ARPA-E announced $5 million in funding to two universities—the University of Washington and University of California, Davis—working to develop life cycle assessment tools and frameworks associated with transforming buildings into net carbon storage structures. The funding is part of the Harnessing Emissions into Structures Taking Inputs from the Atmosphere (HESTIA) Exploratory Topic. Parametric Open Data for Life Cycle Assessment (POD | LCA) – $3,744,303 The University of Washington’s Carbon Leadership Forum will develop a rigorous and flexible parametric Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)…
Research Theme: Design & Building
Built environment scholarship at the scales of the interior space to the building
Ann Marie Borys publishes book on American Unitarian churches
Ann Marie Borys, Associate Professor in Architecture recently published a book titled American Unitarian Churches: Architecture of a Democratic Religion. The Unitarian religious tradition was a product of the same eighteenth-century democratic ideals that fueled the American Revolution and informed the founding of the United States. Its liberal humanistic principles influenced institutions such as Harvard University and philosophical movements like Transcendentalism. Yet, its role in the history of American architecture is little known and studied. In American Unitarian Churches, Ann Marie…
2022 CBE Inspire Fund awardees announced
In 2021 the College of Built Environments launched the CBE Inspire Fund, designed to support CBE research activities for which a relatively small amount of support can be transformative. The second year of awards have just been announced, supporting five projects across 4 departments within the college as they address topics such as food sovereignty, anti-displacement, affordable housing, and health & wellbeing. This year’s awardees include: Defining the New Diaspora: Where Seattle’s Black Church Congregants Are Moving and Why Rachel…
Ken Tadashi Oshima named a Society of Architectural Historians Fellow
Ken Tadashi Oshima is Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Washington, Seattle, where he teaches trans-national architectural history, theory and design. He has also been a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and UCLA, and has taught at Columbia University and the University of British Columbia. He earned an AB degree, magna cum laude, in East Asian studies and visual and environmental studies from Harvard College, an MArch degree from University of California,…
Rebecca Habtour
Research Interests: Designing built environments to enhance human happiness, and related principles: Justice, Nature Integration, Access, Identity, Well-Being, Resiliency.
Mohammed G. Saad
My research interests are in lean construction principles with a focus on lean project delivery systems, offsite and prefabrication construction, construction supply chain networks, and target value design. In addition to that my interests include life cycle project economics and modeling, building economic and quantitative risk analysis, a public-private partnership for projects, value engineering and management, and new technologies in construction.
Lucky Pratama
I am interested in research related to emerging technology in the AEC industry, and looking for opportunities to conduct experiment-based research whenever possible, particularly research related to virtual construction or construction safety. I have additional interests in public-private partnerships, lean construction, and project delivery.
Kristin Potterton
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.
Christopher Monson
My research interests focus on the contemporary problems of integrated architecture, engineering, and construction practices, particularly the communication processes and team workflows that support them. This work is at the intersection of AEC and the sociological and organizational theories that help identify and analyze the activities within professional practice collaboration. I am using qualitative studies to build theory and practice models for Lean Construction, sustainable design and construction, and integration across design, construction, and facility management. I am also working with technological constructs like BIM and COBie that form foundations for new kinds of collaboration.
I am a licensed architect, and have been a long-time educator in architecture and construction. I have taught design and construction studios, building detailing and assemblages, and architectural theory, and have been recognized institutionally and nationally for teaching excellence. My instructional research is focused on studio-based learning and design thinking.
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.