Roudbari, Shawhin

Research

research overview

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

Publications

selected publications

book
- An Architecture of Dialogue Learning from the Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse 2019
chapter
conference proceeding
journal article
- "Because we're dying in here": A study of environmental vulnerability and climate risks in incarceration infrastructure. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space. 2437-2465. 2024
- Neoliberal Multiculturalism and Changing Colonial Racial Hierarchies in International Development. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity. 249-263. 2024
- Hazards and Incarceration Facilities: Evaluating Facility-Level Exposure to Floods, Wildfires, Extreme Heat, and Landslides in Colorado. Natural Hazards Review. 2024
- CONTEXT: A SUBVERSIVE ACT OF COMMUNING. Architect -Hanley Wood-. 22-22. 2023
- THE DARK MATTER ISSUE : FRAMING. Architect -Hanley Wood-. 8-9. 2023

Teaching

courses taught

ARCH 4010 - Architectural Appreciation and Design
Primary Instructor - 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 - Spring 2021
The capstone of the studio sequence, this course investigates building technology, structural systems, user experience, and environmental sustainability. Studio options may include a client-based community engaged project, real world applications, and/or result in a physical product. Outcomes include well developed structures designed with a high level of craft, resulting in sophisticated and exhibit-worthy presentations. Recommended corequisite: ARCH 4115.
ENVD 1004 - Introduction to Environmental Design
Primary Instructor - 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 Program in Environmental Design (ARPLU) majors.
ENVD 1010 - Studio 1: Introduction to Environmental Products of Design
Primary Instructor - Fall 2020
The first of four introductory studios 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.
ENVD 1020 - Studio 1: Introduction to Architecture
Primary Instructor - Fall 2021 / Fall 2024
The second of four introductory studios introduces students to strategies and techniques of architectural design and communication in a hands-on studio environment. Students design a small-scale architectural project that responds to environmental, contextual and programmatic needs while developing the necessary skills for iterative design processes.

ENVD 1030 - Studio 1: Introduction to Landscape Architecture
Primary Instructor - Spring 2024
The third of four introductory studios exposes students to concepts and strategies inherent to the practice of landscape architecture. Students analyze and design ecological related systems within an urban context in this immersive studio environment.

ENVD 1040 - Studio 1: Introduction to Planning and Urban Design
Primary Instructor - Spring 2020 / Spring 2024
The fourth of four introductory studios in which students learn 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.

ENVD 1052 - Design and Communication 1
Primary Instructor - 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 - 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 Architecture
Primary Instructor - Fall 2019
Focusing on the languages of design, as well as on traditional and digital methods of visualizing architectural ideas and forms, this course builds on the skills learned in Studio 1 and begins incorporating the dynamic forces that shape our buildings.

ENVD 4361 - Special Topics: Social Factors in Design
Primary Instructor - Fall 2019
Addresses variable topics in the relationship of human experience and behavior to the built environment, e.g., social research methods in environmental design.

ENVD 4364 - Special Topics: History and Historiography of Environmental Design
Primary Instructor - Fall 2018
Provides an advanced seminar on history and historiography of environmental design, e.g., American dwellings.

ENVD 4929 - Research Assistant
Primary Instructor - 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
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018 / Spring 2020 / Fall 2020 / Spring 2021 / Fall 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2024
Working with an advisor, students prepare, complete, and defend an honors thesis project, either written or creative.

ENVD 5346 - Spec Topics: Environmental Design
Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
Graduate level topics vary from semester to semester.

PLAN 3102 - Strategies and Techniques for Sustainable Planning and Design
Primary Instructor - 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.

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