Faculty

Seth Wachtel is the program director of the Architecture & Community Design program. He has worked in architecture and construction in India, Colombia, Haiti, Israel, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico, Zambia, and the San Francisco Bay Area. His focus is on culturally and environmentally appropriate design and the development of innovative construction techniques that produce regenerative and aesthetically fitting buildings and landscapes for human environments.

Professor Wachtel...

Catherine Lusheck is Chair of the Department of Art + Architecture and Professor of Art History & Museum Studies. She holds a doctorate in History of Art from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a specialist in early modern European art and curatorial practice. Her research interests include Renaissance drawings culture, early modern visual rhetoric and the classical tradition, and artistic emulation and self-representation in the art of Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577-1640). Over...

Tanu Sankalia is a tenured full professor in the Department of Art + Architecture, and coordinates the Urban Studies Concentration within the Environmental Studies Program. He teaches courses in urban planning and design, architectural and urban history, and architectural design. He was trained in urban design at UC Berkeley, and in architecture at the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad, from where he graduated with a gold medal for the best diploma thesis.

Professor Sankalia's research and...

Graduated summa cum laude from the University of Florence, with architectural, urban design, and structural engineering studies at the University of Pescara, and a grant to research at U.C. Berkeley. Principal of Studio Peek Ancona, a research and design firm combining architecture, planning, and interiors, her extensive experience in the U.S. and Europe is characterized by a contemporary aesthetic focusing on a refinement of sustainable materials. Ancona’s use of technology is founded on...

Matt Baran is the founder of Baran Studio Architecture. He has 25 years of experience as a licensed architect, developer, and builder. His work spans across design disciplines and building typologies. he has experience in all project phases, including conceptualization, programming, design, project management, and construction in residential, commercial, community and theoretical projects of various scales. In addition to his background in architecture, his real estate development experience...

Andrea studies the built environment at the intersection of the industrial and urban, where borders and edges are blurred. She is most interested in what is left behind when the industrial use has waned or disappeared and how this affects the fabric of our cities, towns, and rural landscapes. Through photography, both abstract and representational, she aims to capture these intersections and document their relevance.

In addition to teaching architecture, she is a registered architect and has...

For the past few years, Amy Chang has focused her career on multifamily housing projects, particularly affordable housing, and modular construction.   She’s passionate about creating equitable housing that enriches people's everyday life while contributing to the well-being of the planet.  She believes that the heart of a multifamily building is the sense of community, and it is important for a design to promote a shared community experience, whether it's in the form of open, flex space for...

Catherine Chang is a practicing professional and instructor in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design. Through her firm Catherine Chang Design Studio and her role as an educator, her attention is focused on the role of buildings and streetscape design in supporting rich, active pedestrian environments. Recipient of several design awards, she studied architecture and landscape architecture at UC Berkeley. Prior to starting her own practice, she worked at Calthorpe...

Angelo Claudio is a licensed architect and landscape architect in California. He holds a Master of Architecture degree from the University of Maryland and a Bachelor of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of California.  At his firm Claudio Studio Architects, his design work focuses on weaving together passive and active strategies to increase energy efficiency, in tandem with, reducing operational and embodied carbon. His objective is to intertwine the built and natural...

Jamie Doyle has been working as an architect and teaching for over 30 years in the USA and Ireland. His father was an architect, and at an early age, Jamie became intrigued with architecture and was inspired to follow in his footsteps. Jamie believes architecture can be an art, a science and a platform for change and justice in society.

Kerstin Hellmann is a practicing professional in the field of architecture and design. Her interest as an architect is in space and light and a sensitivity to the surrounding natural and urban environment. She is a licensed architect in California and her firm Kerstin Hellmann Architecture is an underwriter of the AIA 2030 Commitment for carbon neutral building.

Kerstin came to the US as a DAAD fellow to study urban design at UC Berkeley with a focus on landscape architecture. Prior to coming...

Robert Jackson has a diverse professional background ranging in scale from small single-family homes, to mixed-use commercial and residential towers to large scale urban design. Project Type Experience Includes: Transit Oriented Development, High Rise, Adaptive Re-use, Affordable Housing, Senior Housing, Luxury Housing, Urban Design, Office, Entertainment (Theater), Urban Revitalization, and Schools. He specializes in architectural computer drafting with a strong background in 3D modeling and...

Yim Gloria Jew has been teaching since graduate studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is a licensed architect and also EDAC certified, Evidence Base Design Research. Her areas of teaching in architecture include undergraduate and graduate design studios, thesis, contemporary theory in urbanism and architecture, professional practice, and materials and methods. In addition, she has taught in programs of ethnic studies with a focus on cultural identity and social justice.

In...

David Kesler is the principal of David Kesler Architect. Recent accomplishments as of 2024 are a 43,000 SF factory in Hayward California, an 8-unit apartment building on Mission Street in San Francisco, and a 100,000 SF 80 room hotel in San Jose. David is also a podcaster interviewing thought leaders from around the world with architecture as a lens to international culture and the arts. 

