Climate Solutions
Research + Design
Faculty throughout the college’s departments and research centers pursue meaningful climate solutions, from wetland restoration to adapting neighborhoods to sea level rise to innovating carbon-neutral building methods. Issues of adaptability, resilience, and mitigation are at the forefront of our curriculum.
Dec 6, 2024
Neyran Turan’s hempcrete project wins AN 2024 Best of Design Award
Hempo Longhouse, Associate Professor Neyran Turan's research and design project on hempcrete construction, has been awarded first prize in the Unbuilt-Residential Single-Unit category of The Architect's Newspaper's 2024 Best of Design Awards. The project was made possible with funding from a 2023 CED Lau Grant for Just Climate Futures.
Dec 4, 2024
Heterogeneous Constructions: Aaron Forrest, Yasmin Vobis, and Brett Schneider talk about their new book with Neyran Turan
On the occasion of the publication of Heterogeneous Constructions: Studies in Mixed Material Architecture, Associate Professor of Architecture Neyran Turan spoke with the authors, Aaron Forrest, associate adjunct professor of architecture; Yasmin Vobis, assistant professor of architecture; and Brett Schneider, associate professor of architecture at Rice University.
Nov 19, 2024
New research analyzes green spaces in Latin American cities
A new article in the journal Nature Cities involving several CED faculty and researchers investigates the quantity, spatial distribution, and potential factors influencing urban green spaces in Latin America.
Nov 6, 2024
New book from Zachary Lamb on making cities climate resilient and socially just
Through deep analysis of 12 case studies, The Equitably Resilient City proposes a framework for climate resilience strategies that strengthen and empower vulnerable urban communities.
Nov 4, 2024
Sim Van der Ryn, pioneer of ecological design, passes away at 89
We mourn the loss of Professor Emeritus of Architecture Sim Van der Ryn, often called “the father of green architecture,” who aimed to create buildings and communities that were sensitive not only to place, but to the flow of human life.
Oct 25, 2024
Computational design can lead to more sustainable architecture, new research shows
Newly published research from Ramon Weber demonstrates that spatially efficient floor plans, produced through computational design, result in sustainable high-performance buildings.
Oct 24, 2024
MRED+Ds win Hack-A-House competition, advance to grand prize summit at Harvard
A team of MRED+D students won their category in the 2024 Ivory Innovations Hack-A-House competition and are on their way to the Grand Prize event. Learn more about their innovative idea, and how MRED+D helped lead them to victory.
Oct 23, 2024
Undergrad team wins international sustainable urban design competition
A multidisciplinary team of Berkeley undergrads, including students from CED, has won the 2024 Students Reinventing Cities sustainable urban design competition for the city of Curitiba, Brazil.
Oct 18, 2024
Master of Urban Design students engage local communities to imagine the California of the future
Students who graduate from Berkeley's Master of Urban Design program take the lessons they learned in California and apply them in other parts of the country — and the world — that are also seeking sustainable forms of human-centered urban development.
Sep 26, 2024
CED faculty among Berkeley Climate and Equity Seed Grant awardees
Research projects involving faculty from the Departments of City & Regional Planning and Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning received seed grants from a new program sponsored by UC Berkeley’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.
Sep 13, 2024
Neyran Turan’s NEMESTUDIO honored with AR Design Vanguard Award
Architectural Record honored Associate Professor Neyran Turan’s office, NEMESTUDIO, with a Design Vanguard 2024 award. Turan, who joined the Department of Architecture faculty in 2016, is currently serving as chair of its MArch program.
Sep 17, 2024
MArch students sweep ANFA student design competition
CED teams won first and second place at the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) Student Design Competition.
Aug 30, 2024
Ajay Manthripragada and Ramon Weber join Department of Architecture
The Department of Architecture is pleased to announce two new faculty appointments: Ajay Manthripragada as assistant professor in design and Ramon Elias Weber as assistant professor specializing in building technologies.
Jul 26, 2024
ITS names Kathryn Exon Smith Outstanding Masters Student of the Year for her “phenomenal” work on transportation
Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies names Kathryn Exon Smith (MCP 2024) as the recipient of the 2024 Outstanding Masters Student of the Year, calling her work and collaborations in all regards "phenomenal," including her thesis on transportation regional governance.
Jul 15, 2024
Maria Paz Gutierrez awarded NSF grant for greywater reuse project
Maria Paz Gutierrez, associate professor of architecture, receives National Science Foundation grant for household greywater reuse project. Gutierrez is working with professor of architecture, Luisa Caldas, and UC Merced.
Jun 28, 2024
LAF scholarship winner Kanani D’Angelo is reviving traditional Hawaiian practices to restore Oahu landscapes and watersheds
Kanani D’Angelo, who is pursuing concurrent MCP and MLA degrees, is the 2024 winner of the Hawaii Chapter ASLA/David T. Woolsey Scholarship from the Landscape Architecture Foundation. She is focusing on reviving Native Hawaiian cultural practices to restore degraded landscapes, such as freshwater fishponds, and reconnect people to the land.
Jun 28, 2024
MLA students’ award-winning wildfire-resilient landscape design is a call to action for homeowners
Grace Diebel and Shayda Rashidi won the top prize in a contest aimed at generating innovative and cost-effective landscaping ideas that enhance wildfire defense while maintaining aesthetic appeal.
Jun 17, 2024
2024 Gadsby-Trudgett scholarships awarded to graduates focusing on sustainable environmental design
Iona Normandi, Bryan Tran, and Theo Wyss-Flamm (all SED 2024) are using their awards to pursue further training in sustainable practices.
Jul 11, 2024
Black Landscapes Matter
The question "Do black landscapes matter?" cuts deep to the core of American history. In this vital new collection, acclaimed landscape designer and public artist Walter Hood assembles a group of notable landscape architecture and planning professionals and scholars to probe how race, memory, and meaning intersect in the American landscape.