I’m an associate professor in Environmental Design at the University of Colorado Boulder. I study ways designers organize to address social problems and human rights abuses by bridging sociological studies of social movements and race with architectural theory. Supported by the National Science Foundation and community impact grants, my research contributes to theories/practices of contentious politics and employs ethnographic and speculative design methods. I’m a founding member of the DissentXDesign research collective, which has published work in sociological, architectural, and interdisciplinary journals. I organize with Dark Matter University (DMU) and serve as a co-director of the Center for Community-Engaged Design and Research (CEDaR) at CU Boulder.
keywords
design professions, spatial professions, architecture, activism, dissent, contentious politics, institutional culture, social movements, political engagement, race, racism, white supremacy, Iran
ARCH 3114 - History and Theory of Architecture 1
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Fall 2025
Focusing on buildings, surveys the built environment starting with some of the first structures built by humans and moving through time to the Industrial Revolution. The course focuses on the development of major styles, influential people, and the drivers of building form. Recommended corequisite: ARCH 3100.
ARCH 4010 - Architectural Appreciation and Design
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018
Introduces basic processes and principles of architectural design. Provides a basis for understanding and evaluating architecture.
ARCH 4100 - Studio 3: Capstone in Architecture
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2021
Engages students in complex design challenges such as integrating building technology, structural systems, user experiences, and environmental sustainability. Students will focus on contemporary architectural issues within the profession and produce design proposals that address key topics such as climate-resilient, human-centric, and systematically responsive design solutions. Recommended corequisite: ARCH 4115.
ENVD 1004 - Introduction to Environmental Design
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Fall 2023
Introduces methods, principles and philosophies that guide environmental design. Explores ways of thinking about, and accomplishing, the act of design. Students contemplate the processes and motivations behind design decisions including discussions of environmental sustainability and social responsibility. Required for majors in Environmental Design (ARCH, EPOD, LAND, PLAN) and open option (ENVD).
ENVD 1010 - Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2020
Introduces students to concepts and techniques related to the design of products at a human scale. In an immersive project-based studio environment students develop the foundation of design communication and thinking through a series of hands-on projects with physical outcomes. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1010, Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design is taken the first 7-weeks of the semester, followed by ENVD 1020, Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture, taken in the second 7-weeks of the semester, along with ENVD 1002, Technology 1: Applications for Environmental Design, a 14-week class that is taught alongside the two 7-week studios.
ENVD 1020 - Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2021 / Fall 2024 / Fall 2025
Introduces students to strategies and techniques of architectural design and communication in a hands-on studio environment. Students explore architectural form-making and design opportunities through an iterative design process culminating with a small-scale architectural project that responds to environmental, contextual and programmatic needs. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1020, Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture, an 7-week class which is taken in the second half of the first semester. ENVD 1010, Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design, taken during the first 7-weeks of the semester, and ENVD 1002, Technology 1: Applications for Environmental Design is a 14-week class that is taught alongside the two 7-week studios.
ENVD 1030 - Studio 1: Introduction to Landscape Architecture
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2024 / Spring 2026
Exposes students to concepts and strategies inherent to the practice of landscape architecture. Students design for biodiversity, climate resilience and human and beyond human physical and mental health within an urban context. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1030, Studio 1: Introduction to Landscape Architecture, taken the first 8-weeks of the semester, followed by ENVD 1040, Studio 1: Introduction to Sustainable Planning and Urban Design, taken in the second 8-weeks of the semester, along with ENVD 1012, Technology 2: Visual Communications, a 16-week class that is taught alongside the two 8-week studios.
ENVD 1040 - Studio 1: Introduction to Sustainable Planning and Urban Design
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020 / Spring 2024
Explores concepts and strategies related to urban planning and design. Students collaboratively develop a design solution to a small-scale problem within an urban fabric using basic skills of analysis and design iteration. Course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1040, Studio 1: Introduction to Sustainable Planning and Urban Design, an 8-week class which is taken in the second half of the first semester. ENVD 1030, Studio 1: Introduction to Landscape Architecture, taken during the first 8-weeks of the semester, and ENVD 1012, Technology 2: Visual Communications, a 16-week class that is taught alongside the two 8-week studios.
ENVD 1052 - Design and Communication 1
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Fall 2018
Using both lectures and drawing exercises, this class extends understandings of the representational conventions used by the design professions through its introduction to the possibilities offered by emerging digital techniques for the depiction of designed artifacts and environments, allowing students to extend and enhance their understandings of advanced practices for design visualization, representation and communication. Recommended corequisites: ENVD 1004 and ENVD 2001.
ENVD 1102 - Design and Communication 2
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018
Using both lectures and drawing exercises, this class extends understandings of the representational conventions used by the design professions through its introduction to the possibilities offered by traditional techniques for the advanced practices for design visualization, representation, and communication. Recommended corequisites: ENVD 1104 and ENVD 2003.
ENVD 1120 - Studio 2: Fundamentals of Environmental Design 2
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019
Explores the core principles shared across environmental design disciplines, including Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Environmental Product Design, and Sustainable Planning and Urban Design. Through a multidisciplinary studio approach, students engage in spatial problem-solving, sustainable design strategies, peer-to-peer collaboration, and design thinking. Hands-on projects challenge students to apply foundational tools and methods to real-world challenges, considering social, environmental, and cultural impacts in both built and natural environments. The course is part of a co-requisite sequence: ENVD 1120, Studio 2: Fundamentals of Design 2, a 7-week class which is taken in the second half of the first semester. ENVD 1110, Studio 2: Fundamentals of Environmental Design 1, taken during the first 7-weeks of the semester, and ENVD 1022, Technology 3: Intermediate Applications for Environmental Design, a 14-week class that is taught alongside the two 7-week studios.
ENVD 4361 - Topics in Environmental Design: Social Factors
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Fall 2019 / Spring 2026
Addresses variable topics in the relationship of human experience and behavior to the built environment, e.g., social research methods in environmental design. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours.
ENVD 4929 - Research Assistant
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022
By special arrangement with instructor. May be repeated up to 6 total credit hours. Recommended prerequisite: 3.00 GPA.
ENVD 4979 - Honors Thesis
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2024 / Spring 2025
Working with an advisor, students prepare, complete, and defend a research-based honors thesis project, in an area of Environmental Design. May be repeated up to 3 total credit hours.
PLAN 3102 - Strategies and Techniques for Sustainable Planning and Urban Design
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020 / Spring 2021 / Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
Explores analytical strategies and techniques in applied research and professional skills needed in sustainable planning and design. Includes quantitative and qualitative methods used by planners and designers to make informed decisions.
