Courses
Discover 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.
SPRING 2025 COURSES
- REQUIRED UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
- REQUIRED GRADUATE COURSES
- ELECTIVES + SEMINARS
ARCH 11B – Introduction to Design [Rudabeh Pakravan]
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 concepts of order, site analysis, scale, structure, rhythm, detail, culture, and landscape.
ARCH 100B – Fundamentals of Architectural Design [Various Instructors]
Introductory course in the design of buildings. Problems emphasize conceptual strategies of form and space, site relationships and social, technological and environmental determinants. 100B stresses tectonics, materials, and energy considerations. Studio work is supplemented by lectures, discussions, readings and field trips.
ARCH 100D – Architectural Design IV [Various Instructors]
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 102B – Architecture Capstone Project [TBD]
Design and theory of architecture; structures; the materials and methods of construction; building performance; energy and the environment; and social factors and human behavior. This course is aimed at students who wish to strengthen their understanding of the research methods used by the discipline of architecture and related disciplines (e.g., engineering or history), and is not solely design-oriented.
ARCH 140 – Energy and Environment [Eric Morrill]
The first part of this sequence studies the ancient and medieval periods; the second part studies the period since This course provides undergraduates and graduates with an introduction to issues of physical building performance including building thermodynamics, daylighting, and solar control. The course presents the fundamentals of building science while recognizing the evolving nature of building technologies, energy efficiency, ecology, and responsible design. The course begins with a detailed explication of the thermal properties of materials, heat transfer through building assemblies, balance point temperature, solar geometry, and shading analysis. Students apply these principles later in the course to a design project. The latter part of the course also provides a survey of broader building science topics including mechanical system design, microclimate, and current developments in energy-efficient design.
ARCH 160 – Introduction to Construction [David Jaehning]
This introduction to the materials and processes of construction takes architecture from design to realization. The course will cover four material groups commonly used in two areas of the building assembly (structure and envelope): wood, concrete, steel, and glass. You will understand the choices available and how materials are conventionally used. By observing construction, you’ll see how our decisions affect the size of materials, connections, and where they are assembled. Architects must understand not only conventions, but also the potential in materials, so we will also study unusual and new developments.
ARCH 170B – A Historical Survey of Architecture and Urbanism [Margaret Crawford]
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 200B – Introduction to Architecture Studio [Various Instructors]
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 concepts of order, site analysis, scale, structure, rhythm, detail, culture, and landscape.
ARCH 200D – Representational Practice in Architectural Design II [Kyle Steinfeld]
Introductory course in the design of buildings. Problems emphasize conceptual strategies of form and space, site relationships and social, technological and environmental determinants. 100B stresses tectonics, materials, and energy considerations. Studio work is supplemented by lectures, discussions, readings and field trips.
ARCH 202 – Graduate Option Studio [Various Instructors]
Focused design and research for graduate students.
ARCH 204B – Thesis Studio [Various Instructors]
Focused design research as the capstone project for graduate students.
ARCH 205B – Studio One [Philip Tidwell]
This course is the second semester of a one-year, post-professional 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 230 – Advanced Architectural Design Theory and Criticism [Neyran Turan]
Seminar in the analysis and discussion of contemporary and historical issues in architectural design theory and criticism.
ARCH 240 – Advanced Study of Energy and Environment [Luisa Caldas]
Minimizing energy use is a cornerstone of designing and operating sustainable buildings, and attention to energy issues can often lead to greatly improved indoor environmental quality. For designers, using computer-based energy analysis tools are important not only to qualify for sustainability ratings and meet energy codes, but also to develop intuition about what makes buildings perform well. This course will present quantitative and qualitative methods for assessing energy performance during design of both residential and commercial buildings. Students will get hands-on experience with state-of-the-art software — ranging from simple to complex — to assess the performance of building components and whole-building designs.
ARCH 250 – Introduction to Structure [Simon Schleicher]
This course focuses on the fundamental principles that affect the structural behavior of buildings. Through lectures, lab sessions, digital and hands-on exercises, students will learn analytical techniques for designing, calculating, and evaluating the flow of forces through structural systems. Students will learn to incorporate the structural behavior of buildings early in the architectural design process and use this knowledge to select an appropriate structural system for their designs. Over the course of the semester, students will work in teams to explore various structural systems and different materials used in the realization of contemporary architecture. The goal of the course is to gain a basic understanding of the forces, moments, and stresses in typical structural elements such as columns, beams, frames, and trusses; to learn digital design tools that will help students apply this knowledge to the context of their own designs; and to make better-informed decisions when designing resource-efficient and environmentally friendly buildings.
