About the Department of Architecture

Our three broad areas of expertise — Design; History, Theory, and Society; Building Science, Technology, and Sustainability — provide the necessary grounding and in-depth knowledge for unconventional, exploratory, and nuanced approaches to transforming our built environment. Our pedagogy and curriculum are based on delivering an excellent foundation in each subject area while arming students with the ability to innovate and synthesize these into a greater whole.

Our world-class, award-winning faculty bring both broad and deep intellectual diversity to our educational community. We are interested in the entire life cycle of the building process, from conceptualization, through design and representation, craft and construction, and the performance of both constructed and virtual environments.

Our undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as faculty research and practice, explore fields of design and design theory, history of architecture and urbanism, building science and sustainability, structures and construction, social and cultural processes, environmental design in developing countries, digital design and virtual environments, urban design, and visual studies. 

We foreground architecture as an instrument of change across our undergraduate, professional, and graduate degree programs. Our faculty share an attitude of “critical optimism” — criticality towards established norms and practices and optimism in the belief that innovative forms of architectural design, teaching and research will lead to decarbonized and just futures. 

Lisa Iwamoto
Chair, Department of Architecture

Department of Architecture
University of California, Berkeley
232 Bauer Wurster Hall # 1800
Berkeley, CA 94720-1800
510.642.4942 711 CA Relay
Graduate Admissions: archgradadm@berkeley.edu