Jennifer Gaugler
Ph.D. Student - History, Theory & Society with a concentration in Environmental Design & Urbanism in Developing Countries
- Research Interests/Specializations
Historic and contemporary architecture and urbanism of East Africa; globalization, postcolonialism, vernacular building traditions, and urban planning
- Degrees
- Master of Architecture, Tulane University
- Bachelor of Science in Art and Design (Architecture), Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Biography
I am a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, with a concentration in Environmental Design and Urbanism in Developing Countries. I study the historic and contemporary architecture and urbanism of East Africa, and my research interests include historic preservation, globalization, postcolonialism, vernacular building traditions, and urban planning. I carried out my dissertation fieldwork in Rwanda and Belgium in 2016-2017.
I received a Bachelor's degree in architecture from MIT in 2005, after which I worked for several years at a Boston architecture firm on a variety of architecture and historic preservation projects. While pursuing a Master of Architecture degree at Tulane University (2009 - 2011), I participated in a design-build studio to benefit a local non-profit, and became involved in many other community outreach initiatives based at the architecture school. My thesis project was a sustainable rice farm and fishery designed to revitalize both the economy and ecology of an endangered wetland community in Louisiana.
After graduating from Tulane, I was hired by a non-profit architecture design group to work in Rwanda on the renovation of a maternity hospital and the construction of doctors' houses. During my time in Rwanda, I created architectural drawings, oversaw the construction of four houses, designed and supervised works of infrastructure and landscape, and conducted interviews with local workers. I was immersed in the emerging field of architectural practice in Rwanda, in both the capital city of Kigali and a rural village in the mountains, and found a source of great inspiration for future research.
- Courses Taught
- 2016 - L&S 25 Thinking Through the Arts and Design @ Berkeley (graduate student instructor for Nicholas deMonchaux and Shannon Jackson)
- 2015 - ARCH 270 A History of Modern Architecture (graduate student instructor for Greg Castillo)
- 2015 - ED C169B American Cultural Landscapes, 1900 to Present (graduate student instructor for Paul Groth)
- 2010 - Thesis Peer Review Seminar at Tulane University (co-taught with Eva Lynch)
- 2009 - History of Architecture: Ancient to Medieval (teaching assistant for Ellen Weiss)
- Awards + Recognition
- AIA Medal at Tulane University, 2011
- AIA New Orleans Merit Award, 2011
- Selected Publications
Conference proceedings:
“The Fluidity of Scale and Time in Jože Plečnik’s Ljubljana.” European Association for Architectural Education/ Architectural Research Centers Consortium Conference, Milan, Italy, June 2012.