The following courses are offered for Fall 2022. For more information, see the UC Berkeley Online Schedule of Classes.
Please note: the following list contains undergraduate and graduate courses in Architecture. This list will be amended as the schedule develops.
ARCH 11A [Fields]
Introduction to Visual Representation and Drawing
Introductory studio course that centers on the development of critical thinking and skills on the architectural representation of space. Topics include surveying, measure, scalar juxtaposition, surface development, patterning in 2D-3D translation, and the section.
ARCH 24 [Martin]
Design Thinking and Innovation
Design thinking and innovation are key drivers of success for many of today’s leading industries, companies, and institutions. At the center of these activities are processes of knowledge application and skills referred to as design thinking. This type of thinking is nested in a rich history of forms of inquiry and research paradigms. This course will explore the relationship of design thinking to other forms of thinking strategies, as well as connect thinking to the actions of innovation. Much of our future progress, both today and in the years to come, will result from a culture of creative innovation more specifically as the results of Covid 19 become clearer. On of the attributes of a creative culture is the use of design thinking, but all forms of inquiry are needed to unlock the challenges and potential of our actions. Design action represents a powerful set of methods to engage everyday challenges in almost any discipline or profession. The course will focus on ways of thinking as they relate to changing our environment, our organizations, our discipline, etc. In addition, the course will illustrate some of the characteristics of career paths that are at the center of design thinking and innovation.
ARCH 98BC/198BC [Crawford]
Berkeley Connect
Berkeley Connect links undergraduate students with experienced mentors in Architecture. These mentors lead small groups of 10-20 students in regular meetings; they also meet with students one-on-one to provide guidance and advice. The core of the Berkeley Connect program is a one-credit, pass-fail course that is designed to create a community of students with similar intellectual interests. There is no homework associated with Berkeley Connect: no exams, no papers, no quizzes. Instead, small group meetings focus on sharing ideas and learning new skills within the Architecture major as a way to foster friendships and provide a supportive intellectual community for Berkeley undergraduates.The only requirement for joining Berkeley Connect in Architecture is that you have an interest in the field of study. You do not have to be a major in order to participate. Undeclared freshmen and sophomores are welcome, along with entering junior transfers and juniors and seniors who have declared the major.
ARCH 100A [Faculty]
Fundamentals of Architectural Design
Introduction to the conceptual design of buildings. Problems emphasize conceptual strategies of form and space, site relationships and social, technological and environmental determinants
ARCH 100C [Faculty]
Architectural Design III
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 102A [Covey]
Capstone Project Preparation Seminar
ARCH 112 [Faculty]
The Social Life of Buildings
How do buildings form and inform the ways in which we live — as individuals and as part of different communities? This course explores the multiple ways in which people and buildings interact. Our cultural and economic practices shape the form of our environment which in turn shapes social constructions of gender, race and class. At the same time, as individuals, we are always making choices about how we use our spaces. Intended as a gateway to advanced architectural humanities classes, the course is organized around themes that highlight ways of thinking about individual actions, social constructions of gender, race and class, and cultural associations of the built environment. The course approaches these themes from transnational perspectives to highlight the multiple, culturally specific ways in which architecture intersects with the daily lives of people.
ARCH 129/229 [Choksombatchai]
Drawing Cities
Designed and structured as an experimental drawing workshop, the course will explore techniques and methods of analyzing and investigating contemporary urban forms. Emphasizing close observations into particularities and latent potentials of specific urban environments, these drawings are capable of revealing not only the tangible but also shedding lights to the intangibles, rendering the invisible visible. These drawings augmented and altered realities; they straddle between real and fiction. They are allegorical and abstract on one hand, yet act as a practical re-investigation of the contemporary urban paradigm on the other. Each week, we will read a short excerpt of writings about city & urbanity that will situate us in a specific theoretical framework. Each reading will help guide our observations, reveal hidden traces and posit new insights into the complex makeup of a postmodern metropolis. This is a part of course in drawing series exploring the power of drawings as much an envisioning tool and as a critique.
ARCH 130 [Crysler]
Introduction to Architectural Design Theory and Criticism
This class introduces students to the history and practice of design theory from the late 19th century to the present, with emphasis on 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 in 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 142/242 [Brager]
Sustainability Colloquium
Presentations by professionals on a variety of topics related to sustainability, offering perspectives from diverse disciplines of design, engineering, planning, and research. Speakers change every semester and the full list will be posted prior to the start of the semester. As examples, past presentations covered topics related climate change, environmental justice, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, health and well-being, water infrastructure, materials, innovation, and more! Students who enroll for 1 unit (S/U or P/NP required) will be expected to attend all lectures, submit a brief weekly response, and be part of a more involved “engagement cohort” for one of the weeks. Conditions permitting, there might be an additional poster exhibition at the end of the semester. Students who enroll for 2 units will be expected to complete 3 additional assignments during the course of the semester (details still TBD, but based on last year these might include 2 powerpoints, and one 5-min video about a sustainability-related topic important to you).
