October 19, 2016 DeKay Gives Keynote at South African Forum

In his presentation, “Exploring New Terrains: The Next Architecture School,” DeKay offered solutions to issues facing the higher education system in a post-apartheid South Africa. He stressed the value of creating a collaborative work and school culture and proposed a solution to the climate crisis through carbon-neutral design education.

DeKay also outlined the need for education that accelerates skills in the 21st century and emphasized a “shared knowledge ecology”—a collective base of knowledge from faculty, staff, and students that optimizes problem solving.

At UT, DeKay specializes in sustainable design theory, research, and design. His recent book, Sun, Wind, and Light: architectural design strategies (third edition), co-authored by G.Z. Brown, is currently being translated into Chinese and French.

In 2000, DeKay was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to the Center of Environmental Planning and Technology in India, and in 2005, he was the co-recipient of the AIA/Tides Foundation Award for Ecoliteracy in Architecture Schools, which recognized his integrated graduate design studio.