Laura Hartman, FAIA
Laura Hartman, FAIA, is LEED accredited. Laura was born in Charleston, West Virginia. She was educated at Smith College, where she received a B.A. in Art, and at the University of California at Berkeley, where she received an Masters of Architecture in 1978. At UC Berkeley, she received a Branner Fellowship from the Architecture Department to travel in Europe. Before forming Fernau + Hartman Architects with Richard Fernau in 1980, she worked with Esherick, Homsey, Dodge, and Davis in San Francisco and with Dolf Schneibli e Associati, in Agno, Switzerland. The work of Fernau & Hartman Architects has won numerous awards and has been published widely. In 1986 they were selected to participate in the “Emerging Voices” program at the Architecture League in New York. Richard and Laura have been profiled in a number publications including a substantial interview in GA Houses:64. Laura frequently taught design and drawing in the Architecture Department at UC Berkeley in the 1980s and has since taught at the University of Utah and the University of Oregon, as the Pietro Bellushi Distinguished Visiting Professor. Also an artist, Laura’s paintings and collages have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Laura frequently serves on architectural design juries; she sat on the UC Berkeley Campus Design Review Board and is currently on the Sea Ranch Design Committee. Laura’s long term interest in vernacular buildings has recently lead to research on the mining structures and landscapes of Appalachia.
Rudabeh Pakravan, AIA
Rudabeh Pakravan is a Continuing Lecturer in the Department of Architecture, College of Environmental Design UCB. She is a registered architect and a principal at Sidell Pakravan Architects, a practice based in Berkeley. In her teaching, she approaches architecture as a physical exploration of space, form, scale, and volume that in practice translates to the ways architecture creates civic and social engagement.
She is interested in how architectural form affects individual and collective experience, the rules and processes that influence building, and architecture’s influence on culture and the city. In her housing studios, she works with students to explore specific relationships between architectural elements and the public realm. Her research on architecture and public space has been published by the Annenberg School of Communication and Places Journal. Her practice currently has a number of residential, commercial, and civic projects under construction and has been recognized with Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard award for 2021.
Tim Culvahouse, FAIA
Tim Culvahouse, FAIA, is a contributing author, with Ellen Lou, to John Lund Kriken’s Building Saigon South: Sustainable Lessons for a Livable Future (2017), instigator and editor of The Tennessee Valley Authority: Design & Persuasion (2007), and editor of arcCA DIGEST, arccadigest.org, the journal of AIA California; he was previously editor of AIA California’s quarterly print journal, arcCA (2000-2012). His articles have appeared in a wide range of journals, including 306090, ANY, Architect, Art Papers, Design Book Review, Harvard Design Magazine, Modulus, Perspecta, Places, Residential Architect, and World Architecture. He has taught at Rhode Island School of Design, where he served as head of the Architecture Department, and at California College of the Arts, where he was associate dean for the Schools of Design and Architectural Studies. He has also held visiting professorships at UC Berkeley, Tulane University, and Carleton University (Ottawa). Culvahouse is past chair of the board of the San Francisco-based non-profit Public Architecture. As a professional development consultant, he helps fellow architects enrich their practices by sharing what they know.
