Vivian Loftness
Vivian Loftness, FAIA, is Paul Mellon Chair and University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She is a renowned researcher, author and educator, with over 40 years of high performance building research for practice, industry and government. She is the editor of the 2013 and 2020 editions of Springer's "Sustainable Built Environments" encyclopedia, and has published on climate and regionalism, environmental sustainability, advanced building systems integration, and design for performance in the workplace of the future. She is an elected Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), New Buildings Institute, and Design Futures Council. Vivian has been recognized as one of 13 Stars of Building Science by the Building Research Establishment in the United Kingdom, received the Award of Distinction from AIA Pennsylvania and NESEA, a National Educator Honor Award from the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), and a "Sacred Tree" Award from the USGBC. Vivian has a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Architecture from MIT.
Affiliation
News
May 21, 2025: University Professor Vivian Loftness and professors Gail Brager (UC Berkeley) and Clayton Merrill (NUS) constitute the Advisory Board of the EU Multidisciplinary Doctoral Network: MuSIC - Multi-sensory solutions for increasing human-building resilience in face of climate change. The Board will meet with the 10 faculty and 10 students from five EU universities in Cyprus May 21-23, 2025.
March 21, 2025: University Professor Vivian Loftness, Mark Dekay (University of Kansas) and Christopher Meek (University of Washington) launch the inaugural SBSE Quarterly seminar on "The Future of Building Science in Education, Research, and the Profession" for the Society of Building Science Educators.
March 18, 2025: University Professor Vivian Loftness receives a one-month writing fellowship from the Paris Institute for Advanced Study to focus on writing "The Critical Role of the Built Environment for a Carbon Neutral Future" in France with international peers this June.
Fall 2025 Teaching
This course introduces architectural design responses for energy conservation and natural conditioning, human comfort, and the site-specific dynamics of climate. Students will be expected to combine an understanding of the basic laws of comfort and heat flow with the variables of local climate to create energy design guidelines for design work.
This course explores the relationship of quality buildings, building systems, infrastructures and land-use to productivity, health, well-being and a sustainable environment.