I am interested in exploring the development of historic structural systems. I plan on researching a historic development in structural engineering and construction, exploring the history, including the introduction and implementation of the system, balancing a historic narrative with a technical engineering exploration, as well as considerations for modern construction – in both new and preservation contexts. I am particularly interested in focusing my research on the development of the West Coast and Pacific Northwest. I am a structural engineer and am also interested in structural engineering topics, including teaching and the history of the structural engineering field, as well as broader topics related to the history of construction and building technologies, historic preservation, and sustainable design.
Research Theme: Arts & Humanities & Urbansim
Studies of civic culture, including public art and community design-build efforts
Bo Peng
My particular interest and great passion lies in the social consequences of inclusive landscapes in immigrant communities, especially in relation to public space. I would love to research the typologies and requirements of an inclusive place-making that conveys respect to different needs and activities, especially under today’s political atmosphere in terms of immigration and the xenophobia surrounding it. My doctoral study will try to establish a comprehensive understanding of the inclusivity and livability of more recent immigrant communities, as concerned directly with the narrative of everyday activities. How can inclusive public spaces in immigrant communities that serve diverse populations, including outsiders, promote environmentally as well as socially sustainable development of those communities? I would also like to explore the theory of space syntax with regard to an inclusive place-making process. By analyzing spatial configuration of public landscapes that are shaped by people’s everyday activities, space syntax offers empirical studies regarding reciprocal impacts of human behavior and the environment.
Kyle McDermott
My research interests are in organizational excellence and change theory, systems approaches to sustainable development, and the use of virtual reality for providing increased transparency and understanding of sustainable building and green infrastructure technologies. I am intrigued by post-colonial theory and alternative understandings of decision-making and creative processes within institutions, organizations, and communities that collectively define value and objectives as they relate to creation of the built environment. I’m particularly interested in how these collective understandings and decision-making structures can work to ensure equitability and participation that centers diverse semantic and cultural approaches to sustainability.
Babita Joy
I plan to examine the intersections of architectural practice and theory, specifically, the interweaving of structural and material compositions with theoretical frameworks. My research focuses on the architecture of modern/contemporary cultural spaces being shaped by influences of technology, interdisciplinary dialogue, culture, and urbanism. I have additional interests in materiality, complexity theory, minimalism, construction history, and transnational and global architects/architecture.
Humanities, Histories, Futures (HHF)
HHF invests in CBE’s current humanities strengths, including connections to social science, relevant to climate solutions, prosperity, equity, and social justice. This includes connecting CBE’s humanities capabilities with the greatest needs of other UW colleges, local institutions, and community and industry partners; developing teaching and research initiatives to contextualize, articulate, and challenge concepts of what constitutes just, responsible, and resilient built environments; and developing national and international symposia, workshops, and other events to elevate CBE scholarship and research in humanities, histories, and futures, with a particular focus on climate solutions.
Jeff Hou awarded CBE Johnston-Hastings Endowment for Publication Support
Congratulations to Jeff Hou, Professor of Landscape Architecture and Director of the Urban Commons Lab, for being awarded the CBE Johnston-Hastings Endowment for Publication Support for his book. This award was established by Emeritus Professor Norman J. Johnston and his wife, L. Jane Hastings, to provide money for publication activities of faculty and students in the College of Built Environments. Hou’s book, titled “Emerging Civic Urbanisms in Asia: Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, and Taipei beyond Developmental Urbanization”, explores a new…
Urban@UW Publishes Report on the Lessons and Levers for University Collaborations with Governmental and Community Partners
Jennifer Davison, Director of Urban@UW & Assistant Dean for Research of the College of Built Environments here at UW, and Thaïsa Way, Founding Director of Urban@UW, current Director of Garden & Landscape Studies at Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collections, Harvard University, and Professor in UW’s Department of Landscape Architecture, have published a report titled, Lessons and Levers for University Collaborations with Governmental and Community Partners: A Synthesis of the Bullit Foundation’s Thought Leadership and Innovation RFP. This report, developed…
Brian McLaren awarded Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellowship
Brian McLaren, Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture, has been awarded an Ailsa Mellon Bruce Visiting Senior Fellowship. The Visiting Senior Fellowship Program takes place during March and April of 2021 and is awarded through the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts (CASVA), at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Intended to support research in the history, theory, and criticism of the visual arts, the Visiting Senior Fellowship is complemented with lectures, colloquia, and informal…
Building Knowledge: The Architect and the Builder with Professor Ann Huppert
Throughout history, we’ve seen shifts in how people communicate regarding design. The question of how communication happens between architect and builder is as fundamental today as it was hundreds of years ago. While the dynamics of these communication processes are nuanced, our understanding of them has been colored by a narrative of the past. One CBE faculty member is challenging the standard narrative about how buildings get made, from design to construction through design communication and knowledge exchange. Today, we…
PhD in the Built Environment
The College of Built Environments consists of five departments that together provide one of the country’s few comprehensive built environment programs within one academic unit: Architecture, Construction Management, Landscape Architecture, Real Estate, and Urban Design and Planning. Together, this combination of departments enable faculty and students to engage almost the entire development process, from economic and environmental planning, real estate, regulatory processes, siting and design, through actual financing and construction, to facility management and adaptive reuse in subsequent stages. Thus, the college is inherently multi-disciplinary, not only in terms of the dimensions of reality that it treats, but also in regard to the specialized disciplines, methods, and practices that it employs: history, theory, cultural criticism, engineering, design, planning, urban design, energy sciences, acoustics, lighting, environmental psychology, ecology, real estate analysis, statistics, management, horticulture, soil science, law, public policy, and ethics. In addition, because of the College’s focus on comprehensive analysis and practice concerning the built environment and its interrelation with society, it is substantially engaged in interdisciplinary work with other units on campus and outside of the campus, including mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering; with public policy and the health sciences; with art and art history; with textual interpretation in the humanities; with many of the computing and digitization activities that range from digital arts to the information school and technical communications; with education and social studies and services; with sustainability and ecological programs, including urban ecology, geography, the College of Forest Resources (especially urban horticulture and urban forestry), and Ocean Science and Fisheries; with environmental and land use law.
The College’s interdisciplinary character is a good fit with the emerging trends in today’s complex world, where only a pluralistic and collaborative approach will generate the necessary learning and teaching, research, and service. If we are to provide, in the end, both disciplinary and professional means to promote environmental well-being, the diverse environmental specializations must be fully integrated. Thus, working outside traditional disciplinary and departmental categories, the College’s faculty will advance solutions to problems that demand interdisciplinary perspectives and expertise. Other UW units bring much to bear on the built environment and students are wholeheartedly encouraged to explore possible cross-campus connections both in obvious and seemingly unlikely places. The Technology and Project Design/Delivery specialization especially connects with Psychology, the Information School, Technical Communication, Computer Science and Engineering, and Industrial Engineering; the Sustainable Systems and Prototypes field with Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, the Information School, Technical Communication, the College of Forest Resources (especially Eco-System Science and Conservation, Urban Horticulture and Urban Forestry), the Evans School of Public Affairs, Geography, Public Health, Ocean Science and Fisheries, and Social Work, Urban Ecology, and perhaps Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Processes and Nanotechnology; the area of History, Theory, and Representation with Textual Studies, Art History, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences at Tacoma, and Comparative History of Ideas.