The Architectural Research Centers Consortium, Inc. (ARCC) is an international association of architectural research centers committed to the expansion of the research culture and a supporting infrastructure in architecture and related design disciplines. Since its founding as a non-profit corporation in 1976, ARCC has represented a concerted commitment to the improvement of the physical environment and the quality of life. Historically, ARCC’s members have been schools of architecture who have made substantial commitments to architectural research, often by forming centers directed to research programs. At the same time, ARCC has sponsored many projects, conferences, and other activities involving the broader architectural research community, including industrial laboratories, government agencies, and private practitioners engaged in research. ARCC members are engaged in sponsored research and in graduate studies intended to develop a more comprehensive research infrastructure for architecture — an infrastructure of researchers, facilities, equipment, research centers, and academic programs working to expand the knowledge base for practice. The goals of the Architectural Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) are: - To facilitate the development of an architectural research culture, including its infrastructure of researchers, facilities, equipment, research centers, and educational programs. - To promote that culture and an awareness of its scope. - To identify possibilities for, and to aid in establishing, research partnerships among government, industry, professional, and academic communities. - To facilitate exchanges of researchers and students, information and ideas, and access to equipment and resources. - To facilitate knowledge transfer with regard to the impact of design decisions on the quality of the environment and its infrastructure. - To aid in technology transfer between industry, professionals, and the schools. ARCC accomplishes these goals through such mechanisms as: - Providing contact points through the ARCC Board of Directors for individual researchers, university centers, firms, or practitioners seeking information about member research projects, activities, or expertise. - Helping develop agendas for research in architecture and the built environment in the US, Canada, and Mexico which encompass social, technical, and environmental domains. - Nurturing linkages between research centers in schools, firms, companies, and the public sector Developing and nurturing subject-based networks of researchers. - Conducting workshops on administrative practices and issues in research centers and programs. - Developing or facilitating strategies to enable research assimilation into curricula and practice. - Dissemination of information, needs, and plans from research-supporting agencies and organizations. - Exchanging information on research programs, projects, facilities and equipment, doctoral and advanced study programs and other aspects of research infrastructure.