This class is open to both undergraduates and graduates and has no prerequisites.
ARCH 144/249 [Salter]
Introduction to Acoustics
This course focuses on what architects need to know about acoustics. The first part deals with the fundamentals of acoustics including how sound levels are described and measured, and human response to sound. The course then covers building acoustics, mechanical equipment noise and vibration control, office acoustics, design of sound amplification systems, and environmental acoustics. This course will be offered during the first five weeks of the semester.
ARCH 150 [Rastetter]
Introduction to Structures
Study of forces, materials, and structural significance in the design of buildings. Emphasis on understanding the structural behavior of real building systems.
ARCH 170A [Shanken]
An Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism
This course provides an interdisciplinary overview of the history of the built environment from its beginnings to about 1500CE. The scope is broad in geographical, cultural, and architectural terms, combining architectural and urban history with anthropology, and geography. It is also an introduction to historical methods in architectural history. Students will learn a variety of ways to look at the history of buildings and cities while they learn both canonical monuments and less celebrated examples. Although the prime emphasis is on the Mediterranean basin, a substantial number of lectures will be devoted to architecture in Asia, Africa, and Meso-America. Students interested in history, art history, anthropology, archaeology, architecture, sociology, planning, material culture, cities, and urbanism will find it an excellent introduction to the subject, as well as to the humanities in general. Students from all departments and at all levels are welcome! This course satisfies the general breadth requirement for Historical Studies and Arts and Literature.
ARCH 179/279 [Crawford]
Contemporary Urban Dynamics
This course introduces the broad range of different polemical positions that currently exist in the field of urbanism. Before surveying this extensive intellectual landscape, to understand the historical contexts from which these current positions emerged, the course will begin with a brief survey of traditional, modernist and postmodern urban design models. The second section will examine alternative models for urban designers and urban design projects. Finally, we will engage with the plethora of competing “urbanisms” that co-exist in urban design discourse.
ARCH 179/279 [Crawford]
Understanding the Everyday Environment
Terms like vernacular architecture, cultural landscapes, everyday urbanism and "ugly and ordinary" encapsulate the idea that everything in the physical landscape that surrounds us has meaning and significance. This course will explore different interpretations of this idea through reading J.B. Jackson, Paul Groth, Denise Scott Brown and Margaret Crawford, among others. Students will learn methods to investigate and analyze ordinary places. Each student will develop their own project around a site, landscape, building, or practice of their choice. An important focus will be on interpreting the ways in which people identify with, love, or hate apparently unremarkable places.
ARCH 200A [Faculty]
Introduction to Architecture Studio 1
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 [Steinfeld]
Representational Practice in Architectural Design
This course addresses 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 [Faculty]
Architecture and Urbanism Design Studio
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 [Faculty]
Integrated Design Studio
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 [Faculty]
Thesis Seminar
Focused design research as the capstone project for graduate students.
ARCH 205A [Gutierrez]
Studio One, Fall
The first semester of a one-year, post-professional design studio 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 [Rael]
Architecture Lectures Colloquium
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 one-unit colloquia, scheduled in the fall for each year of the M.Arch program..
ARCH 207B [Faculty]
Architecture Research Colloquium
This course accompanies ARCH 201- Architecture and Urbanism in the M.Arch program. It is the second in a series of one-unit colloquia, scheduled in the fall for each year of the M.Arch program. There are weekly guests and faculty who will discuss their research on topics that will introduce you to contextual, relational and translational issues that architects consider as they design.
ARCH 207C [Spiegel]
Professional Practice Colloquium
This class accompanies ARCH 203, the required integrated design studio in the three-year option of the Master of Architecture program. It is the third in a series of one-unit colloquia, scheduled in the fall for each year of the M.Arch program.
