Ph.D. in Architecture (2024)

The Ph.D. in architecture is a research degree appropriate for those seeking careers in teaching and scholarship in architecture and its related areas, or in roles in government or professional consultation that require depth in specialization and experience in research.

The Program

Berkeley’s Ph.D. program in architecture is interdisciplinary in outlook, reaching into the various disciplines related to architecture and incorporating substantial knowledge from outside fields. Students admitted to this program carry out a program of advanced study and research, both on the basis of formal class work and of individual investigation. Work centers on three related fields of study, the major field (the basis for the dissertation), and one-to-two minor fields, at least one of which must be from a discipline outside architecture.

Fields of Study

The Ph.D. degree emphasizes course work and supervised independent research in one of the following areas of study:

Major fields outside these fields or combinations thereof may also be proposed at the time of admission.

Course work is individually developed through consultation with an academic adviser. Outside fields of study may take advantage of the University’s varied resources. Recent graduates have completed outside fields in anthropology, art history, business administration, city and regional planning, computer science, various engineering fields, psychology, women’s studies, geography and sociology.

Faculty

The following are members of the Ph.D faculty, broken into one of two offered areas of study. Please also review the current list of all faculty in the Architecture Department for other faculty and specialities. A sampling of faculty research is described on the faculty research projects page.

Building Science, Technology and Sustainability

Gail Brager

Director of the Center for Environmental Design Research; Distinguished Professor of Architecture

Passive Design Strategies, Comfort and Adaptation in Naturally-Ventilated Buildings, Post-Occupancy Evaluation and Personal Comfort Systems

See Also

Bachelor of Arts in Sustainable Environmental DesignBachelor of Arts in ArchitectureUniversity of California, Berkeley - Study Architecture | Architecture Schools and Student InformationUC Berkeley to manage NASA mission to map the UV universe

Luisa Caldas

Professor of Architecture

Net Zero Buildings, Daylighting in Architecture, Generative Design, Parametric Design

Maria Paz Gutierrez

Associate Professor of Architecture

Natural Materials Innovation and Flood Resilience, Engineered Living Materials, Functionally Graded Materials and Additive Manufacturing, and Solar Water Regeneration Building Envelopes.

Stefano Schiavon

Associate Director of CEDR; Professor of Architecture and Civil & Environmental Engineering

Sustainable Architecture, Architectural Engineering/Building Science, Indoor Environment Quality, HVAC Systems, Building Energy Efficiency, Thermal Comfort, Wellbeing, Post-Occupancy Evaluation

Simon Schleicher

See Also

UC Berkeley Will Manage $300 Million NASA Mission To Map the UV Universe

Associate Professor of Architecture

Lightweight Design and Biomimetics, Structural Design, Parametric Design, Digital Fabrication and Robotic Manufacturing

History, Theory, and Society

Greg Castillo

Professor of Architecture

20th Century Architecture with Emphasis on Bay Area Counterculture, Mid-Century Modernism, Design as Cold War Propaganda, Architecture and the History of Emotions.

Margaret Crawford

Director of Urban Design, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design

History of Architecture, Urban Design and Planning, Urban History and Theory, US Built Environment Studies, Urbanism in China

C. Greig Crysler

Professor of Architecture; Arcus Social Justice Chair (2012-2022)

Architecture of Globalization, discourses of Architecture and Urbanism and the Arcus Chair in Gender, Sexuality and the Built Environment.

Andrew Shanken

Professor of Architecture

Architecture and Consumer Culture, Memory and the Built Environment, Paper Architecture and the Unbuilt, Expositions, Themed Landscapes, and Architectural Rhetoric.

Neyran Turan

Associate Professor of Architecture

Requirements

The Ph.D. program in architecture is governed by the regulations of the University Graduate Division and administered by the departmental Ph.D. committee. Specific degree requirements include:

Course requirements for the degree include:

Handbooks

Ph.D. Alumni List