.

Centers and Labs Dedicated to Community

The following centers and labs support our efforts to provide Indiana communities with low- or no-cost expertise while offering students excellent opportunities for real-world experience:

  • CAP INDY (College of Architecture and Planning: Indianapolis) affords the college a unique opportunity to help shape not only future professionals, but also the future of Indiana's capital and largest city.
  • Center for Energy Research/Education/Service (CERES) is an interdisciplinary resource focusing on issues related to energy and resource use, alternatives, and conservation. 
  • Center for Historic Preservation (CHP) provides experiences for students and services to communities seeking economic development through preservation.
  • Andrew Seager Archives of the Built Environment collects and preserves records about Indiana’s historic sites and structures.
  • Digital Fabrication, our fabrication area contains equipment to design and make 1:1 prototypes of building and furniture components as well as small-scale models.
  • Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA Lab) The Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts (IDIA Lab) partners with Hybrid Design Technologies, within Ball State’s Office of Information Technology, to investigate the intersection of the arts, science, and technology.
  • Digital Simulation Lab The state-of-the-art environment and tools create stereoscopic 3-D design presentations that clients use for thermal, solar, environmental, acoustical, or structural simulations of proposed construction projects.