Ettore Santi
Ph.D. Student - Architecture
- Research Interests/Specializations
Global Agrarian Change; Urban Design Theory and Criticism; Land and Space; China Rural-Urban Studies.
- Degrees
- B.S. Architecture, Polytechnic University of Milan
- M.S. Architecture, Polytechnic University of Milan
- Master of Architecture, Tongji University of Shanghai
- Biography
Ettore's work traces an intellectual history of environmental design as a tool for driving social change since the 20th Century. With a focus on agrarian transformations in modern China, his dissertation project “Designing a Land Revolution: The Corporate Reinvention of China’s Rural Environment” maps the ongoing construction of new high-tech farms, soil science laboratories, rural ecotourism parks, and modern rural homes across China's Hunan Province. This design enterprise, the study argues, serves for governing the transition from a collective and household farming system to a large-scale corporate production system, while turning villages into machinic environments for food and resources extraction.
Before joining UC Berkeley, Ettore has worked as an architectural and urban designer in Italy, China, and the US. His Master’s dissertation "Apparatus China. The Mechanism of Contemporary Chinese Architecture," an ethnographic study of architectural design practices in Shanghai, received the Academic Excellence Award at Tongji University. Ettore has taught architectural and urban theory classes and urban design studios at Polytechnic School of Milan, Hunan University of Changsha, and UC Berkeley.
- Courses Taught
ARCH 130 - Introduction to Design Theory and Criticism (Fall 2017) - Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley
ARCH 170B - A Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism (Spring 2018) - Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley
ARCH 170A - A Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism (Fall 2018) - Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley
ARCH 170B - A Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism (Spring 2019) - Graduate Student Instructor, UC Berkeley
2017020 - Undergraduate Design Studio "The Rural Market" (Summer 2018) - Instructor of Records, Hunan University
2018034 - Graduate Seminar "The Environmental Humanities" (Fall 2019) - Instructor of Records, Hunan University
051831 - Modern and Contemporary Architecture's Contaminations (Spring 2016) - Polytechnic University of Milan, Teaching Assistant
052971 - The Economics of Design and Development (Spring 2016) - Polytechnic University of Milan, Teaching Assistant
- Awards + Recognition
- SSRC / Andrew W. Mellon Foundation - International Dissertation Research Fellowship, Social Sciences Research Council
- ACLS / Henry Luce Foundation - Pre-Dissertation Summer Research Grant in China Studies, American Council of Learned Societies
- China National Natural Science Foundation Research Fund 2018 (Principal Investigator: Xuan Chen)
- John L. Simpson Memorial Research Fellowship in International and Comparative Studies, UC Berkeley's Institute of International Studies
- Pamela and Kenneth Fong Graduate Student Fellowships, UC Berkeley's Center for Chinese Studies
- Spiro Kostof Grant in Architectural History, UC Berkeley's Architecture Department
- Global Metropolitan Studies Summer Research Grant, UC Berkeley
- Remote Instruction Grant, UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design
- Master's Thesis Academic Excellence Award, Tongji University
- International Mobility Fund, Polytechnic University of Milan and Italian Ministry of University and Research
- Summa Cum Laude at Master's Degree, Polytechnic University of Milan
- Summa Cum Laude at Bachelor Degree, Polytechnic University of Milan