About CC-ED
Community-engaged design is not new to the Interior Architecture department nor to UNCG. Dating back at least to the 1958 Commencement House, students at UNCG have been designing and building projects in and around Greensboro and around the world. Recent research and design project initiatives include North Carolina Main Street, Tiny Houses Greensboro, Collaborative Cottage Grove, Amadi Way, Black Diamond Urban Farm, and Peace Haven Farms.
Meet Our Director
Travis L. Hicks, Professor and Head of Interior Architecture, is the Director of the Center for Community-Engaged Design (CC-ED) at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Hicks’s vision is of a movement that will change the face of design education and practice in ways that inspire designers to be more engaged in their own communities. Through the CC-ED he builds community partnerships that leverage the power of design in community-based projects, particularly for people where resources are most scarce.
A registered architect with over 15 years of professional practice experience prior to joining UNCG, Hicks pursues teaching, scholarship, and service that contribute to the livability and sustainability of the Piedmont-Triad region and partnerships that promote collaboration, interdisciplinarity, and economic development. “Sustainable Glenwood” and the “Vance Chavis Library” project are two examples of the projects he has executed in collaboration with students, faculty, and community partners, such as Preservation Greensboro, Inc., Community Housing Solutions, and the Greensboro Public Library.
Main Street Fellows
Since March of 2016, the North Carolina Main Street Program has partnered with UNCG’s Interior Architecture Department and its Center for Community-Engaged Design to provide design assistance to the 94 Main Street communities across the State. So far, 49 undergraduate and eight graduate Main Street Fellows working with Professor Travis Hicks and Professor Emerita Jo Leimenstoll have completed designs for over 275 projects in over 50 NC towns.
