Nicholas de Monchaux was appointed as the next dean of UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design, returning after a seven-year departure from UC Berkeley.
De Monchaux taught architecture and urban design at UC Berkeley from 2006-19. He currently serves as head of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he also teaches urban studies and planning.
“Both MIT and Berkeley are very important institutions, and I’ve had an incredible time working at both of them,” de Monchaux said. “When offered the opportunity to come back to Berkeley as dean of CED, it made a lot of sense to me … I care an enormous amount about Berkeley. I believe in its mission, and I believe in the larger institution.”
De Monchaux noted that CED stands out for its consideration of the physical environment, climate change, housing and the improvement of the resilience of cities and landscapes — particularly in California, which he described as “a laboratory of all of these issues.”
The CED was co-founded by William W. Wurster in 1959 — another dean who came to UC Berkeley from MIT. It encompasses more than 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students, including the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban studies and sustainable environmental design.
At UC Berkeley, de Monchaux helped found the Berkeley Master of Design program; at MIT, he was involved in creating the Morningside Academy for Design.
Studio One | Courtesy
Outside of academia, de Monchaux has worked on various personal and collaborative design pursuits, including “Some Movements of Models,” a project with Antikythera Journal which investigates modeling and “the landscape of simulation.” He is also a partner in the interdisciplinary architecture practice modem.
With modem, de Monchaux collaborated on a project that zooms in on the Bay Area: a 40-foot-long map of flooding and fire hazards, created with computerized typewriters and composed of craigslist text about lost and found items and missed connections. Its title, “Eureka,” is the California state motto.
“The sensibility of my creative work has always been very rooted in the nature of the Bay Area as a place,” de Monchaux said. “Leaving the Bay Area in some ways made that all the more understandable and visible, so I’m really looking forward to bringing my creative practice back to the Bay Area.”
De Monchaux’s term will begin July 2027. Until then, chair of the department of city and regional planning Daniel Chatman will serve as interim dean, following the retirement of current dean Renee Chow.