The College of Design comprises the School of Architecture, the School of Interior Design, and the Department of Historic Preservation.

The School of Architecture offers the only professional architecture degree in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and is accredited by the National Architectural Accreditation Board (NAAB). Degree offerings include a four-year Bachelor of Arts in Architecture, a two-year professional Master of Architecture, and a one-year post-professional Master of Architecture. The School of Interior Design offers a five-year professional degree accredited by the Council for Interior Design Accreditation (CIDA) as well as a post-professional Master of Arts in Interior Design. The Department of Historic Preservation offers a two-year Master in Historic Preservation.

The College of Design operates an urban design center with the University of Louisville Department of Urban Planning and the Louisville Metro Planning Office. The center conducts research on urban issues and provides a hub for interaction among that city's design professionals, civic leaders, and the general public. The College of Design has also recently launched "The Henderson Project," a long-term research and design initiative that provides strategic design and planning advice to cities along the Ohio River. The focus is on developing strategic design proposals-from riverfront landscape designs to adaptive reuse of industrial buildings-that will enable cities to more easily transition to a knowledge based, energy focused economy. The College of Design has also recently launched "Design + Energy Initiatives," which includes projects such as the Solar Decathlon competition sponsored by the US Department of Energy. Twenty schools from around the world were invited to design a compact, energy efficient house, which will be displayed as part of the competition on the Mall in Washington, DC, in 2010. Other projects include a series of design collaborations with the Center for Applied Energy Research and the Center for Manufacturing at the University of Kentucky and include, among others, anemometer designs used for wind mapping experiments as well the development of design products that utilize mixtures of concrete and fly ash.

All who are part of the College of Design-students, faculty, staff and administration-believe that architecture, interior design and preservation have an important role to play in the everyday lives of people in Kentucky and around the world. Design is not just a building, an interior or a preserved landscape; it is a means of acting in and transforming the world.