Philip H. Knight Professor, Department of Architecture
Founding Director, Energy Studies in Buildings Laboratory
gzbrown@uoregon.edu
M. Arch. Yale University, 1974
M.B.A. University of Akron, 1971
M.A. Michigan State University, 1966
B.A. Michigan State University, 1964
Registered Architect, Oregon; member, American Institute of Architects, 1977
G.Z. “Charlie” Brown, Philip H. Knight Professor of Architecture, is an internationally recognized educator, author, and researcher on sustainability and energy use in buildings. He has been a Fulbright scholar in Norway and in Nigeria. Brown received both the PLEA Award and the Philip H. Knight Professor of Architecture Award in 2009. He received the Cascadia Fellows Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008 and the U.S. Green Buildings Council 2005 Leadership Award in research for his work on sustainable building practices. He was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects in 2006, and selected as a Fellow by the American Solar Energy Society in 2005. Brown has been honored by the Architectural Research Center Consortium with the James Haecker Distinguished Leadership Award in Architectural Research (2000).
A faculty member of the University of Oregon since 1977, he has taught Computer-Aided Architectural Design, Architectural Design, Environmental Control Systems, Daylighting, and Climate Analysis. He is author and co-author, respectively, of two books: Sun, Wind and Light: Architectural Design Strategies (2nd edition, 2000) and InsideOut: Design Procedures for Passive Environmental Technologies (2nd edition, 1992). He also co-authored the software Energy Scheming 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, SIP Scheming, Auto Architect Energy, and Trane Energy. Brown has worked in the area of industrialized housing since 1989. As part of the industrialized housing effort, he has developed a new floor and foundation system and several improvements to stressed skin insulating core panels. Brown holds graduate degrees in industrial design, business and architecture.
Since he joined the University of Oregon faculty, Brown has been principal investigator on more than $16 million of externally funded research. The lab has supported more than 200 graduate research assistants and provided design assistance in energy-conscious design on over 17 million square feet of buildings in the U.S. and abroad, on a wide range of building types. He has worked with the major architectural firms in the Northwest.