Architecture

Berkeley Connect links undergraduate students with experienced mentors in Architecture. These mentors lead small groups of 10-20 students in regular meetings; they also meet with students one-on-one to provide guidance and advice. The core of the Berkeley Connect program is a one-credit, pass-fail course that is designed to create a community of students with similar intellectual interests. There is no homework associated with Berkeley Connect: no exams, no papers, no quizzes. Instead, small group meetings focus on sharing ideas and learning new skills within the Architecture major as a way to foster friendships and provide a supportive intellectual community for Berkeley undergraduates.The only requirement for joining Berkeley Connect in Architecture is that you have an interest in the field of study. You do not have to be a major in order to participate! Undeclared freshmen and sophomores are welcome, along with entering junior transfers and juniors and seniors who have declared the major.

Every semester, Berkeley Connect sponsors a wide range of activities and events for participating students. They include:

• small-group meetings led by your mentor;
• one-on-one meetings with your mentor;
• special events, including informal lectures by professors and guest speakers, and panels on career options, graduate school admissions, and other topics;
• and visits to Berkeley resources.

At the heart of Berkeley Connect is the relationship between you and your mentor. The Berkeley Connect mentors are advanced graduate students or recent PhDs in Architecture, who are chosen both for their demonstrated commitment to undergraduates and for their scholarly achievement. They are dedicated to providing the kind of close-knit community and one-on-one attention that can be hard to find at a large university.

When you sign up for Berkeley Connect, you will join one of several small groups of participants in Architecture. Your small group will be led by your mentor, and will meet every other week during the semester for an hour-long discussion session. Discussions will focus on key intellectual issues within Architecture as well as key skills you need to succeed in the major. Above all, the small groups will focus on building connections among students, so that each group becomes a supportive community for all participants.

You will meet with your mentor one-on-one at least twice during the semester, to talk about anything you choose related to your academic life—questions you have, challenges you are facing, resources you are seeking, goals you are seeking to achieve. Your mentor will also hold open mentoring hours throughout the semester, during which you are free to show up and continue these conversations, or just check in.

Faculty

Margaret Crawford (Director) is Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley, teaching  courses in the history and theory of architecture, urbanism and urban history and studios focusing on small scale urbanity.

Her research focuses on the evolution, uses and meanings of urban space. She has written and edited several books including Building the Workingman’s Paradise: The Design of American Company Towns, The Car and the City: The Automobile, the Built Environment and Daily Urban Life and Everyday Urbanism, and has published numerous articles on shopping malls, public space, and other issues in the American built environment. Recently investigated the rapid physical and social changes in China’s Pearl River Delta. Prior to coming to Berkeley, Crawford was Professor of Urban Design and Planning Theory at the Harvard GSD and, before that,  Chair of the History, Theory and Humanities program at the Southern California Institute for Architecture. She has also taught at the University of Southern California, the University of California at San Diego, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Florence, Italy. She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Guggenheim Fellowship, two Fulbright Fellowships to Hong Kong, Quadrant Fellowship, James Marsden Fitch Foundation grant, and Graham Foundation grants.

Berkeley Connect Mentors

Rina Priyani is a PhD candidate in Architecture.

Where did you grow up?

Bandung, Indonesia

Where did you go to college and what was your major?

I went to Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia. My major was Architectural Engineering.

How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?

My research examines how architects, builders, citizens, politicians, and visionaries of the postcolonial world took part in the life of the city, foregrounding the roles of gender and ethnicity through late Dutch colonialism, Japanese occupation, and post-independence Indonesia.

Thomas Oommen is a PhD candidate in Architecture.

Where did you grow up?

Kerala, India

Where did you go to college and what was your major?

National Institute of Technology Calicut, Kerala. Architecture

How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?

My dissertation in architectural history and theory is an investigation of everyday house building culture on the Malabar Coast of Kerala in Southern India. My work describes how this culture is produced by the creative labor of a whole spectrum of non-expert actors, by historic circuits of migration to Arabian Gulf countries and by material availability in an era inflected by planetary climate change.

Semester Activities

During a semester in Berkeley Connect in Architecture, you will participate in one-on-one conversations with your mentor, small-group discussions, special events and field trips.

Recent discussion topics have included:

• What is (not) architecture?
• How to have a life during crunch time
• Making the most of criticism
• Speaking up/speaking out in class

Berkeley Connect discussion sessions are informal and interactive, with time allowed for students to check in, talk about their experiences on campus, and reflect on current events that create the context for their academic studies.

Recent special events and field trips have included:

• Faculty Panel: The Building that Made Me an Architect
• Meet the Department Chair
• Guided tour of campus architecture

How to Sign Up

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