CoA+A Research Centers + Labs

The College of Arts + Architecture supports research labs and centers to promote the depth of faculty and student scholarship and the opportunity to collaborate with partners in creative thinking and expression. In addition, the College champions student research as a valuable part of a creative education. Explore below to learn more!

Center for Community, Heritage, and the Arts (CHArt)

The Center for Community, Heritage, and the Arts (CHArt) is a community-engaged research center rooted in the College of Arts + Architecture with close partnership to the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Sciences. CHArt’s mission is to empower communities to reclaim, elevate and co-create cultural histories and artistic futures. Its vision is that no place erases its unique artistic and cultural heritage or minimizes the diverse creative voices that give it life. Through mission-focused efforts, CHArt expands the roles of the visual and performing arts, museums, archaeology, the social sciences and the humanities within critical heritage and preservation efforts.

Integrated Design Research Lab

The mission of the School of Architecture’s Integrated Design Research Lab (IDRL) is to advance applied architectural research and knowledge through the dissemination of evidence-based investigation and proactive design leadership. The vision is to lead in design science and building technology and to strategically position the lab at the crossroads of innovative research, education and architectural practice.

City.Building.Lab

Situated in The Dubois Center at UNC Charlotte Center City, the City. Building. Lab (CBL) is an interdisciplinary hub that bridges the gap between academic research and public impact. As the outreach and research arm of the Master of Urban Design (MUD) program—housed within the David R. Ravin School of Architecture—the lab utilizes design inquiry and action-based research to pioneer innovative strategies for modern city building.

designLAB

The designLAB is an architectural design and research-based lab in the School of Architecture that focuses on the role of design as a form of architectural inquiry in the analysis and transformation of the built environment through targeted speculations, experiments, design competitions and pilot projects.

Hight Architecture Library

The Charles C. Hight Architecture Library is located on the second floor of Storrs. It is the only branch library at the University and operates under the policies of Atkins Library. The primary focus of the collection is 20th and 21st-century design, architects, and the built environment. The Hight Library collection includes books, audio visuals, periodicals, Graduate Thesis documents, drawings and plans. The Hight Library is also home to the CoA+A’s Visual Resources Collection and provides audiovisual equipment for faculty, staff and students. Digital cameras, carts with iMac computers and projectors, TV/VCRs, projectors, lights, backdrop cloths, Smart TVs, portable scanners, digital camcorders and tripods are available for check-out at the circulation desk.