Billie Faircloth

Billie Faircloth is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP), and a Cornell Atkinson Scholar and Senior Faculty Fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Her appointment, beginning in January 2025, is part of the provost's Sustainability Radical Collaboration initiative, enabling cross-cutting research and engagement in sustainability and the built environment.

Her research focuses on the socio-technical interactions between building culture and the environment, emphasizing measurable outcomes in sustainability, equity, climate action, and material flows. She promotes transdisciplinary, practice-integrated research that draws from environmental planning, industrial ecology, materials science, and public health. Her work bridges architecture with engineering, ecology, and policy to advance sustainable building practices.

Faircloth was recognized with the Architectural Record Women in Architecture Innovator Award in 2017 for her pioneering work in integrated, transdisciplinary research. She served as chair of the AIA Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE) in 2022 and continues to influence sustainability standards and discourse through her leadership roles.

She has advised and taught at leading institutions including the University of Pennsylvania (where she is currently an Adjunct Professor), Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Royal Danish Academy, and The University of Texas at Austin. She was previously the Strauch Visiting Critic in Sustainable Design at Cornell AAP in 2023.

Faircloth co-founded the nonprofit Built Buildings Lab, which advocates for the value of existing buildings in sustainability and policy, and serves on the Board of Directors of Building Transparency. Her work emphasizes coalition-building, policy development, and transforming architectural practice through rigorous inquiry and research.