This list contains both graduate and undergraduate courses. Varying courses are cross-listed at the graduate level with a limited number of undergraduate seats available.
ARCH 98BC & 198BC – Berkeley Connect [Maria Paz Gutierrez]
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 209 – Special Topics in Architectural Design [Chris Calott]
Architect Developer: Small-Scale Real Estate Development Design Seminar
This course is offered for Architecture and MRED+D students interested in an entrepreneurial design practice focused on creating transformative, incremental change in urban neighborhoods. The class will investigate topics related to real estate development fundamentals, residential typologies, urban morphology, community equities and Urbanism to investigate how small-scale real estate development projects can make big impacts in US cities. Conducted in a Lecture / Seminar format, students in this class will also engage in a speculative design exercise to produce their own small-scale development project proposals.
ARCH 209 – Special Topics in Architectural Design [René Davids]
Housing as Design Generator
“Housing in the US used to be a focus of architectural innovation and creativity. However, after the perceived failures of the Modern Movement, it took a back seat in the architectural profession and was mostly limited to infill proposals. As a result, housing programs in architecture schools became rare, and towards the end of the last century, they weren’t considered suitable for the digital formal explorations that dominated studio production until about a decade ago.
The current lack of affordable housing options in California and the limited inventory has led to high costs, which have hindered labor mobility, productivity, economic growth, and family opportunities. These urgent challenges, along with the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic questioning some living arrangements, and the shift from formal exuberance and excessive use of digital techniques in architecture schools toward more restrained forms of expression, have sparked a renewed focus on housing design. This includes its connection to infrastructure and green spaces, as well as its role in urban and neighborhood planning.
As part of the ‘Housing as Design Generator’ seminar, students will have the opportunity to study and explore a wide range of housing design approaches, from the early 20th century to current examples worldwide. They will engage in weekly discussions based on readings with opposing points of view and conduct directed research. Additionally, they will create a preliminary housing design proposal, either individually or in groups of up to three people. Alternatively, students may submit a ten-page paper with the instructor’s approval.”
ARCH 119/219 – Special Topics in Social and Cultural Factors [Noah Hysler Rubin]
Modern urbanism
The “White City” of Tel Aviv has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its exceptional representation of the Modern Movement in architecture, set within a unique cultural context. Founded in 1909 beside the ancient city of Jaffa, Tel Aviv is a striking example of Israel/Palestine’s “modern urban” transformation—one that has dramatically reshaped its landscape over the past 150 years.
“Modern urbanism” was introduced in Israel/Palestine during the late Ottoman Empire, as part of the overall reaction to the Industrial Revolution and mass urbanization in the second half of the 19th century. This evolution continued under British colonial rule, which, among many innovations, introduced the principles of modern urban planning. The planners of the State of Israel, established in 1948, eagerly aimed to shape it according to the highest modernist ideals of the 1950s. The resulting modernist landscape, which often incorporates ancient roots that had to be identified, negotiated, and finally integrated into the urban fabric, ultimately reflects the complex political, social, and cultural dynamics of Israel/Palestine.
In this course, we will explore the cities of Israel/Palestine as spatial laboratories that reflect the evolving relationship between society and space in modern times. We will examine how development intersects with tradition, as well as the contrasting influences of East and West, by engaging with a variety of modernisms and urbanisms: Palestinian, Ottoman, British, and Israeli.
Content, objectives, assessment, intended audience:
In this course, we will explore local issues in modern urbanism by engaging with a wide range of primary and secondary sources—maps, plans, photographs, texts, and films—produced in Israel/Palestine over the past 150 years. We will investigate how modernizing regimes approached historical landscapes and defined antiquities, tracing the rise of local modernism through the development of new and renewing cities. Additionally, we will examine British urban trends, such as the concept of garden cities, and the influence of European architects and urban planners in the 1930s, particularly the adoption of the International Style in architecture. We will also explore how the modern State of Israel addressed the challenges of mass migration through the establishment of numerous New Towns and large-scale master plans. Finally, we will examine contemporary concepts of urban renewal and conservation.
