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.
May 21, 2024
Berkeley Rupp Prize awarded to architect Sandhya Naidu Janardhan, founder of Community Design Agency
Naidu Janardhan, a leader in community-led design and sustainable architecture, will be in residence at the College of Environmental Design during the fall 2024 semester.
May 20, 2024
2024 Lau Grants for Just Climate Futures awarded
This year's projects focus on neighborhood energy-sharing strategies, flood adaptation in unincorporated areas, and heat and pollution in urbanizing towns.
May 20, 2024
Terner Center creates new tool to study housing affordability in California
Terner Center study creates interactive map on housing affordability in California, asking an essential question: How affordable is California to the people who would live there if they could?
May 17, 2024
Ron Rael talks to Arch Daily about the future of architecture
In an interview published in Arch Daily, Ron Rael shares his views on the potential of AI, material culture, the role of the architect in society, architectural education, sustainability, and more.
May 6, 2024
Forest to frame: Paul Mayencourt bridges forest management and sustainable construction
Paul Mayencourt is prototyping sustainable construction materials and methods in the Wood Lab, including a solar kiln.
Mar 20, 2024
New research on climate resilience, environmental justice to be presented at CED
An exhibition and lecture reveal innovative research into climate solutions by CED faculty.
Feb 13, 2024
Architecture welcomes Philip Tidwell, expert in wood construction, to faculty
The founding principal of Peripheral Projects, Tidwell joins the department at a pivotal moment, when explorations into new materials and methods, and the capabilities of wood in particular, are deepening.
Feb 13, 2024
Lu Liang, who uses data to analyze environmental change, joins LAEP faculty
Geospatial scientist Lu Liang uses GIS and UAV to explore how environmental conditions, such as air pollution, impact the daily lives of individuals.
Nov 15, 2023
Newly renovated controlled environment chamber expands research possibilities
The Berkeley facility is now one of the most advanced test chambers of its type and new studies are already underway.
Oct 30, 2023
Danielle Rivera’s work on low-income communities’ recovery after disasters honored by JAPA
Rivera's prize-winning article argues that engaging local histories of racism and prejudice in Texas's Río Grande Valley is key to redressing post-disaster inequities.
Oct 17, 2023
Researchers pilot a low-energy cooling solution for office buildings
Senior author Stefano Schiavon, professor of architecture and researcher at the Center for the Built Environment, says that this pilot program for hybrid cooling in Singapore exceeded his expectations.
Oct 2, 2023
New study IDs more than 5,000 sites vulnerable to toxic groundwater as sea levels rise
Lead researcher Kristina Hill publishes groundbreaking study in the journal Earth's Future.
Sep 27, 2023
Inaugural Lau Grants for Just Climate Futures awarded
This new grant program supports cross-disciplinary projects led by CED faculty that aim to reduce the impacts of climate change. This year's funded projects forge innovations in climate resilience through explorations in building technologies and materials, housing security, water access, and community-based climate visualizations. These projects stood out from the field of applications for their impact on underserved communities and their capacity to have actionable environmental outcomes.
Sep 18, 2023
Terner Labs, HUD team up to host events on affordable housing
On September 25, Terner Labs hosts the inaugural symposium, The Search for Affordable Rental Housing, a deep dive into how technology is helping and hurting individuals who are seeking affordable rental housing.
Aug 30, 2023
Fall lecture series focuses on how to adapt cities to too much water — or not enough
CED announces its fall lineup of public lectures.
Aug 28, 2023
Berkeley Rupp Prize awarded to Sierra Bainbridge, co-founder of MASS Design Group
CED announces Sierra Bainbridge as the recipient of the 2023–2024 Berkeley Rupp Prize. Bainbridge, an award-winning landscape architect and a co-founder of MASS Design Group, has worked at the forefront of initiatives that explore the role of design in cultural and environmental healing.
Aug 25, 2023
Liz Gálvez joins the Department of Architecture
The prize–winning architect and founding principal of Office e.g. is focused on developing new environmentalisms in architecture.
Jun 20, 2023
Rising groundwater threatens thousands of toxic sites in the Bay Area
Sounding the alarm on the looming threat right beneath our feet, a new study reveals more than 5,200 Bay Area sites vulnerable to rising groundwater.
May 31, 2023
Reconnecting big rivers in Mississippi and California
A multiyear collaboration between the Department of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning and Jackson State University in Mississippi is bringing students together to address flood mitigation and enhanced river access along Jackson’s Pearl River and California’s Sacramento River.
May 4, 2023
Ronald Rael’s COVID-safe cohabitation design wins social and environmental justice award
CED professor Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, of Emerging Objects, receive the 2023 Jeff Harnar Social & Environmental Justice award for their project Casa Covid, which combines 3D printing with Indigenous building methods and materials.