The Culture, Society, Space research cluster examines how built spaces – from the artifact to the urban – affect those who interact with them and, conversely, how cultural, societal and disciplinary values shape the spaces we create. Projects can address individual buildings, public spaces, communities, or cities, as well as typological, institutional and wider forms of inquiry. Research methods include formal, theoretical, historic/historiographical, sociological, and systemic analyses. Studies may focus on spaces and ideas as forms of cultural expression, the people who produce and use them, and/or the ideological forces in which they operate, including all aspects of their sustainability.
Core Faculty
- Peter Aeschbacher: community design centers, public space, design activism
- Pep Avilés: history of modern architecture, materialism and ornamentation, migrations and the avant-gardes, postmodern theory
- Cathy Braasch: architectural design/urban landscape, creative production related to temporary structures, adaptive reuse
- James Cooper: Michelangelo, architectural drawing, and design analysis; Forum of Pompeii
- Denise Costanzo (chair): postwar U.S. architects and Italy; architectural study travel; 20th century historiography
- Christine Gorby: urban theory, gender and landscape, space and sustenance in cinema
- Jawaid Haider: community design and health; design for children and the elderly
- Katsu Muramoto: 20th c. Japanese architecture and issues of subjectivity and modernity; theories of new media and digital mediation
- Alexandra Staub: postwar European housing and urbanism; spatial practices and cultural identity
- James Wines: drawing, design sustainability & post-green
Associated Faculty
- Lisa Iulo: environmentally conscious design education, ecological design and planning, energy and resource efficient building and housing solutions, affordable housing, urban design, community-scale, renewable energy, integrative process and project delivery methods
- Darla Lindberg: organizational systems, responsive social problem solving & public health
- Rebecca Henn: cultural contingencies of design, social structures of sustaiabilities
- Ute Poerschke: functionalist theory, relationship of design and technology, history and theory of sustainable design, architecture for a renewable energy era
Ph.D. Students
- Meher Bhagia
- Mahyar Hadighi
- Michael Nowak
- Irem Öz
- Sohrab Rahimi
- Dario Vanegas Vargas
M.S. Students
- Shreyonti Chakraborty
- Cara Rangaswamy
- Rohini Raghavan
- Sohail Sadroleslami
- Sadra Tehrani
Recent Theses in Culture, Society, Space
Seeing the Sidewalk: Giving New Terms to Everyday Urban Space, Cara Rangaswamy (2018)
Co-Advisers: Darla Lindberg, Peter Aeschbacher | Committee: Denise Costanzo
Every Case A Sheet of Music: A New Method of Visualizing Informal Activity Pockets Within the Spatial Order of Home, Anahita Shadkam (2017)
Adviser: Peter Aeschbacher | Committee: Shadi Nazarian, José Duarte
Life, Death and Design: Revisiting Aldo Rossi’s Cemetery at San Cataldo, Lindsay Connelly (2017)
Adviser: Denise Costanzo | Committee: Darla Lindberg, James Cooper, Craig Zabel
Places as Products: The Town Center as Retail Development, Emily Liuzza (2017)
Adviser: Denise Costanzo | Committee: Darla Lindberg, Johanna Slot
Nisei Architects: Challenges and Achievements, Katrin Freude (2017)
Adviser: Alexandra Staub, Denise Costanzo | Committee: Katsu Muramoto, Craig Zabel
Montage and Architecture: A Method for Temporal Design, Niloufar Kioumarsi (2016)
Adviser: Felecia Davis | Committee: Alexandra Staub, Daniel Willis
The Porticus of Eumachia in the Forum of Pompeii, Valerio Dario (2016)
Adviser: James Cooper | Committee: Denise Costanzo, Alexandra Staub
Design Morphology in Public Housing the Intersection of Design and Policy, Kaitlin O’Brien (2016)
Adviser: Lisa Iulo | Committee: Darla Lindberg, Alexandra Staub
The Life and Death of an American Architype: The Shopping Mall and the Suburbs, Anthony D’Alessandro (2015)
Adviser: Darla Lindberg | Committee: James Wines, Rebecca Henn
An Analysis of a Middle Eastern Enclave: Little Egypt, Dina Mahmoud (2015)
Adviser: Alexandra Staub | Committee: Nida Rehman, Ed Coulson
Complexity by Nature / Simplicity by Design, Dustin Julius (2015)
Adviser: Jawaid Haider, Darla Lindberg | Committee: Nida Rehman, Daniel Cardoso Llach
Social Interaction in Student Residence Halls Through an Architectural Lens, Sohrab Rahimi (2015)
Adviser: Alexandra Staub | Committee: Peter Aeschbacher, Susan Friedman
Dynamics of multiple claims in civic spaces: Understanding Urban Spaces of Mumbai’s Railway Station Hubs, Amruta Sakalker (2015)
Adviser: Alexandra Staub | Committee: Nida Rehman, Stephen Matthews
The Intricacy of Textiles. A Reappraisal of Textiles in Architectural Museum Settings, Farah Abdel Galil (2015)
Advisers: Christine Gorby, Ute Poerschke | Committee: Loukas Kalisperis
Urban Boundaries and Alternative Spaces: A Case Study of Tehran. Babak Soleimani (2014)
Adviser: Alexandra Staub | Committee: Peter Aeschbacher, Alexander Klippel
Intergenerational Housing: A Vernacular Perspective. Daniel Miller (2014)
Adviser: Jawaid Haider | Committee: Darla Lindberg, Deryck Holdsworth
Reducing Car Use Through New Urban Design Schemes in Western Tehran. Hasti Khodabakhsh (2014).