This course is designed for students in architecture, urban design, planning, and development studies, as well as those studying geography, history, sociology, anthropology, and political science. It is highly relevant for students in Israel Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, and European Studies. The class format will include lectures, discussions, case studies, and hands-on, collaborative analysis of various texts, visuals, and short films. The written assignment will integrate theory, research, and spatial analysis. Course grades will be based on attendance and participation (20%), a site analysis paper (40%), and a final exam (40%).
ARCH 129/229 – Translation from Drawing to Building [Raveevarn Choksombatchai]
“Only by assuming its pure and unconditional existence in the first place can any precise knowledge of the pattern of deviations from this imaginary condition be gained” —Robin Evans.
The course will explore the relationships between architectural representation and built constructs — from abstractions of ideas to materiality of built forms. Each week, students will be assigned to re-investigate a selected architecture project from its original representations and then visit the built work in its context through either the actual physical reality or through the fictional reality of films and videos.
Undergraduate prerequisite: Undergraduate students interested in taking this course must be in their senior year and received a prior instructor’s permission.
Designing Uncertainty
ARCH 139/239 – Special Topics in Architectural Theories [Greig Crysler]
Spaces of Queer Theory
This course examines the relationship between queer space, power and identity. Our embodied identities shape how we create, occupy and use cities, landscapes and built environments; these spaces also shape us and our understanding of the world, and our place within it. Design education typically assumes a universal, transparent, ungendered body as the “occupant” or “user” of the built form. This course will challenge such assumptions, by reflecting on the relationship between the physical and imagined spaces and how diverse forms of queer and transgender identity are enacted within, and transformed by them. Course readings and discussions will move readings that discuss queer theory as of thinking, and case studies of queer theory in action. We will examine a sequence of differently scaled spaces, exploring layers of interdependence as the course proceeds.
Sites of analysis and creative practice range from (un)gendered bathrooms, domestic spaces, and neighborhoods to those of urban/rural landscapes and transnational territories. These will be explored through the following sequence of intersectional themes: 1) Transsections: Transgender and spaces of queer theory; 2) Disembodiments: Queering architecture and disability; 3) Queer possessions: gentrification, commification and spaces of queer consumption Queer Ecologies and climate collapse 5) Queer necropolitics and the carceral state 6) The architectural futurity of queer communities. *This course is 4 units.
ARCH 245 – Daylighting in Architecture [Luisa Caldas]
This seminar introduces theories, technologies, design strategies, and analytical methods of architectural daylighting, including issues of visual experience, integration with electrical lighting, and energy use. The course provides a foundation for intelligent daylighting design by developing frameworks for thinking about design, performance, and tools. The work examines two archetypal daylighting conditions: a toplighted (roof-lighted) space and a side-lighted (window-lit) space with a range of methods including readings, on-site observation and measurement, case studies, design exercises, and analysis through models and simulation. This is a graduate seminar: attendance, pin-ups, readings, and engaged participation are required each week.
ARCH 249 – Special Topics in Building Sciences [Luisa Caldas]
User-Centric Design and Virtual Presence in Immersive Environments
The course addresses theoretical approaches as well as technical implementations and human subject experiments related to Human-Centric Design and Virtual Presence in Immersive Environments. Based on ongoing or recent research topics developed at the XR Lab, the class will discuss the potential of immersive technologies such as Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality to improve accessibility and equity across different constituents and population groups. Topics addressed may include:
- Patient-centric design in healthcare: application of virtual reality and biometrics to the design of pediatric healthcare facilities.
- The body as interface: modes of interaction in Immersive environments.
- Participatory design in immersive virtual environments: leveraging augmented reality for preference-based user feedback and equitable design.
- Social VR: Understanding human interaction in multi-user shared virtual environments with simplified distributed biometrics.
- Immersive design for climate: selected applications of virtual and augmented reality
ARCH 159/259 – Special Topics in Building Structures [Ramon Weber]
Artificial intelligence and generative design methods for sustainable buildings
Accommodating predicted population growth and urbanization within the UN Climate Goals poses a significant challenge for disciplines that engage with the built environment. High-performing buildings of the future should offer spatial quality for their users while utilizing resources as efficiently as possible for both construction and operation. This class will examine the potential of co-designing buildings with new types of generative design methods and geometric algorithms, and how they can help us design more sustainable building systems across scales. We will use quantitative tools from data and computer science and apply them to a design context. The goal of the class is to develop a deep understanding of contemporary digital design methods and how they can be applied to the design of residential buildings that use less materials to be built or less energy to be operated. Case studies and use cases will range from experimental structures to public housing.
