Faculty Research Connections Profile
Brook Muller is the dean of the College of Arts + Architecture, coming to UNC Charlotte from the University of Oregon, where he was a professor in the Department of Architecture and director of the University of Oregon Portland Architecture Program. His leadership experience includes appointments as acting dean and interim dean of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts (now called College of Design), as well as associate dean for Academic Affairs for the school. He co-authored and directed the interdisciplinary Graduate Certificate in Ecological Design. In addition, he co-authored concurrent degrees: Master of Business Administration and Master of Architecture, and Master of Community and Regional Planning and Master of Architectural Design.
Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Oregon in 2004, Muller was the director of an environmental sustainability program and an assistant professor at California Polytechnic State University, where he received the Wesley Ward Outstanding Teaching Award in 2002.
Muller entered academia from practice. After earning a Master of Architecture (M. Arch.) from the University of Oregon, he worked with Behnisch and Partners Architects in Stuttgart, Germany. Among other professional pursuits, he served as project co-leader on the design of the IBN Dutch Institute for Forestry and Nature Research, a European Union pilot project for sustainable design.
Muller's research and practice focus on how site scale works of architecture can support broader scale ecological processes and the design implications of resilient urban water systems. He has written articles that have appeared in Environmental Philosophy, Nature + Culture, Journal of Landscape and Urban Planning, The Pluralist: Official Journal of the Society for the Advancement of American Philosophy, and Enquiry: The ARCC Journal of Architectural Research.
Dean Muller is author of Ecology and the Architectural Imagination (Routledge, 2014) and his latest book project, Blue Architecture: Water, Design, and Environmental Futures, published by The University of Texas Press in May 2022. In the past five years, he has worked on projects marrying water infrastructure, architecture, and urban design in Egypt, Tanzania, and the Madeira Islands.
EXPLORE HIS RECENT WORK
Muller's new book Blue Architecture: Water, Design, and Environmental Futures was released in May 2022. When it comes to water, the architectural design community is working at a level of sophistication and innovation that is about a generation behind where they are with energy.
Muller's new book seeks to address that lag through a close look at a series of cases, mostly in the American West.
Read more →
Muller is a project team member on the Al Khalifa Heritage and Environment Park, now under construction in the medieval Islamic part of the city of Cairo, Egypt to significantly enhance neighborhood quality as well as heritage restoration.
Muller’s involvement has been supported by the United States Embassy in Egypt Public Affairs Section and the Ford Foundation/Institute of International Education Global Travel and Learning Fund. Read more →
Protective Atmospheres - Healing Habitats: Muller is a team member for a multi-year, multidisciplinary project focused on integrated, sustainable and community-driven design approaches to vector-borne disease and mosquito control in sub-Saharan Africa.
Muller’s involvement has been supported by a grant from the Jeffrey Cook Trust and a British Academy Knowledge Frontiers: International Interdisciplinary Research Award. Read more →