The North Carolina State University College of Design, known originally as the School of Design, was officially founded in 1948. Education in architecture and architectural engineering at NC State began in 1920-1921 with the development of a bachelor's program in architectural engineering administrated through the School of Engineering. In 1927, Architectural Engineering became a department within the School of Engineering, and the department changed its name to the Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering in 1940 when it added a bachelor's program in architecture. In 1946, the board of trustees of the Consolicated University of North Carolina approved the establishment of the School of Architecture and Landscape Design at NC State, largely responding to the post-World War II boom in building. The name of the school was shortened to School of Design at its opening in 1948.

In the late 1950s, in addition to the departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, the school added a new department granting degrees in product design. In its early years, under the leadership of founding dean Henry L. Kamphoefner, who served from 1948-1973, the School of Design attracted a faculty of talented designers and theorists, such as Buckminster Fuller, Matthew Nowicki, Lewis Mumford, and Eduardo Catalano. The school also brough in lecturers including Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Louis I. Kahn, Pier Luigi Nervi, Charles Eames, Marcel Breuer, and other prominent designers.

In 2000, the School of Design was renamed the College of Design, at which point the Department of Architecture was renamed the School of Architecture. The College of Design now houses the departments of Graphic Design, Landscape Architecture, Industrial Design, and Art and Design. The College of Design is located in Brooks Hall.