Joseph Wheeler, AIA
B.S. in Architecture, Florida A&M University
M.Arch., Virginia Tech
B.S. in Architecture, Florida A&M University
M.Arch., Virginia Tech
Joseph Wheeler is a Professor of Architecture at Virginia Tech. He pursues professional research in environmental and sustainable design and assumes leadership positions in the implementation of design theory and ideas. In pedagogy, he believes that there is a distinct advantage to the exposure of students to the direct making of Architecture and therefore is involved in many multidisciplinary full-scale research projects.
As co-director of the Center for Design Research, he has led multiple interdisciplinary projects which include the 2005, 2009 and 2010 Solar Decathlon house projects, the latter of which won first place overall in international competition in Madrid, Spain. Other research includes projects related to industrialized processes, modular construction and energy efficiency. Wheeler has also led exhibitions for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) at the Javits Convention Center in New York, the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan, Italy and the Cologne Furniture Fair in Germany. Recent awards include a national design honor award from the AIA, the NCARB Prize for creative collaboration between the academy and the profession, the Virginia Society AIA Research Prize, and the Xcaliber University Prize for Excellence in Outreach. Other contributions include testimony before Congress regarding national energy issues.
His current work, the Virginia Tech FutureHAUS, is a research prototype which proposes innovative new ways to build by utilizing industrialized methods for the making of Architecture. The Kitchen, Living Room and Bathroom prototypes have been exhibited at the 2015 and 2016 Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in Las Vegas and the 2015 AIA National Convention in Atlanta.