ASU College of Architecture and Environmental Design Collection

The Design School at Arizona State University was formerly known as the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED), offering bachelors, masters, and doctorate degrees. The College included the School of Architecture, the School of Planning and Landscape Architecture, and the School of Design.

During 1949-50, James Elmore, the founding dean of the College of Architecture, suggested that ASU develop a two-year technical architecture program to play the role of a forceful pioneer in Arizona, a state with no school of architecture. During the 1950s, the program became the Division of Architecture and began offering the bachelor of architecture degree in the fall of 1957.

In its first ten years, the student body grew from 45 to 142 and full-time faculty from two to five members. In 1958, the program became an associate member of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and was renamed the School of Architecture in 1959. The first bachelor of architecture degree was awarded in May 1960. In January 1961, the college's first accreditation was granted. By the end of the second decade of architectural studies at ASU, the student body had grown to 407 with full-time faculty of 21 members. On July 1, 1964, the program became the independent College of Architecture.

Through the next decade, the design disciplines grew and diversified in the study of architecture, urban design, and design. In 1977-78, the college was officially reorganized into three separate departments: architecture, design sciences, and planning. The Department of Design Sciences was comprised of the Interior Design and Industrial Design programs, which moved from the Department of Home Economics and College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, respectively. In 1975, the first Master of Architecture Program was offered as an umbrella for specialization. Areas of specialization were offered in Building Design (Solar Energy Technology, Individual Studies and Thesis) and Human Settlement in Arid Regions (Urban Design and Urban Planning). In 1983, the Arizona Board of Regents approved a change in name to the College of Architecture and Environmental Design to more accurately reflect the depth and breadth of design and planning studies within its programs.

In 1987, the Master of Science in Building Design was established within the school. In 1989, the department was renamed the School of Design. The graphic design program joined the school in June 1996, moving from the School of Art and joining the School of Design.

In July 2004, the landscape architecture program moved to the School of Architecture, and the school was renamed the School of Architecture + Landscape Architecture. In 2005, the name of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design was changed to the College of Design. The School of Design was disestablished and three separate units—the Department of Graphic Design, Department of Industrial Design, and the Department of Interior Design were established. The Graphic Design program changed its name to the Department of Visual Communication Design to reflect the interactive and environmental design of the current graphics profession.

In April 2009, the Arizona Board of Regents created the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. This merger integrated the schools of architecture and landscape architecture; art; arts, media and engineering; dance; design innovation; music; theatre and film, as well as the ASU Art Museum. In May 2010, the disciplines of Industrial Design, Interior Design and Visual Communication Design (which had been part of the School of Design Innovation) joined with The Design School to create the current configuration.