Berkeley Connect in Architecture
The Berkeley Connect program opens up the extraordinary resources of the university to you: the extraordinary students on our campus. By joining, you will become part of a community of like-minded faculty, mentors, and students that will provide a supportive environment in which to exchange and discuss ideas and goals. Berkeley Connect will help you to make the most of your time at the university as you learn more about the major in Architecture. We’re excited to get to know you!
Message from the Director
Have you ever wondered about participating in a dynamic community to share ideas and interrogations on architectural interests with peers and mentors? As Director of the Department of Architecture's BerkeleyConnect program, I invite you to join our program in the Architecture Department to connect with peers to discuss the characteristics and idiosyncrasies of studying architecture and the potential career paths it endows. Whether you are a freshman, a transfer, or a student at other stages here at Berkeley, BerkeleyConnect provides a stress-free forum to explore ideas, opportunities and challenges of partaking in architecture from a plural perspective. Current students, faculty, professionals, and alumni make up this diverse forum to share and listen to experiences, interests, and concerns in architecture. Your weekly activities will encompass a range of fun activities, including guided architectural site visits, informal discussions with faculty about design studio culture, including reviews, and nurturing opportunities to meet and connect with peers. I welcome you to join us and be part of this empowering and joyful space for belonging!
Program Description
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
Maria-Paz Gutierrez is an inventor and Professor of the Department of Architecture at UC Berkeley. Gutierrez’s research and design explore material invention from a plural cultural and functional perspective intersecting architecture, science, and engineering. Her research group, BIOMS, focuses on advancing c material functionalities for environments under severe water challenges. Her work has been featured in leading scientific, architectural, and public forums, including Science Nation and the BBC, published in leading journals such as Science, and exhibited internationally including at the Oslo Architectural Triennale. She is the recipient of several design awards, including the RIBA 2020 President's Medal of Research Award (finalist), the 2014 Buckminster Fuller (semi-finalist), and the 2010 ACSA Creative Achievement Award. Additionally, Gutierrez has been honored with prestigious scientific and engineering innovation awards, such as the 2024 Bakar Prize, and the only lead awardee of both the 2024 NSF Convergence Award and the Emerging Frontiers of Innovation Award by the US National Science Foundation. Gutierrez has developed extensive fieldwork in the Americas, working towards advancing sustainability, health, and equity in construction innovation in remote zones such as the Northwestern Amazon, where she served as a Senior Fellow for the Energy Climate Partnership of the Americas (2011-16) and as Fulbright Nexus Fellow (2010-12). Gutierrez has two forthcoming books: Regeneration Wall (2025 Routledge) and The Forest, The Fields, 3D Printing Now and Then (2025, Cambridge Scholars). She also holds an international patent on non-planar 3D printing and a provisional patent on 3D printed living materials for indoor regeneration. Gutierrez holds an M Arch from U Penn and a PhD in materials engineering/building science from Cambridge University.
Berkeley Connect Mentors
Tania Osorio Harp is a PhD candidate in Architecture.
Where did you grow up?
Oaxaca, Mexico
Where did you go to college and what was your major?
Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City, Architecture
How would you describe your research in a sentence or two?
I look at the relationship between housework and domestic architecture in Mexico City.
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
To sign up, enroll in a Berkeley Connect section when course registration opens. To participate in Berkeley Connect in Architecture, you enroll in a section of Architecture 98BC (primarily for freshmen and sophomores) or 198BC (primarily for juniors and seniors). Both are offered for one unit, taken on a Pass/Not Pass basis. Participation is NOT restricted to declared majors.
You may enroll in Berkeley Connect more than once (some students choose to participate for a full year by enrolling in both the fall and spring semesters), and you may enroll through more than one department. You may NOT enroll in more than two sections of Berkeley Connect in one semester, or enroll in more than one section in the same department in the same semester.
Contact Us
Please see our FAQs. If you have additional questions about Berkeley Connect in Architecture, please contact: Professor Margaret Crawford, Faculty Director, mcrawfor@berkeley.edu
You can also contact the central Berkeley Connect office at berkeleyconnect@berkeley.eduor (510)664-4182.