News

Scroope 33: Disenclosure! has been published

14 January 2025

The contributors to the 33rd issue of Scroope take the decolonial conception of disenclosure as a provocation to be articulated, contested, and extended through architectural thinking. Whether through critical explorations of maritime space, design praxes, humanitarian architecture, or labour in the profession, the...

Dr Fiona Smyth was on BBC Radio 4 Start the Week on Monday 16 December discussing the relationship between building design and music

13 December 2024

The episode of Start the Week will focus on 'Acoustics, music and architecture' during which Dr Smyth was interviewed as an architectural acoustic historian, and as a result of her new book published in Sept 2024: ‘Pistols in St Paul's: Science, music, and architecture in the twentieth century’ – see: https://...

Dr Ronita Bardhan to be deputy lead of the ground-breaking Singapore-based research collaboration on Health-Driven Design for Cities (HD4). HD4 seeks to discover how best to design urban environments that enhance the health of their residents

13 December 2024

Cities have high populations, traffic and infrastructure densities, leading to heat islands, noise, pollution, stress, and inadequate opportunities to be physically active or access healthy food. Investing in public health research is important to tackle the growing burden of non-communicable diseases and to develop cities...

Wrong trees in the wrong place can make cities hotter at night, study co-authored by Dr Ronita Bardhan reveals

10 December 2024

While trees can cool some cities significantly during the day, new research shows that tree canopies can also trap heat and raise temperatures at night. The study aims to help urban planners choose the best combinations of trees and planting locations to combat urban heat stress. [ Download research paper proofs here ]...

Gender inequality ingrained in global climate negotiations; a new study by our faculty members published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal

11 November 2024

Climate governance is dominated by men, yet the health impacts of the climate crisis often affect women, girls, and gender-diverse people disproportionately, argue researchers ahead of the upcoming 29th United Nations Climate Summit (COP29) in Azerbaijan. In an article published today in Lancet Planetary Health , a team of...

The Department's Dr Tao DuFour has guest edited the current issue of 'Future Anterior' Journal

30 October 2024

'Future Anterior' is a Journal of Historic Preservation History, Theory, and Criticism and 'an international point of reference for the critical examination of historic preservation', published by the University of Minnesota Press. The issue that Dr DuFour edited focuses on 'Space and Heritage' and is out now. For more...

The Department welcomes new Assistant Professors Dr Fiona Smyth and Dr Carolina Vasilikou

26 October 2024

Fiona's research lies at the interface between the history of architecture and the history of science with particular interest in the history of environmental design and its fundamental relevance to cultural studies of sound and the history of ideas. Fiona's approach draws strongly on archive work, field work, iconography...

MArch student Martha Minton unveils 'The Stack,' a design-build pavilion at Jesus College

24 October 2024

The Department would like to congratulate Martha Minton, a final-year MArch student, on the completion of ‘The Stack,’ a pavilion at Jesus College. Martha led the design and build of the pavilion, which is constructed wholly from reclaimed or surplus materials sourced by the Maintenance Department at the College. The Stack...

Ofsted has declared apprenticeships at the University of Cambridge to be Outstanding across all five of its metrics, including quality of education and leadership, following its visit in September

22 October 2024

ofsted_apprenticeship_carousel.jpg This was the first time that our MSt in Architecture (degree apprenticeship) had been inspected and the result is further evidence of the impact of our innovatory programme. Professor Timothy Brittain-Catlin said: we are delighted that Ofsted has recognised the hard work contributed by...

The Department congratulates alumnus Ran Xiao on being named a 'Rising Star' by the RIBA Journal

22 October 2024

This recognition highlights Ran's work at Planarific, a company founded at the end of his PhD at the Department. Ran writes, 'My PhD research in machine learning applications in architecture, completed in 2023 at the Department, laid the foundation for Planarific. The support and entrepreneurial training I received from...