MIT Sustainable Design Lab
BuildForZero screenshot

Building For Zero | Global building stock carbon calculator

ClimaPlus screenshot

ClimaPlus | Climate-responsive design for everybody

EdX Course

Take our online class on sustainable building design

Food Survey screenshot

What’s the carbon content of your food? Take our survey and find out.

MIT North Court Study

Predicting outdoor comfort | UTCI simulations explain dwelling patterns of 16,000 regulars in a public courtyard in Cambridge


Welcome to the MIT Sustainable Design Lab. We are an inter-disciplinary research group with a grounding in architecture that develops design workflows, planning tools and metrics to evaluate the environmental performance of buildings and neighborhoods. Software tools originating from our lab are used in practice and education in over 90 countries.

Our goal is to change current architectural and urban planning practices by developing, validating and testing analysis methods that lead to improved design solutions as far as occupant comfort and building energy use are concerned. The premise of our work is that a more informed design process will lead to better design choices and therefore better performing buildings and cities.