Climate Solutions
Research + Design

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

CED teams won first and second place at the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture (ANFA) Student Design Competition.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Three studios considered the redevelopment of the Golden Gate Fields sites along the East Bay shoreline.

Iona Normandi, Bryan Tran, and Theo Wyss-Flamm (all SED 2024) are using their awards to pursue further training in sustainable practices.

Cheng-Kai (Kai) Hsu’s findings highlight the need for regulatory oversight to protect vulnerable gig workers and the public.

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.

This year’s projects focus on neighborhood energy-sharing strategies, flood adaptation in unincorporated areas, and heat and pollution in urbanizing towns.

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.

Paul Mayencourt is prototyping sustainable construction materials and methods in the Wood Lab, including a solar kiln.

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.