Byron Kuth, FAIA, and Liz Ranieri, FAIA, named fall 2025 Esherick Visiting Professors
The Department of Architecture is pleased to announce that Byron Kuth, FAIA, and Liz Ranieri, FAIA, will serve as Esherick Visiting Professors this fall, teaching a third-year undergraduate architecture studio. They are co-founders of the bicoastal practice Kuth Ranieri Architects — established in San Francisco in 1990, the firm now has a Boston regional office as well — where Kuth is design principal and Ranieri is managing principal. They previously taught at CED in 2003–2004 as Friedman Visiting Professors of Practice.
The Esherick Professorship honors renowned Bay Area architect Joseph Esherick (1914–1998), who taught in the Department of Architecture for more than 30 years. Esherick Visiting Professors have distinguished backgrounds in practice and have made significant contributions to the making of buildings that integrate building technology and design.
Department of Architecture Chair Lisa Iwamoto is excited to bring these two renowned local architects to CED. “Their work foregrounds craft, material, and a humanistic vision, which will inform their studio teaching and benefit our students,” she says.
Kuth Ranieri Architects approaches architectural practice as a critical and interdisciplinary pursuit, exploring the intersections of art, architecture, and infrastructure systems through built form. The firm’s projects range in scale, from public park pavilions to campus master plans, working across a diversity of project types, including residential, recreational, educational, cultural, municipal, and transportation.
The work demonstrates a commitment to sustainable building practices, material innovation, and crafting engaging human-centered spaces. As a Fitwell, IIDA, AIA, Architizer, and Prix Versailles winner, Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at SFO, a joint project with Gensler, has become an international model for sustainable design. It is also a favorite of passengers, who appreciate its comfortable spaces, ample natural light, local materials, and intuitive wayfinding.
— Byron Kuth + Liz Ranieri
Other recent projects include the renovation of the Randall Community Museum, Balboa Park Public Pool, a master plan for The Bay School of San Francisco, several residences, and the SonoGROTTO pavilion on Market Street. Kuth Ranieri Architects is also active on the East Coast, currently designing public pools for Norwood, Amherst, and Yarmouth, in Massachusetts, and Pawtucket, Rhode Island, among other projects.
The firm has earned numerous AIA, IIDA, Fitwell, Architizer awards; Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard; and the Architectural League’s Young Architects + Emerging Voices. The monograph Kuth Ranieri Architects was published by Princeton Architectural Press, with the Graham Foundation.
“We’re thrilled to join CED’s vibrant community this fall,” say Kuth and Ranieri. “Teaching offers us the opportunity to question established ideas and collaborate with the next generation of makers, doers, and thinkers. Together, we can continue to learn, evolve as designers, and refine how we shape the built environment.”
Byron Kuth and Liz Ranieri will present a public lecture as part of the fall Department of Architecture lecture series.