Sean Canty appointed assistant professor of architecture
The Department of Architecture is thrilled to announce the appointment of Sean Canty to the faculty as assistant professor. Canty is an architect and educator whose work explores the capacity of architectural form to reorganize spatial norms and forms of social life.
“The faculty and I could not be more excited to have Sean Canty at Berkeley,” said Lisa Iwamoto, chair of the Department of Architecture. “Instructors and students alike have followed the trajectory of his work for quite some time, and it has already shaped a generation of designers. His work is impactful not just for the rigor it brings in synthesizing context, material, geometry, and space, but also in the manner in which he has been able to expand this work in increasingly public environments.”
“I’m really excited to join UC Berkeley’s Department of Architecture,” said Canty. “The faculty have a clear synergy while they also bring diverse viewpoints to their design, research, and teaching. I am looking forward to being a part of the conversation with my colleagues and students.”
Practice & Research
Canty is the founder of Studio Sean Canty (SSC), an architecture practice that introduces novel geometries and materials to enrich the spaces of everyday life. Working across domestic, cultural, and civic programs, SSC’s design approach incorporates drawing, model-making, and immersive visualization to choreograph spatial adjacencies that balance solitude and collectivity.
Canty is a co-founder of design collective Office III, which designed the Governors Island Welcome Center in New York and was a finalist in the 2016 MoMA PS1 Young Architects Program. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, The Cooper Union, and A83 Gallery.
Canty is the author of the forthcoming book Black Abstraction in Architecture (2026), and his writings have appeared in Harvard Design Magazine, Log, Domus, and MAS Context, among other publications. He is the recipient of the 2023 Arts and Letters Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the 2023 Architectural League Prize, and the 2020 Richard Rogers Fellowship from Harvard. He holds an MArch from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a BArch from California College of the Arts.
Teaching
“In my teaching, I try to connect architectural abstraction and formal experimentation with social and material questions around public and private life,” said Canty.
He has taught and coordinated architecture core design studios at Harvard GSD, including courses in design media and techniques. His pedagogy emphasizes abstraction, representation, and typological invention, drawing connections between architectural form, spatial organization, and visual communication. Prior to the GSD, Canty held teaching appointments at the Cooper Union, UC Berkeley, and California College of the Arts.
This semester, Canty will be teaching a graduate housing studio. “Collective housing is where we really see the intersection between formal and social questions,” said Canty. “Housing also engages the city, so we’ll be able to explore larger issues of place and habitation.”