Charles C. Benton
Professor of Architecture

Office : 903 WursterHall
Office Hrs: Monday 10:30-11:30 and by appt.
Phone: 510.642.0669
crisp@berkeley.edu
Professor Benton served as Consultant to the PG&E Pacific Energy Center, and Principal Investigator of Vital Signs: a Curriculum Materials Development Project. He has lectured and published extensively on topics of curriculum development, field evaluation methods, thermal comfort, and daylighting. Benton is the recipient of two Progressive Architecture Research Awards and an AIA Education Honors Honorable Mention. He teaches courses in the areas of energy and environmental management, daylighting analysis, technology transfer, and field evaluation of building performance. Current research interests include field investigation of thermal comfort, visualization of sunlight and shadow patterns, and post-occupancy measurement of physical building performance.

Benton is currently an Artist in Residence at San Francisco's Exporatorium where he is collaborating on the Hidden Ecologies Project,  an exercise in reading places-- starting with several transitional geographies along San Francisco Bay -- in ways that juxtapose scales, collect different points of view, and encourage the sharing of ideas.

Gail Brager
Professor of Architecture
Associate Director, Center for the Built Environment

Office: 386 Wurster Hall
Office Hrs: Thursday 4:00-5:00 and by appt.
Phone: 510.642.1696
gbrager@berkeley.edu
Gail Brager, Ph.D., is the Associate Director of the Center for the Built Environment, an industry/university collaborative research center focused on improving the design, operation, and environmental quality of buildings. She is also the Chair of the newly formed USGBC Research Committee. Brager has published extensively on topics including thermal comfort, adaptation in naturally ventilated and air-conditioned buildings, task conditioning, and indoor air quality. She is the recipient of numerous awards from within both the architecture and engineering communities recognizing her research, teaching, and professional service. She teaches in the areas of energy and environmental management, sustainable design for hot climates, modeling techniques for sustainable design, and research methods both in building science and the architecture discipline overall. Current areas of research activity include comfort and adaptation in naturally-ventilated buildings, mixed-mode buildings, web-based survey methods, and post-occupancy evaluation of green buildings.

Nathan Brown

Section:
   Thursdays 2-5
   801A Wurster
Office Hours
   Sundays 6-7
   901 Wurster

ncbrown@berkeley.edu

Nathan is in his second year of the M.Arch option 3 program. He is interested in design for a human and environmental context, energy use analysis, and innovative construction techniques. Nathan's work as an intern includes researching daylighting strategies and creating a spreadsheet model to analyze the life cycle cost of photovoltaic arrays. Before coming to Berkeley, he studied economics as an undergraduate, worked as an environmental consultant, and taught woodworking and math. If Nathan is not in studio, he might be cooking, sleeping, hiking, skiing, sailing, or building something.

Christian Cutul

Section:
   Tuesdays 2-5
   701A Wurster
Office Hours
   Sundays 7-8
   901 Wurster

cutul@berkeley.edu

Christian is in his third year of the M.Arch opt. 3 program. He has worked in environmental consulting, ecological footprint analysis, and renewable energy development. His ideas and interests regarding architecture extend to ecological analysis, economics, urban planning, infrastructure, engineering, and theory.  He has been known to avoid sleeping. Outside the studio, he tries to pass time running and biking, but there really is no time outside of studio.

Ceara O'Leary

Section:
   Wednesdays 9-12
   106 Wurster
Office Hours
   Thursdays 3-4
   344 WursterHall

ceara@berkeley.edu

Ceara is in the second year of the M.Arch. III program and is currently considering a dual degree in City & Regional Planning. She graduated from
Brown University in 2006 with a degree in Architectural Studies. Having lived in Idaho, California, New York, Rhode Island, Barcelona, Wisconsin and Paris, Ceara is particularly aware of how climate-responsive design can impact building performance as well as indoor environmental quality. Ceara’s academic interests relate to the social and environmental implications of the built environment. Her personal interests include yoga, photography, literature and extensive travel.

Melissa Smith

Section:
   Fridays 9-12
   104 Wurster
Office Hours
   Wednesdays 12:30-1:30
   486 Wurster

melissaksmith@berkeley.edu

Melissa is in the midst of year 2 for M.Arch III, but as she tends to gravitate toward city planning seminars, she is thinking of adding a City Regional Planning degree to her to-do-list. Before coming to Berkeley, she did an undergraduate dual-major degree in German and East/South Asian Studies at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Her interest in architecture is in working in the fringe of developing urban economies in places like India or China, in which issues of energy are central to building possibilities. When not in studio, Melissa enjoys sleeping, and wishes she could spend more time biking, climbing or eating nice dinners before concerts in the city.

Eric Spletzer

Section:
   Fridays 12-3
   104 Wurster
Office Hours
   Mondays 7:30-8:30
   344 WursterHall

ems@berkeley.edu

Eric is in the third year of his M.Arch opt 3 program. He is also working toward an MSE in Structural Engineering. His undergradute studies were in philosophy at Dartmouth College. His architectural interests are specifically in the social impacts of the ecological footprint, and architectural techinque as an environmental and social agent. In 2003 Eric helped to design and build an off-grid strawbale home in Northern California.

Eric has lived in the Bay Area with his fiancé Kirstin Weeks (140 GSI, 2006) and their dog Sierra since 2000. Ask him about straw-bale, natural plasters, bamboo, skiing at Kirkwood, hiking in Yosemite, or where to get the best burrito in the Mission, and you're sure to get an earful.