Billie Faircloth to Join AAP's Department of Architecture and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability

The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability are pleased to announce that architect and educator Billie Faircloth, FAIA, will join Cornell's faculty in January 2025. She will take on the role of Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture as well as a Cornell Atkinson Scholar and Senior Faculty Fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

A celebrated designer and pioneer in transdisciplinary, practice-based research, Faircloth previously served as research director and partner at the Philadelphia-based architectural practice KieranTimberlake from 2008–24. There she led the firm's research group, driving design innovation and integrating knowledge and methods from fields including environmental planning, industrial and urban ecology, chemical physics, materials science, and sculpture.

"Associate Professor and Cornell Atkinson Scholar Billie Faircloth brings to Cornell AAP not only extensive experience in the field of sustainability and the built environment in research and practice, but is also leading the field in climate action through her committed, rigorous, and pioneering cross-disciplinary work," said J. Meejin Yoon, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning.

For her part, Faircloth looks forward to continuing her sustainability and impact-focused teaching and research at Cornell through this appointment. "At the heart of this initiative are partnerships between people, colleges, communities, and industries, collaborating to achieve transformative, outcome-oriented work in the built environment. The Cornell AAP and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability missions align through a commitment to demonstrate positive impact. I look forward to joining the incredible teaching and research underway at Cornell, linking architecture's critical practice to the fields of environmental and human ecology, public and planetary health, engineering, and more."

The integrations inherent in the role offer myriad opportunities to promote cross-college research and contribute to innovative initiatives. "I am so pleased to welcome Billie Faircloth as a Cornell Atkinson Scholar as part of the provost's Sustainability Radical Collaboration initiative. Faircloth's arrival will signal a powerful new phase of collaboration between Cornell Atkinson and the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning," said David Lodge, the Francis J. DiSalvo director of Cornell Atkinson. He continued, "As a researcher and practitioner, Faircloth will elevate Cornell's leadership and impact on sustainable building practices."

Faircloth says she is excited to tackle projects related to climate adaptation and mitigation, energy, material flows, and equity that promise positive impacts and outcomes. "Sustainable design practices are evolving rapidly and wrestling to confront the social, ecological, and economic impacts of constructing, inhabiting, and repairing the built environment. Our participation in coalition building, policy, code, and guidance-making is expanding. Ultimately, architects are working to understand architecture's value and how to build positive, measurable outcomes for people and communities."

Faircloth previously served as the Strauch Visiting Critic in Sustainable Design at AAP in the spring of 2023 and has held faculty positions at institutions including the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, the Royal Danish Academy, and The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. She was recognized with Architectural Record's Women in Architecture Innovator Award in 2017.