Courses
Explore the Department of Architecture’s latest undergraduate and graduate program course offerings, including required courses, electives, studios, and seminars. For more information, view the UC Berkeley Online Schedule of Classes.
Fall 2025
- All Courses
- REQUIRED GRADUATE COURSES
- ELECTIVES AND SEMINARS
ARCH 11A – Introduction to Visual Representation and Drawing [Maria Paz Gutierrez]
Introductory studio course: theories of representation and the use of several visual means, including freehand drawing and digital media, to analyze and convey ideas regarding the environment. Topics include contour, scale, perspective, color, tone, texture, and design
ARCH 100A – Fundamentals of Architectural Design [Various Instructors]
Introductory courses in the design of buildings. Problems emphasize conceptual strategies of form and space, site relationships and social, technological and environmental determinants. 100A focuses on the conceptual design process
ARCH 100C – Architectural Design III [Various Instructors]
This is a studio course in architectural design. Students work on individual and group design projects that build on topics from Architecture 100B with additional integration of conditions pertinent to architectural production that may include architectural precedents, context, landscape and urban issues, envelope, performance, structure, and tectonics in the design of buildings.
ARCH 130 – Introduction to Architectural Design Theory and Criticism [C Greig Crysler]
This class introduces students to the history and practice of design theory from the late 19th century to the present, emphasizing developments of the last four decades. Readings and lectures explore specific constellations of theory and practice in relation to changing social and historical conditions. The course follows the rise of modernist design thinking, with particular emphasis on the growing influence of technical rationality across multiple fields in the post-World War II period. Systematic approaches based on cybernetics and operations research (among others) are examined in the context of wider attempts to develop a science of design. Challenges to modernist design thinking, through advocacy planning and community-based design, the influence of social movements and countercultures, and parallel developments in postmodernism within and beyond architecture, provide the critical background for consideration of recent approaches to design theory, including those informed by developments in digital media and technology, environmental and ecological concerns, questions surrounding the globalization of architectural production, and the development of new materials.
ARCH 142 – Sustainability Colloquium [Gail Brager]
Presentations on a variety of topics related to sustainability, offering perspectives from leading practitioners: architectural designers, city planners, consultants, engineers, and researchers. Students can enroll for one unit (required attendance plus reading) or two units (with additional writing assignments.
ARCH 150 – Introduction to Structures [Ramon Weber]
Study of forces, materials, and structural significance in the design of buildings. Emphasis on understanding the structural behavior of real building systems.
ARCH 170A – An Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism [Alec Stewart]
The first part of this sequence studies the ancient and medieval periods; the second part studies the period since 1400; the aim is to look at architecture and urbanism in their social and historical context.
ARCH 200A – Introduction to Architecture Studio I [Various Instructors]
Introductory course in architectural design and theories for graduate students. Problems emphasize the major format, spatial, material, tectonic, social, technological, and environmental determinants of building form. Studio work is supplemented by lectures, discussions, readings, and field trips.
ARCH 200C – Representational Practice in Architectural Design I [Matthew Kendall]
This course will address three distinct levels of representational practice in architectural design: 1) cultivate an understanding of the foundational discourse and diversity of approaches to architectural representation; 2) develop a fluency in the canonical methods found in architectural practice; 3) encourage the development of a personal relationship to forms of modeling and formats of drawing.
ARCH 201 – Architecture & Urbanism Design Studio [Various Instructors]
The design of buildings or communities of advanced complexity. Each section deals with a specific topic such as housing, public and institutional buildings, and local or international community development. Studio work is supplemented by lectures, discussions, readings, and field trips.
ARCH 203 – Integrated Design Studio [Various Instructors]
The Integrated Design Studio is the penultimate studio where students incorporate their accumulated knowledge into architectural solutions. The students demonstrate the integrative thinking that shapes complex architectural design and technical solutions. Students will possess an understanding to classify, compare, summarize, explain and/or interpret information. The students will also become proficient in using specific information to accomplish a task, correctly selecting the appropriate information and accurately applying it to the solution of a specific problem while also distinguishing the effects of its implementation.
ARCH 204A – Thesis Seminar [Various Instructors]
Focused design research as the capstone project for graduate students.
ARCH 205A – Studio One [Philip Tidwell]
The first semester of a one-year, post-professional design studio is intended for those students who have a professional architecture degree and wish to explore current design issues in a stimulating, rigorous, and highly experimental studio setting.
ARCH 207A – Architecture Lectures Colloquium [Ajay Manthiprigada]
This course accompanies the required introductory design studio in the three-year option of the Master of Architecture program. It is the first in a series of three one-unit colloquia, scheduled consecutively for the first three semesters of the program. Students will attend all Wednesday evening lectures of the College of Environmental Design lecture series. Every third week, they will meet with the instructor for a one-hour discussion.