ARCH 258 – Robotic Fabrication and Construction [Simon Schleicher]
This course explores the transformative impact of robotics in architecture and design, focusing on collaborative approaches that transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries. Students will investigate the versatility of industrial robots as creative tools, combining them with emerging technologies like AR/VR, 3D scanning, and data-driven 3D printing. The class will work collectively to develop innovative workflows for smart fabrication and human-robot interaction, envisioning future methods of producing and constructing our built environment. Open to graduate students in design, architecture, engineering, and computer science. Prior experience with Rhino/Gh is beneficial but not required.
ARCH 169/269 – Special Topics in Construction and Materials [Mark Anderson]
Drawing on Construction
“Drawing on Construction” is a design seminar focused on issues of construction methods and processes as idea generation for creative design practice. The primary medium is experimental drawing methods for investigating material and construction methods, physical model making, and physical 1:1 construction prototyping and design-build construction projects. Students typically work in teams.
ARCH 169/269 – Special Topics in Construction and Materials [Philip Tidwell]
Matters of Building
This course investigates the relationship between matter and form by considering materials not only as the ‘stuff’ of buildings but also as a subject of theoretical inquiry and speculation. Using texts and examples from science, philosophy and art history, we will interrogate the ways in which matter influences form through its physical properties and cultural value.
Sessions will be organized thematically in order to survey work and ideas from a range of historical periods and contemporary practices. Through readings, lectures and analysis of selected works we will work toward a better understanding of the ways in which matter, energy and form intersect in the practice of architecture.
ARCH 169/269 – Special Topics in Construction and Materials [Maria Paz Gutierrez]
Plant Fibers, AI, and Future Enclosures
This seminar explores advanced manufacturing protocols, material functionalities, and artificial intelligence of plant fibers (agro , woods, and grasses) in construction enclosures. The seminar is composed of lectures and a final design-built installation. Students will explore, manual and digital (3D printing) and robotics fabrication.
ARCH 169/269 – Special Topics in Construction and Materials [Liz Gálvez and Paul Mayencourt]
Wooden Food: A Cookbook for Timber Construction
This seminar is centered around the production and transformation of materials for architecture, inspired by the production and transformation of food in sustainable agriculture. Students will explore how ideas from the farm-to-table movement can be applied to the material transformation and creation of a renewed timber architecture.
ARCH 177/277 – California Architecture [Margaret Crawford]
This course looks at a broad range of buildings and landscapes that self-consciously reflect their California locations. From Maybeck to Frank Gehry, from Schindler to Google, we will examine buildings as a reflection of different facets of California culture. Multiple field trips allow students to directly experience as many of these buildings as possible.
Arch 179/279 – Special Topics in the History of Architecture [Greg Castillo]
Design Radicals: Space of Bay Area Counterculture
This seminar examines the legacy of the intersectional countercultures that emerged in the Bay Area in the late ’60s through the 1970s. Parallel projects of revolutionary social transformation – mounted by ecofreaks, cyberfreaks, and ‘outlaw builders’; Black, Chicano, and Native American activists; lesbians and gay men; and children and ‘free school’ educators – produced multiple maker cultures that marked their ‘liberated space’ through the adaptive reuse of materials and urban settings. Course readings, sourced from a book of collected essays now in press, explore spatial occupation projects like People’s Park and Alcatraz, hand-crafted architecture and the ‘Outlaw Builder,’ the ‘ecofreak’ and the birth of ecological consciousness, the underground poster as a consciousness-raising medium, psychedelics as a catalyst of cultural breakthroughs, 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 radicals and their social transformation projects.
ARCH 298 – Let’s Play, for a Moment! A Workshop for Moving and Making [Sam Gebb]
Our movements and our environments shape and are shaped by each other in a feedback loop; movement informs design and design informs movement. This supervised group study is a workshop for collective experimentation. We will indulge in the dual joys of moving and making, and see what emerges when we combine them. We will participate in “tuning exercises” (creative movement games) led by the facilitator, who has a background in dance. These exercises will serve as fodder for the design, construction, and deployment of objects that invite the user to have a novel kinesthetic experience. Ultimately, our objectives are: a) to explore how playful creation and observation of movement informs object-making, and b) to make objects that playfully shape users’ movement.
