July 10, 2009

Jennifer Wolch, Dean of the College of Environmental Design and Professor of City and Regional Planning, was featured on American Public Media's Marketplace radio program on July 10. She discussed the rise of homelessness due to the current economic recession and the impact of the U.S. government's $1.5 billion stimulus package to prevent homelessness. Listen to the interview.

May 29, 2009

Around noon on Wednesday May 20, 2009, a dump truck hit the fire hydrant behind Wurster Hall, sending a wall of water into the landscape courtyard. Within minutes water began to leak through the emergency doors to the Environmental Design Library and the at-grade windows in the library’s bound journals room. Water also filled a below-grade entry at the north side of the building to almost five feet before breaking through a set of metal doors into the first floor and flooding nearly the full length of the building to a depth of 2–3 inches. In the library, as the water rose, quick-thinking staff and student volunteers immediately started moving books, folios, and journals to higher locations. Wurster Hall has flooded once before, in 1995.

April 30, 2009

Hood Design (Oakland, California), the design firm of  Walter Hood, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, has won the Landscape Design category of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum's 10th Annual National Design Awards. From the Cooper-Hewitt press release:

"The 2009 National Design Awards nominations were solicited from a committee of more than 2,500 designers, educators, journalists, cultural figures and corporate leaders from every state in the nation. Nominees must have at least seven years of experience in order to be nominated, and winners are selected based on the level of excellence, innovation and public impact of their body of work. This year’s jury—a diverse group of former National Design Award winners convened by Cooper-Hewitt—reviewed the nominations and chose Lifetime Achievement and Design Mind recipients, and selected winners and finalists in the Corporate Achievement, Architecture Design, Communication Design, Fashion Design, Interaction Design, Interior Design, Landscape Design and Product Design categories. This year the new Interaction Design category was added to the Awards, celebrating exceptional work using digital technology."

May 2009

Four renowned professors are joining the faculty at the Department of City and Regional Planning. Beginning in the fall semester of 2009, Drs. Jennifer Wolch, Michael Dear, Paul Waddell, and Daniel Chatman bring an array of research work, planning expertise, and professional involvement to the department.

April 29, 2009

Jennifer Wolch, a leading scholar of urban analysis and planning, will assume the duties of dean of the University of California, Berkeley's College of Environmental Design (CED) beginning July 1, 2009, campus offices announced today (Wednesday, April 29, 2009).

She will leave her post as professor of geography and urban planning at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles to become the college's ninth dean and UC Berkeley's fourth current woman dean. Other women deans currently at UC Berkeley include AnnaLee Saxenian at the School of Information, Lorraine Midanik at the School of Social Welfare, and Janet Broughton, acting executive dean of the College of Letters and Science and the dean of its division of arts and humanities.

February 2009

KQED San Francisco Public Television and Public Radio names Landscape Architecture Professor Walter Hood 2009 Black History Month Local Hero. KQED's Heritage Months program recognizes "unsung Bay Area Local Heroes.... who have demonstrated leadership and a strong commitment to community service."

January 7, 2009

The Department of Architecture is pleased to announce that both Margaret Crawford and Greg Castillo have accepted our offers for faculty positions in architectural history, and both will be here in Fall 2009. Margaret Crawford is currently at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, as a professor of urban design and planning theory. She teaches courses in the history and theory of urban development, planning, and design. Her research focuses on the evolution, uses and meanings of urban space. Greg Castillo is currently a senior lecturer in architectural history and theory in the faculty of architecture at the University of Sidney, Australia. Castillo is one of the most recognized historians of German modern architecture.

November 25, 2008

Peter Bosselmann, Professor of Urban Design in Architecture, City & Regional Planning, and Landscape Architecture and Head Graduate Adviser, Master of Urban Design Program, has published a new book entitled Urban Transformation: Understanding City Design and Form (Island Press).

November 3, 2008

Ronald Rael, Assistant Professor of Architecture, has published a new book entitled EARTH ARCHITECTURE (Princeton Architectural Press).

October 20, 2008

René Davids, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, and Taylor Medlin, Master of Architecture Option 2 student, have won First Prize (out of 733 international entries) in the 43rd Central Glass Architectural Design Competition: "Architecture Coexisting with World Heritage Sites," co-sponsored by Shinkenchiku-sha and judged by Toyo Ito of Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects, Riken Yamamoto of Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop, and Kengo Kuma Kengo of Kuma & Associates, among other distinguished jurors.

August 29, 2008 

UC Berkeley and California College of the Arts (CCA) architecture students have been invited to a special lecture by Renzo Piano at the California Academy of Sciences. This event will take place from 4–6 p.m. on Friday, September 26, the evening before the grand opening of the Academy. It is a special event for students, but seating is limited. Berkeley has been allotted 140 seats for our students. To be fair, we are having a lottery through the studio and ENV DES classes.

July 17, 2008 

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau and Executive Vice Chancellor/Provost George Breslauer are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Emeritus Sam Davis as Interim Dean of the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, effective July 1, 2008, and continuing until a regular dean is appointed.