ARCH 207B – Architecture Research Colloquium [Georgios Eftaxiopulos]
This course accompanies the second year of the required architecture and urbanism design studio in the three-year option of the Master of Architecture program. It is the second in a series of three one-unit colloquia, scheduled consecutively in the fall for the first three years of the program. For a one-hour session each week, faculty in the Department of Architecture, other departments of the College of Environmental Design, and global guest speakers will present lectures on their research and design practices in urbanism.
ARCH 207C – Professional Practice Colloquium [Dan Speigel]
This course accompanies the required comprehensive design studio in the three-year option of the Master of Architecture program. It is the third in a series of three one-unit colloquia, scheduled consecutively for the first three semesters of the program.
ARCH 207D – The Cultures of Practice [Kristen Sidell]
The nature of architectural practice, how it has evolved, and how it is changing in today’s world is the theme of the class. The course considers how diverse cultures–both anthropological and professional–contribute to practice, and how the culture of practice evolves. The class has three five-week modules, devoted to the following themes: traditions of practice, research in the culture of the profession, and innovations in practice.
ARCH 242 – Sustainability Colloquium [Gail Brager]
Presentations on a variety of topics related to sustainability, offering perspectives from leading practitioners: architectural designers, city planners, consultants, engineers, and researchers. Students can enroll for one unit (required attendance plus reading) or two units (with additional assignments).
ARCH 260 – Introduction to Construction, Graduate Level [Yasmin Vobis]
This course addresses the methods and materials of construction. While students will not be experts at the end of the semester, the course should give students the confidence to feel comfortable on a construction site or when designing a small building for a studio. The course will focus on four major territories: structural materials, building envelope, built elements such as stairs and cabinets, costs, labor conditions, conventional practices, and the regulatory environments that control design.
ARCH 270 – History of Modern Architecture [Greg Castillo]
This course examines developments in design, theory, graphic representation, construction technology, and interior programming through case studies of individual buildings. Each lecture will delve deeply into one or sometimes two buildings to examine the program, spatial organization, critical building details, and the relationship of the case study building with regard to other parallel works and the architect’s overall body of work.
ARCH 98BC/198BC – Berkeley Connect [Rudabeh Pakravan]
Berkeley Connect is a mentoring program, offered through various academic departments, that helps students build intellectual community. Over the course of a semester, enrolled students participate in small group discussions facilitated by a graduate student mentor (following a faculty-directed curriculum), meet with their graduate student mentor for one-on-one academic advising, attend lectures and panel discussions featuring department faculty and alums, and go on field trips to campus resources. Students are not required to be declared majors in order to participate.
ARCH 149/249 – Prepared Mass [Liz Galvez]
Through the lens of thermal mass in desert environments, this seminar investigates how thermally massive buildings and their architects can “prepare mass” that enables (or enabled) human inhabitation in hot arid climates. This seminar will ask students to carefully study a series of “thermally massive” case studies in various desert climates through images, drawings, and model-making. Students will also engage in weekly readings, reading responses, and collective discussions.
ARCH 149/249 – Sensory Spaces [Gail Brager]
This class is about how to create rich multi-sensory experiences in buildings, connecting people to nature, and embracing the value of environmental variability and delight. It advocates for design to embrace a broader view of experiential aesthetics, choreographing visual, thermal, acoustic and olfactory elements of the sensescape to contribute to the beauty and memorability of space. Students will learn about the science of sensory experience, and how this can be the basis for experiential design—a people-based approach where subtle variations alleviate experiential monotony and bring inhabitants’ back to the center of design intentions, all in support of simultaneously minimizing energy use, enhancing occupant well-being and supporting environmental stewardship. We will utilize observational exercises and case studies in support of simple design exercises. There will be a combination of individual and group assignments.
ARCH 144/249 – Introduction to Acoustics [Charles Salter]
This 1-unit, 5-week course focuses on what architects need to know about acoustics. Initially, we address the fundamentals of acoustics, including how sound levels are described and human response to sound. Then, the course covers building acoustics, mechanical equipment noise and vibration control, office acoustics, design of sound amplification systems, and environmental acoustics.
ARCH 252 – Form and Structure [Simon Schleicher]
The class investigates the interplay between geometry and structural behavior of different structural systems categorized with respect to their load-bearing mechanism. Special focus is placed on form-active and surface-active structures like cable nets, membranes, gridshells, and continuous shells. The class will begin by providing a holistic overview of ancient and cutting-edge form-finding approaches and analysis methods. Using playful physical experiments, students will gain a hands-on understanding of how different structural states can affect the shape of a structure and how this interrelation could be used creatively to drive the design process.