Participants of the course should have some experience in fabrication (e.g. woodworking, metalworking, sewing, or other methods to make body-scale objects). Participants should also be willing to participate in creative movement exercises.
Access to the Fabrication Shop will be required for the course. You will also be expected to procure your own materials for your objects. Some funding may become available; if so, it will be split equitably between students.
If you wish to enroll, please email Sam Gebb. Please briefly describe your interest in the course, your background in fabrication/making, and any questions you may have. Enrollment will be capped at 12 students, including the facilitator.
FALL 2024 COURSES
- REQUIRED UNDERGRADUATE COURSES
- REQUIRED GRADUATE COURSES
- ELECTIVES + SEMINARS
ARCH 11A – Introduction to Visual Representation and Drawing [David Orkand]
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 112 – The Social Life of Buildings [Alec Stewart]
How do buildings form and inform how 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 three themes that highlight ways of thinking about individual actions, social constructions of gender, race, and class, and cultural associations of the built environment.
ARCH 130 – Introduction to Architectural Design Theory and Criticism [Sam Shpall]
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 [Andrew Shanken]
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 contexts.
*For MArch students only*
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 Manthripragada]
Course description TBD
ARCH 207B – Architecture Research Colloquium [Maria Alvarez Garcia]
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 [TBD]
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 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 [Matt Lassner]
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.
This list contains both graduate and undergraduate courses. Varying courses are cross-listed at the graduate level with a limited number of undergraduate seats available.
ARCH 98BC & 198BC – Berkeley Connect [Thomas Oommen and Tania Osorio]
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 119/219 – Towards Community-Centric Futures [Sandhya Naidu Janardhan]
In an increasingly inequitable world, how do we design for communities at the margins by centering their lived experiences? In this course, students will research ways to apply participatory processes and investigate how social design practice can be used to address societal issues that lie at the intersections of the built environment and gender, social and health inequity, climate vulnerability and identity. Using applied principles of design thinking, research and a collaborative interdisciplinary approach, the seminar designed as a workshop series aims to equip students with tools and processes to facilitate their imagination of new inclusive futures through the urban built environment. Centering the voices and wisdom of marginalized communities, students will hear directly from community leaders. These workshops will serve as a lab for testing, iterating and improving processes for community engagement and design for spatial justice.
ARCH 129/229 – Drawing Cities [Raveevarn Choksombatchai]
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 issues or environments, these drawings strive to reveal not only the tangible but also shed light on 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. This course is open to undergraduate seniors and graduate students only.Arch
ARCH 139/239 – Mexico City: Materiality, Performance, and Power [Greig Crysler]
This seminar will construct a cross-section through the complex history of Mexico City, beginning with the Aztec period in the 14th century, and culminating in the transnational present. The course is at once an attempt to provide a comprehensive understanding of the rich layers of culture that interact to form Mexico City’s history and an inquiry into the potential of material conditions as a starting point for urban and architectural research, using one of the world’s largest and most dynamic cities as a site of investigation. The seminar’s chronological format will be anchored in several major historical texts that will give students a basic understanding of the city’s palimpsest history – one in which layers of the past shape the social and political spaces of urban life today. Course readings, discussions, and lectures will juxtapose more general historical accounts with detailed architectural and urban analyses, organized around urban case studies and their related material conditions (such as earth, water, concrete, blood, waste, and rubble). Students will gain an understanding of new epistemologies and methods of architectural and urban history through a rich combination of interdisciplinary texts. Course requirements include weekly reading responses, case study presentations, and a final paper. The course is open to upper-division undergraduates and graduate students from all disciplines.
ARCH 139/239 – Another Architecture: Restaging Climate Futures [Neyran Turan]
How do we reimagine architecture on a burning planet marching toward climate catastrophe? Instead of greenwashing, how can we imagine, project, and practice architecture with a sense of sustained optimism? This course starts with the provocation that this possibility begins, first and foremost, with a radical reimagining of architecture itself as a field. Through the idea of restaging, the course positions architecture—both as a discipline and a practice—as a possible framework for imagining probable post-carbon climate futures. Organized around various themes and case studies, the seminar aims to identify new directions for critical thinking and speculative work in contemporary architecture, design, and scholarship.
