Adèle Naudé Santos

Adèle Naudé Santos, FAIA, is a Professor and served as the Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning from 2004 to 2015. Prior to that she was professor at the University of California, Berkeley, College of Environmental Design where her academic focus was the design of housing environments.

Professor Santos has an AA Diploma from the Architectural Association in London. She also received a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University as well as a Master of Architecture and a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Her academic career includes professorships at University of California Berkeley, Harvard University, Rice University, and the University of Pennsylvania, where she also served as Chair of the Department of Architecture. She was the founding Dean of the new School of Architecture at UC San Diego and has had numerous visiting appointments around the world, including Italy and in her native South Africa.

In addition to her academic work, she is principal architect in the San Francisco-based firm, Santos Prescott and Associates. Her architectural and planning projects include affordable and luxury housing and institutional buildings in Africa: South Africa, Swaziland, and Botswana; affordable housing in California and Japan; the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia; the Center for the Arts at Albright College, Reading, PA; the Yerba Buena Gardens Children’s Center in San Francisco; City Links, A Vision Plan for San Diego. She is currently working in Guatemala on a children’s center, and has several projects under construction in China.

Dean Santos has received housing awards and honors including the 2009 Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education. She has won numerous competitions for projects including the Perris Civic Center (CA), three facilities at Arts Park (CA), the Affordable Prototypical Multi-Family Housing for Franklin/LaBrea in Los Angeles, and Penn Children’s Center (PA).

Most recently at MIT she was the Principle Investigator for a two year study for Sekisui House, Japan, on sustainable urban housing and community 2050. She, along with fellow MIT faculty and students, have begun a research project with a major firm in China to design and construct a demonstration business park.

She serves as a juror for numerous national and international design competitions and award programs and has published extensively in journals and books.

She holds N.C.A.R.B. Certification, is a registered architect in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania and is a Member of the Pennsylvania Society of Architects, the American Institute of Architects, and the Architect’s Registration Council, UK.