ARCH 229 [Caldas]
Space and Media in Immersive Environments
The course addresses theoretical approaches as well as technical implementations of immersive environments as applied to architecture design. Immersion will be one of the next main platforms for user-centric design and collaboration. As creators of three-dimensional environments, architects play a decisive role in defining those new spaces of human interaction. By offering a curated departure from the digital as merely a mimetic model of the physical, immersion has the potential to add novel dimensions to existing modes of conceptualization and representation by rethinking key spatial concepts from a user experience perspective. This seminar will also explore design methods in virtual reality that reflect core dimensions of architecture creation, including design of innovative spatial structures and platforms to enable narrative, storytelling, and advanced user experience; new modes of spatially displaying media and information in virtual space; and shared experiences in multi-user environments.
ARCH 229 [Gutierrez]
Across Sections
Sectional imaging has recently advanced into the previously unchartered scalar territory of the micro and the nano scales. Visualization at these novel scales has enabled extensive scientific advances by revealing material and geometric organizations but has yet to influence the architectural section. Arguably, this is likely to change, since representation in the arts and sciences have through history impacted one another. From the influence of Durer’s mathematical study of conic sections on orthographic projection to that of Leonardo da Vinci’s sectional anatomy on the natural sciences, the pendulum of exerted influence has swung from science to the arts, and back. This seminar will ask, are we at a moment in which scientific progress will influence radical shifts in the architectural section? How can the study of sectional methodologies in the arts and sciences through history inform our inquiry in the next decades?
ARCH 241 [Schiavon]
Description forthcoming
ARCH 252 [Schleicher]
Form and Structure
This class is conceptualized to bring graduate students in architecture and structural engineering closer together and to initiate a new trajectory of interdisciplinary collaboration. With this objective in mind, 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 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. Followed by a series of software tutorials and small assignments, students will deepen their knowledge by learning more about the latest numerical form-finding methods that use advanced digital modeling and scripting tools. In this context, an overview of the mathematical background is provided to enable class participants to understand and evaluate the applicability and limits of each method. The state-of-the-art form-finding methods are then put to use on practical examples where form and structural states are investigated and manipulated simultaneously.
This class is open to graduate students who have already taken ARCH 150 or an equivalent introduction to structures class. Prior experience in software programs like Rhinoceros and Grasshopper would be beneficial. Enrollment by instructor permission only; please add your name to the waitlist.
ARCH 260 [Jaehning]
Introduction to Construction
This course introduces the materials, components, and processes of construction. Students will become familiar with each of these elements, understand the role of both labor and available skilled trades, the location of on- and off-site work, and the impact of codes and regulations on design professionals. Lectures will be accompanied by construction site visits and group projects. By observing construction, you’ll see how architects’ decisions affect the size of materials and connections as well as where and how they are assembled. Group projects will explore tectonics through various precedents, and how projects are developed from concept to construct.
ARCH 270 [Castillo]
History of Modern Architecture
This survey course examines developments in design, theory, graphic representation, construction technology, and interior programming through case studies of buildings spanning from the 18th to the 21st centuries. Each lecture will delve deeply into structures to examine spatial organization, critical building details, and the relationship of the case study building to contemporary works and the architect's overall output. Course learning objectives focus on developing critical reading skills and environmental literacy, understanding the construction and uses of architectural canons, an ability to mobilize writing and the manifesto as design tools, and the comprehending the architecture profession’s role in translating social conditions into material and spatial form.
ARCH 279 [Castillo]
Design Radicals: Spaces of Bay Area Counterculture
This seminar examines multiple, symbiotic countercultures that emerged in the Bay Area during the ‘long-1960s.’ Projects of revolutionary social transformation generated intersectional "maker cultures" among hippies, ecofreaks, and cyberfreaks; Black, Chicano, and Native American activists; lesbians and gay men; and children and ‘free school’ educators. Chapters from the multi-author collection Design Radicals: Spaces of Bay Area Counterculture (Univ. of Minnesota Press, forthcoming) will be used as course readings. They explore counterculture spatial practices including attempts to occupy ‘liberated territories’ like People’s Park and Native American Alcatraz, ‘outlaw builder’ approaches to hand crafted architecture, ‘ecofreak’ activism and the birth of ecological consciousness, underground publishing and political posters as protest and consciousness raising media, and the spatial tactics of intentional communities. Our discussions will assess these practices for their potential as a ‘usable past’ capable of informing and inspiring contemporary design activism.
ARCH 281 [HTS Faculty]
Methods of Inquiry in Architectural Research
This is the introductory course in methods of inquiry in architecture research to be required of all entering Ph.D. students in all areas of the program. The purpose is to train students in predissertation and prethesis research strategies and expose them to the variety of inquiry methods, including: the value of scholarly research, the nature of evidence, critical reading as content analysis, and writing, presenting and illustrating scholarship in the various disciplines of architecture.