Yu-Chung’s diverse background exposes him to the intersecting relationships among humans and nature, science and art, logic and intuition, at various scales. He passionately explores the possibilities in shaping our world and brings them into reality with thoughtful details.

His design philosophy focuses on people. Design is not only the beautiful backdrop of human activity; it is the essential wheel driving life-changing economic and social improvements.

Jackson Lindsay is a Project Manager based in the East Bay, designing single-family and multi-family residential projects. Through graduate school, he focused on the link between architecture and US housing policy and developed research and designs oriented around the commons and communal living.

Rush Majumder has had experience in various aspects of design. Whether it is working at a 3D Print fashion design studio, to overseas architecture firms, to curtainwall fabrication, and now working at a high density residential architecture firm, he has shown that coming from a diverse background can evolve your world view of the built environment. He is most proficient in 3D modeling and presenting design concepts, but most of all he finds joy from teaching those around him. Whether it is to...

Ross McCarthy is an architect and educator from Ireland with over a decade of experience working in Germany, Ireland, and the United States. He specializes in design-build programs that empower students to connect design theory with hands-on practice. Ross developed the Humane Architecture in the Arizona Borderlands program, where USF students collaborated with a non-profit to design and build water stations for migrants in the Sonoran Desert. This program highlights equitable design, Indigenous...

For the past 30 years Leslie has devoted her career to designing buildings and spaces for seniors and special needs housing communities. Her award-winning work involves the full continuum of care facilities, from active adult to senior centers, independent living, assisted living, Alzheimer’s care, skilled nursing environments, and life plan communities. Considered an expert in her field, Leslie regularly speaks at national conventions concerning the latest trends in senior living design and she...

Professor Hajo Neis teaches urban architecture and urban theory with emphasis on city building, the art of building, and urban structures integration. He has previously taught at the University of California, Frankfurt University, the Prince of Wales Urban Design Task Force, and the Technical University of Dresden. His main interest in research includes, the question of quality and value in architecture and urban structure and, the question of process and processes, which create quality in...

Okamoto has committed his professional architectural career to designs that optimize environmental and social qualities. With his San Francisco-based firm, he has worked on affordable housing, community centers, passive solar residences, and community-based neighborhood plans. He is a licensed California architect and a LEED Accredited Professional.

Before establishing his own practice in 1991, Okamoto worked with several prominent architects including Paolo Soleri and Peter Calthorpe. He is...

Benjamin is an educator, landscape architectural designer, and researcher whose research includes built environment and public health implications, focusing on understanding the physical environmental factors influencing the use of urban open spaces for physical activity. His research further explores the potential of using computational methods to assess an urban environment based on existing data and determine its suitability for various physical activities.

Benjamin's research aims to...

Matthew Peek studied architecture, urban design, and fine art at Berkeley, Columbia, and Yale, with a Fulbright at the University of Venice. Principal of Studio Peek Ancona, a research and design firm combining architecture, planning, and interiors, he is a licensed architect, member of the AIA, and contributor to international journals of architecture. Peek’s work investigates the use of cutting edge natural and composite materials, ranging from new uses for renewable materials to the most...

Kevin is passionate about architecture that contributes to the social, environmental, and aesthetic vitality of dense and walkable communities. With a focus on multifamily housing as an Architect at Pyatok Architects + Urban Design, he contributes to the sustainability of cities and to give back to the community at large. Kevin holds M.Arch and B.Arch degrees from Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. He is a licensed Architect in the State of California and a LEED Accredited Professional...

Bassel has nearly 30 years of experience in architectural practice since graduating from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where he was awarded the Thesis Prize for Design. Prior to establishing Samaha+Hart Architecture in 2007, he worked on numerous projects of various scales, from residential to civic. At Fougeron Architecture Bassel managed the office and served as the Project Architect on two San Francisco Public Libraries, as well as a major housing project for seniors. As...

Alec Stewart is an architectural and urban historian with an interest in the ways that globalization, mobility, consumer cultures, racialization, and grassroots placemaking shape the built environment. His writing has addressed the revitalization of aging strip malls by immigrant entrepreneurs, cultures of public transportation, and swap meets as nodes of transnational urbanism in the late-twentieth century. He is currently writing his first book, "Meet Me at the Swap Meet: The Production and...

Bobby Glass teaches Studio One: Drawing & Representation, where students first learn to observe, analyze and represent the built environment by gaining an understanding of basic visual principles, concepts, and modes of architectural representation. Bobby is the founder of Space Open Studio, a landscape design and ecological planning firm based in the Bay Area. He previously worked for Hyphae Design Laboratory, where he integrated landscape architecture with recycled water systems and civil...

Amy Berk is an artist and art educator who taught at the San Francisco Art Institute since 2006, serving as Chair for the Contemporary Practice program from 2011 to 2013. She directs the award-winning City Studio program which engages underserved youth in their own neighborhoods through sequenced art classes that are both rigorous and joyous. In 1996, she co-founded the innovative Meridian Interns Program serving inner-city teens and has taught in the Post-Baccalaureate program at UCBX since...