Adviser: Mehrdad Hadighi | Committee: Jawaid Haider, Madis Pihlak
Spatial Configuration and the Sense of Belonging in Two Communities in Shenyang, China. Qingyang Yu (2013)
Adviser: Alexandra Staub | Committee: Katsu Muramoto, Eliza Pennypacker
Teaching the practice: Comparing the traditional, modified, and additional course approaches for teaching professional practice in undergraduate schools of architecture. Ross Weinreb (2013)
Adviser: Scott Wing | Committee: Bob Holland, Jodi LaCoe, Alexandra Staub, Talat Azhar
The Relationship Between Neighborhood Social Capital and Built Form Explored Through the Chawls of Mumbai. Neha Parkar (2013)
Adviser: Rebecca Henn | Committee: Alexandra Staub, Madhuri Desai
Exploring Mumbai. A Feminist Perspective on Neoliberal City Space. Aparna Parikh (2013)
Adviser: Alexandra Staub | Committee: Denise Costanzo, Daniel Purdy
Negotiating contested zones: a post-tourist vision of Famagusta. Savia Palate (2013)
Adviser: Jawaid Haider | Committee: Darla Lindberg, Daniel Cardoso Llach
Gentrification & Urban Morphogenesis of San Francisco's Mission District: Synthesis of the Hispanic Barrio and the Hipster Subculture. Brittany Wong (2013)
Adviser: Darla Lindberg
Expanding Biophilic City Design Theory: A Study Of Incorporating Nature Into The Urban Design Elements Of Kathmandu. Moti Gurung (2013)
Adviser: Peter Aeschbacher | Committee: Madis Pihlak, Pasang Yangjee Sherpa
An Approach to Sustainable Regionalism. Moondeep Pradhananga (2013)
Adviser: Rebecca Henn | Committee: Ute Poerschke, Mallika Bose
Spatial Perception and Imagination Through Andrei Tarkovsky’s Nostalghia. Maria Jimena Guzman (2013).
Adviser: Jawaid Haider
Re-Mapping Territories of Architectural Practice: Cedric Price and the Procedures of Social Action. Aleksandar Vujkov (2012)
Adviser: Peter Aeschbacher | Committee: Denise Costanzo, Graeme Sullivan
Vulgar + Prejudice: Johann Heinrich Lambert’s Reverse Methods of Perspective. Berrin Terim (2012)
Adviser: Jodi LaCoe | Committee: Donald Kunze, Katsuhiko Muramoto
Resourceful Perspectives: Valuing Industrial Heritage in Small Towns. Craig Bastin (2012)
Adviser: Lisa Iulo | Committee: Jawaid Haider, Steven Walton
Sustainable or Not? A Case Study Challenging Traditional Architectural Design Education Through Humanitarian Design. David Mosemann (2011)
Adviser: Darla Lindberg | Committee: Jawaid Haider, Ute Poerschke
Enhancing the Environment of a Spiritual Setting in Varanasi, India. Nanditha Veeraraghavelu (2011)
Adviser: Jawaid Haider | Committee: Madhuri Desai, Ute Poerschke
Double-Shift Schools: Architectural Strategies to Counter Alienation. Gauri Kelkar (2010)
Adviser: Jawaid Haider | Committee: Darla Lindberg, Ute Poerschke
Heterotopia & Time: a search for a new connection through the Apni Mandis of Chandigarh. Susmita Rishi (2008)
Adviser: Peter Aeschbacher | Committee: Jawaid Haider, Alexandra Staub
Understanding Emergence of Systems in a City Using Complexity Theory: Analyzing the Informal Railway Markets of Mumbai. Arpita Dwijendra Mitra (2008)
Adviser: Peter Aeschbacher | Committee: Alexandra Staub, Jawaid Haider, Deryck Holdsworth
Hurricane Katrina Aftermath and Post Disaster Construction: Towards a Self-Generative Society, Gina DeLeon (2008)
Adviser: Darla Lindberg | Committee: Lisa Iulo, Ute Poerschke
Urban Co-Evolution: The Architectural Linkages Between People and Ecology, Emily Denhoed (2008)
Adviser: Lisa Iulo | Committee:, Ute Poerschke, James Wines, Loukas Kalisperis ,B. Ikubolajeh Logan
Development Without Displacement: The Making of Community Identity, Avenue of the Arts, Philadelphia. Arundhati Sett (2006)
Adviser: Jawaid Haider, Peter Aeschbacher | Committee: Alexandra Staub, Michael Rios
