Research & Projects
The Center for Sustainable Building Research is a place for organizing and effectively growing the research and outreach missions of the College of Design. Working with other research entities within the university as well as public and private organizations is critical to CSBR's mission. CSBR serves as a resource for State of Minnesota, the design professions, the building industry, and the general public.
More About Research Areas
Guidelines & Rating Systems →
CSBR has done extensive research on the various green guidelines systems available in the marketplace. CSBR has also developed the Minnesota B3 guidelines which are used throughout the state on state-funded projects.
Housing →
CSBR is working on housing research projects both locally and globally. Our most extensive research has involved creating support materials for the development of green affordable housing locally.
Life Cycle Assessment →
CSBR has worked with the Athena Institute to create an award-winning tool for determining life cycle impacts in buildings. Archived work also includes an extensive LCA materials database.
Windows & Glazings →
CSBR has worked with the Department of Energy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and many window industry partners on research and developments of decision-making tools and information for the residential and commercial window industry.
Design Assistance →
Building on sustainable design assistance projects done in recent years, CSBR is in the process of setting up a sustainable design assistance program. The program is intended to assist communities, non-profits and local governmental organizations with pre-design visioning of their sustainable designs goals prior to the fund raising or formal design process and development.
Building Evaluation →
The building evaluation area of CSBR's work ranges from sustainable post occupancy evaluations of individual buildings, to case study analysis to compare performance metrics across many green buildings in the region. Topics of evaluation include occupant surveys, process analysis, quantitative and/or measured analysis of energy, water, waste, site impacts, materials, and indoor comfort conditions.