ARCH 169/269 – Imposters [Aaron Forrest]
Architecture relies on stability and authenticity to construct its cultural authority. The direct relationship between material and tectonic routinely goes unquestioned. But architecture has a long history of faking it: in reality, it is supremely invested in constructing the appearance of authenticity over its reality. In the context of contemporary digital media, the inherently scenographic nature of the discipline may now be opening up fertile new territory for design experimentation. This seminar will investigate a range of architectural impostors–-buildings that behave differently than they look—as generators for contemporary design thinking. Weekly discussions around copies, twins, reconstructions, fakes, mistranslations, and analogies will feed into student experiments that will mine the gap between construction and image for new design directions.
ARCH 169/269 – Earthen Material Practices in Contemporary Art and Architecture [Ronald Rael]
This 3 credit course will be a survey of the use of raw earth, (e.g. adobe, rammed earth, cob, etc.) in contemporary Architectural and Artistic Practices. The seminar will be salon-style and consist of student presentations on various topics, projects, and themes. The course will contribute to and build upon an established database of contemporary earthen architecture, art, and culture, and knowledge of earth-based practices will include field studies and hands-on learning.
Arch 169/269 – Constructing Heterogeneity [Yasmin Vobis]
This seminar will look closely at theories and methods of heterogeneity to expose and expand upon their architectural potential in the context of the circular economy. How do we work with things at hand, the as-found, the imperfect, or broken, to reimagine these through a contemporary lens? Combining discussions on episodes of heterogeneity within architectural history with experimental design work, the aim of the seminar will be to develop new frameworks for constructing differences in a contemporary architectural context. Coursework includes weekly readings, participation in seminar discussions and presentations, and a creative project.
Arch 144/249 Introduction to Acoustics [Charles Salter]
This 1-unit 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. This course is 5 weeks long and no enrollment will be accepted after August 21st, 2024.
Arch 129/229 – Across Sections [Maria Paz Gutierrez]
This seminar discusses milestones in the conceptual and methodological underpinnings of the section and its potential fundamental transformations in the forthcoming decades. Students explore the theoretical implications of representational tools from the 15th century to the future micro and nanoscale and Artificial Intelligence interfaces, as well as imaging beyond the visible light spectrum to analyze, construct, deconstruct, and reconstruct the section of a selected past or ongoing studio section. Through an analytic, critical, and constructive study of the history of the section, the seminar will conjecture on the future of The Section in architecture.
Arch 129/229 – Architectures of Accumulation [Georgios Eftaxiopoulos]
The seminar will scrutinize a series of architectures of accumulation that emerged during the past centuries and facilitated an extensive and violent process of extraction. It will critically discuss key buildings, policies, and institutions, and through talks, texts, and drawing assignments build a collection of such spaces that unveil their complexity and sophistication.
Arch 149/249 – Special Topics in Building Technology: Prepared Mass: Desert Architectures I [Liz Gálvez]
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 179/279 – Constructing a Settler Colonial History of American Architecture [Charles L. Davis II]
This course challenges students to develop a settler colonial critique of “American Architecture” using rubrics from American Studies, Whiteness Studies, critical race theory, and architectural history. Students will develop a racial critique of canonical examples of American architecture using papers stored in the Environmental Design Archives, as well as mine local and digital archives to recover the contributions of women, sexual minorities, and people of color.
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 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 279 – Contemporary Urban Dynamics [Margaret Crawford]
This course is an introduction to the broad range of polemical positions that currently exist in the field of urbanism. It begins with a 3-week survey of traditional, modernist, and postmodern urban design models. The second section examines contemporary models for urban designers and urban design projects. The third section engages with the plethora of competing “urbanisms” that currently define urban design discourse. The articles in the reading list emphasize each of these positions as propositions to be analyzed and debated rather than as guides to be followed. For this final section, each student will present a summary of one of these approaches, describing their advantages and disadvantages. Their presentations (and accompanying readings), based on a common format, will allow students to compare, contrast, and critique these positions as a first step toward formulating their approach to urbanism.
Arch 298 – Rethinking Futures [Andrew Shanken & various professors]
Bringing together both senior and junior scholars involved in a variety of pursuits–literature, film, visual art and music, architectural history, landscape architecture and environmental planning, urban planning, geography, the history of science, technology, and philosophy –our group represents a wide range of disciplines as well as temporal and geographical coverage. Ranging across the United States, Europe, Japan, and Africa our group is global in reach. We will expand the reach of the project even further by including outside visitors working with materials beyond our reach.