Dana Buntrock

Dana Buntrock is a Professor Emerita in the University’s Department of Architecture.

Her work focuses on interdisciplinary collaborations in Japanese architecture and construction practices, starting with her first book, Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative Process: Opportunities in a Flexible Construction Culture (London: Spon, 2000). It dealt with the radical changes that occurred in structural design and their exciting architectural outcomes following the 1995 Hanshin (Kobe) earthquake. She has conducted fieldwork in Japan, the US, Taiwan, and Korea, supported by fellowships from the US National Science Foundation, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Council for the International Exchange of Scholars, and the Social Science Research Council.

Among her professional activities, she has been a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo and at Tokyo Institute of Technology, and was the Frederick Lindley Morgan Chair of Architectural Design at the University of Louisville.

Starting in 2011, Prof. Buntrock focused on how energy supply and architecture create opportunities for new approaches to architecture in Japan. She has spoken on energy policy and building science to numerous universities and private organizations, including the US National Defense University, the University of Tokyo, the Architectural Institute of Japan, Tokyo Denki University and others. Over the years, she has also made presentations at the Japan Society (New York), the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (Tokyo), Architects Designers and Planners for Social Responsibility, the Chicago Architectural Club, Seoul National University, National Cheng Kung University and numerous other universities and international conferences.

The author of three books and dozens of articles in professional and academic journals, Buntrock’s work has been translated into Japanese, Korean, Chinese and Spanish. She is currently drafting a new construction textbook written for architects---likely to be an insanely long effort simply because of the scope of the topic.

ARCH 160/260 Introduction to Construction

ARCH 264 Off-Site Fabrication

ARCH 265 Japanese Craft & Construction

ARCH 269 Special Topics Related to Construction

Distinguished Professor, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (2017-8)

Materials and Meaning in Contemporary Japanese Architecture: Tradition and Today (2010).

Most recent review: Mulligan, Mark. "Fresh Views on Japanese Modernism," The Journal of Japanese

          Studies 39: 2 (Summer 2013) pp. 397-406.

Dana's book talk on Materials and Meaning (and a lot of other lectures by others)

Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative Process: Opportunities in a Flexible Construction Culture (2001).

Most recent review: O’Keefe, Don. “’Japanese Architecture as a Collaborative Process’: A must-read to understand Japanese architecture” The Japan Times (28 April 2018)

“Toyo Ito and Masato Araya’s Experiments in the Structural Use of Aluminum,” Journal of Architecture 21:1 (February 2016), p. 24-54.

"Mentoring Philosophy." Written upon receiving the 2005 Award for Outstanding Mentorship of GSIs, Graduate Student Instructor Teaching Resource Center, UC Berkeley.

"What Could Go Wrong?" Georgia Tech, January 2019 lecture. (Lecture)

"Bureaucratic Approaches to Building Energy in Japan + the U.S."  Abe Fellows Global Forum (Presentation)