ARCH 169/269 – Cheapskates [Yasmin Vobis]
How do we do more with less? Today, architecture is so expensive that very few can afford it, all in the face of a gaping housing shortage and a dearth of public amenities. We will investigate the design approaches of a series of “cheapskate” architectures – termed as such for their emphasis on economy – to find opportunities for new forms of generosity and delight in architecture. A particular emphasis will be on the problems and opportunities unique to contemporary American construction. Through a series of readings, case studies, and speculative design rooted in architectural economy and standard construction methods, we will explore both the origins and contemporary reformulations of economy in architecture.
ARCH 279 – Architectural Pilgrimage: Travel as Design Research [Greg Castillo]
How have architects over the past three centuries used travel as a tool for investigation and inspiration? What research methods have they used and to what effect? Architectural Pilgrimage explores modes of seeing and absorbing built landscapes through the eyes of an investigative wanderer. Class sessions pair an historical case study of architectural pilgrimage with an examination of a research method: examples include drawing; photography; mapping; collection, curation, and exhibition of travel artifacts; and modes of documentation ranging from writing to audio and video recording. The final course project asks participants to devise a travel proposal consisting of a statement of purpose and an itinerary.
ARCH 179/279 – Architectures of U.S. Empire [Diana Martinez]
In this seminar we will examine the “architecture” of U.S. empire in two senses of the term, analyzing the organizational structure of U.S. Empire at the same time that we examine the architecture designed and built to represent it and house its functions. Most importantly, we will examine what the relationship between these two architectures is. To what extent does the architecture mirror the organization of empire? Conversely, to what extent may architecture conceal how empire works? And do answers to these questions suggest a new professional ethic? This course is animated by the questions: Is the United States an empire and was it ever an empire? Who are the beneficiaries and the discontents of U.S. empire? We will take for granted that what we call “empire” has always been a constantly evolving and unstable classification, an assumption that will allow us to focus on the multiple ways the U.S. has projected its power both abroad and onto the land now bound by its national borders.
ARCH 198/298 – Faculty Research Colloquium [Stefano Schiavon]
This research colloquium introduces students to the diverse research interests of the architectural faculty. The course is structured around guest speaker presentations followed by discussions. A list of potential presenters for the semester can be found in the syllabus.
The colloquium covers key topics, including architecture, building science, design, history, society, sustainability, technology, and theory. The course is offered as a 1-unit class for MArch students and a 2-unit class for MS/PhD students. Undergraduates may enroll through instructor approval only.
Before each session, speakers will provide an article for students to read. MS/PhD students are required to submit 3–5 discussion questions and opinion statements (300–500 words) several days before the lecture to help facilitate meaningful discussions. Each speaker will present for approximately one hour, covering their research objectives, framework, and methods, as well as sharing insights into their career trajectory and academic experiences. The final 30 minutes will be dedicated to an open discussion.
Summer 2025
- All Courses
Arch 11B – Introduction to Design [TBD]
Introduction to design concepts and conventions of graphic representation and model building as related to the study of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, and city planning. Students draw in plan, section, elevation, axonometric, and perspective and are introduced to digital media. Design projects address order, site analysis, scale, structure, rhythm, detail, culture, and landscape concepts.
Arch 100C – Architectural Design III [TBD]
This is a studio course in architectural design. Students work on individual and group design projects that build on topics from Architecture 100B with additional integration of conditions pertinent to architectural production that may include architectural precedents, context, landscape and urban issues, envelope, performance, structure, and tectonics in the design of buildings.
Arch 100D – Architectural Design IV [TBD]
Students work on individual and/or group design projects that build on topics from previous studios with additional integration of conditions pertinent to architectural production that may include architectural precedents, context, landscape and urban issues, envelope, structure, and tectonics in the design of buildings. It may also include relevant and pertinent social, cultural, and technological issues facing architecture and design.
Arch 108 – Architectural Internship [Mark Schatz]
An intensive and structured exposure to professional practice, using the resources of practicing architects’ offices as the “laboratory.” The seminar discussion focuses on understanding how design happens, how projects are managed, and how buildings are constructed. This course requires instructor approval and is already filled.
Arch 124A – Introduction to Digital Design Methods [TBD]
The course provides students with practical hands-on experience in using professional architectural modeling software (e.g., 3DStudioMax, Maya, Rhino, etc.). The course covers the process of creating, manipulating, and communicating through digital architectural models.
Arch 125A – Building Information Technology [TBD]
This course explores conceptual and practical issues surrounding the Building Information Model (BIM), a widely-used approach in the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry for the management of digital representations of the physical characteristics of buildings, their functions, and the process by which they are built. By completing this course, students develop an understanding of the concepts underlying BIM and build competencies in creating BIM models in practice.