Biography
University of Tennessee
College of Architecture and Design
Associate Professor
Professor Mark DeKay specializes in ecological design theory and practice. He is a registered architect and has taught at the university level since 1994. Prior to UT, he taught at the University of Oregon, Virginia Tech, and at Washington University in St. Louis.
Prof. DeKay’s research interest is in energy and environmental issues in building design and urban design, specifically, the impact of design decisions on environmental quality and the study of how to create ecological integrity through the form and organization of the built environment. He also has an emerging interest in integral theory and its applications to design.
His recently completed work focuses on multi-functional green infrastructure planning at the urban and landscape scales, including design studies for downtown Chattanooga, TN and the Beaver Creek Watershed in Knox County, TN. Current writing projects include scholarly articles on daylighting, ecological design theory, and integral architecture.
His book, Sun, Wind, and Light: architectural design strategies, 2nd ed., co-authored with G. Z. Brown, was published in 2001; it is a resource for designers to consider the form-generating potential of climatic forces. Other work includes knowledge base mapping of climatic design and curricular projects on the technical education of architects and green infrastructure planning.
Recent projects include GreenCenter: planning for environmental quality in downtown Chattanooga, and The Beaver Creek Watershed Green Infrastructure Plan, for North Knox County.
Currently, he is working on a 3rd edition to Sun, Wind & Light and coauthoring books with other UT faculty on Green Neighborhoods and on Patterns of Green Infrastructure.
He regularly teaches courses in graduate design studio; advanced undergraduate design studios focused on sustainability, and seminars in green design, climatic design, and architectural technology.
Prof. DeKay was the winner of the 1995 AIA Education Honor Award for the course “Environment and Buildings,” a 2000 Fulbright Fellowship to the Center of Environmental Planning and Technology, in Ahmedabad, India, and a 2005 AIA/Tides Foundation award (with Prof Ted Shelton) for Ecoliteracy in Architecture Schools for his graduate design and technology courses.