Established as part of Temple University in 1935, The Tyler School of Art and Architecture is a small community of bold thinkers and makers, and one of the nation’s leading schools for the study of art, design and the built environment. In 2009, Tyler moved from its historic suburban Elkins Park setting into a new, 255,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art building at Temple’s Main Campus in Philadelphia, and subsequently expanded into a new 50,000-square-foot facility dedicated to the study of Architecture and the built environment. 

The ongoing project at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture, collectively initiated in 2019 among faculty, staff, and administrators, is to investigate, identify, examine, and adopt short- and long-term changes at Tyler that align with University goals and initiatives for carbon neutrality and sustainability and define—through action—what it means to be an Art + Architecture school in the 21st century. Through a two-part process, Tyler will examine its energy use as it identifies and begins to address some of its most significant areas for reducing or eliminating its use of fossil fuels. First, the project examines one specific area for assessment, the Glass Department and its associated kiln systems, with a goal of preparing Tyler to commit to full conversion of its glass facilities. Additionally, through an updated analysis of the entire school’s energy use that was initiated in 2019, the project relates the Glass department’s energy use to a current assessment of the school’s overall carbon footprint.