Technology and Material Innovations
Research + Design

Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, founders of Emerging Objects, were honored with a National Design Award in the category of digital design. The awards honor innovation and impact and recognize the power of design to change the world.

Assistant Professor of Architecture Liz Gálvez’s ARCH 202 Collective Comfort studio earned a Tulane Prize honorable achievement for its cutting-edge curriculum relating to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

designboom explores Professor Ron Rael’s Adobe Oasis created for Desert X in California’s Coachella Valley: “Layered in rhythmic ribbons of red adobe, the walls mimic the texture of the surrounding palm trunks, anchoring the work in both its landscape and architectural heritage aligned with the 2025 exhibition’s call for interventions that reimagine the desert as a site of memory, transformation, and resistance.”

A duplex in Providence, Rhode Island, shows off Ultramoderne’s take on “cheapskate” architecture, using discarded materials from local construction projects. “Innovative architecture is still possible in today’s economic climate—it just requires a new approach.”

Associate Professor of City & Regional Planning Marta Gonzalez received the prestigious Lagrange Prize–Fondazione CRT for her pioneering use of network science to make cities more livable, sustainable, and equitable.

Maryam Hosseini, who uses AI, computer vision, and machine learning to advance urban accessibility and walkability, joins the Department of City & Regional Planning this semester as assistant professor.

Collective Comfort: Airing on Possibilities, an exhibition by Professor of Architecture Liz Gálvez, examines climate resilience in desert cities. Highlights design-research, full-scale prototypes, and student work addressing the urgent need for alternative cooling solutions in regions facing extreme heat.

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.

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.

Newly published research from Ramon Weber demonstrates that spatially efficient floor plans, produced through computational design, result in sustainable high-performance buildings.

The Softwood Lumber Board and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture have named a new studio for Berkeley’s Master of Advanced Architecture Design program as a winner of its 2024 Timber Education Prize.

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.

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.

In an interview published in Arch Daily, Professor Ronald Rael shares his views on the potential of AI, material culture, the role of the architect in society, architectural education, sustainability, and more.

Architectural Record features the Kauhikoa Core House by Spiegel Aihara Workshop, the first built prototype of a low-cost, compact, easily shippable, prefabricated house that can be deployed for rapid rebuilding after disasters like the 2023 Maui fires.

Gutierrez is first CED faculty member to be awarded the prize, which is designed help campus innovators translate their discoveries into real-world solutions.

An exhibition and lecture reveal innovative research into climate solutions by CED 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.

Geospatial scientist Lu Liang uses GIS and UAV to explore how environmental conditions, such as air pollution, impact the daily lives of individuals.