DOCTORAL STUDENT PROFILES
ALEXANDER BALA
Alexander Bala is a Ph.D. candidate in Architectural History at the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech and Master of Arts in Architectural History from UT Austin, and was a Fulbright fellow in Poland during the 2018/2019 academic year. His doctoral dissertation examines the relationship between East Central European architects who participated in the final meeting of the Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne (CIAM) in Otterlo, Netherlands (1959), and humanist Marxist philosophy.
Dissertation: Form Follows Praxis: The Parallel Humanisms of Modernist Architecture and Marxist Philosophy in East Central Europe, 1945-1975
Committee members: Dr. Christopher Long, Dr. Danilo Udovički-Selb, Dr. Bryan Norwood, Dr. Alla Vronskaya (external), Dr. Łukasz Stanek (external).
MELANIE R. BALL
Melanie R. Ball is a Ph.D. student in architectural history at UT Austin School of Architecture. Her research explores housing’s role as a technology of governance and the legacies of modernism embedded in late-twentieth-century housing initiatives in the United States. Her dissertation investigates the relationship between the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s national-scale industrial housing program, Operation Breakthrough (1969–1974), and the perpetuation of “urban crisis” as a narrative. This project illuminates how housing, both spatially and ideologically, constructed Cold War conceptions of citizenship and national imaginaries of race and class on a globalized stage.
Melanie earned her MA in the Department of Art History, Theory & Criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She worked at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara, and holds a BA in the history of art and architecture from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Mónica del Arenal
Mónica del Arenal’s Ph.D. research focuses on Viceregal Mexico, addressing bullrings in New Spain, their function in city- and place-making, and their relationship with the extensive transpacific/transatlantic exchanges during the colonial period. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture and a master’s in Restoration of Monuments of Architecture from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, in Barcelona; she has an Advanced Diploma in Historic Buildings, Collections, and Sites: Sustainable Strategies for Conservation, Management, and Use, from University College London.
Mónica has curated two major exhibitions: Mid-century Modern Architecture in Guadalajara (MoMo GDL-MX), and Arquitectos y Muralistas. Casas Estudio del Siglo 20 en México, held at the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo. She is editor of the Architectural Guide of Guadalajara-Arquine, author of the book Guadalajara, co author of a series of modern architecture publications, and producer of the documentary Los Constructores de la Guadalajara Moderna.
Gulce Erincik
Gulce Erincik is a Ph.D. student in Sustainability at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul and a Master of Science in Architecture from Bilkent University in Ankara. With a background in architecture and architectural technologies, Gulce focuses on sustainable building practices, particularly their application in urban environments. Her research examines how design strategies influence the operational and embodied carbon footprints of multifamily residential buildings and explores ways to integrate low-environmental impact design approaches into architectural practice. She advances her work by employing various methods and tools, such as building energy modeling, climate simulations, parametric design, and data analysis.
Faculty advisor: Dr. Juliana Felkner
RASHMI GAJARE
Currently focusing on the use of 3D digital documentation and modeling for historic preservation in earthquake-prone zones with diverse geographical, cultural, and economic backgrounds, Rashmi Gajare examines intersections of emerging technologies and historic preservation. Her broader interests lie in understanding commonalities or disparities of using ‘acultural’, synthetic, and ‘neutral’ technologies in the fundamentally subjective field of historic preservation practice, specifically with differences between 'western' 'colonial' 'post-WWII' and 'non-western' indigenous' preservation theories. Her analyses comment on the social, philosophical, and practical aspects of ideas such as Jirnoddhaara; culturally varying concepts of progression of time; patina of age; global codification of conservation rules and their influence on preservation practices in the west and the global south, focusing on India.
Mumini Damilola Osuolale
Mumini Damilola Osuolale is a Ph.D. student in Sustainability at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. His research focuses on a multi-dimensional analysis of Net Zero strategies, classifying approaches and evaluating their effectiveness across various sectors. His work aims to advance architectural sustainability by developing scalable framework for implementing and assessing Net Zero solutions in diverse built environments. He holds a Bachelor of Technology and Master of Technology in Architecture from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. He also has a Master of Science in Project Management from Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, bringing a unique global perspective to his studies. Osuolale’s professional experience as a teaching assistant, architectural designer in Nigeria, and project coordinator in the UK has deepened his understanding of sustainable design challenges across different contexts.
Parastou Naghibi Rad
Parastou Naghibi Rad is a Ph.D. student at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture in the Sustainable Design program. Her research focuses on the interdisciplinary exploration of neuroarchitecture, sustainable design and human-centered architecture. Her work investigates the impact of architectural features, such as building materials, visual forms and environmental conditions on human emotions, cognitions, thermal comfort and overall well-being. She is particularly interested in optimizing indoor environments to enhance occupants’ satisfaction and well-being, with an emphasis on integrating neuroscience and sustainable practices. Her studies and research also delve into the cognitive, emotional and physiological responses of occupants to built environments, emphasizing the importance of material effects and thermal comfort in designing healthier, and more sustainable environments.
Faculty advisor: Dr. Aleksandra Jaeschke
Irina Rivero
Irina Rivero’s work explores the intersections of Latin America’s built environment, its narratives, the sociopolitical changes related to landscapes of dependency, and its crosspollinations. Her current research focuses on uncovering the roots of the exceptionalism label attached to contemporary Paraguayan architecture and illuminating its intertwined relationship with the geopolitical and cultural changes in the region of the Cuenca del Plata in the period between 1980 to 2000.
Irina holds a MA in architectural history from UT Austin, a Master in Architecture and Urban Culture from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya/CCCB, and a BArch also from UTSOA. She has practiced architectural design, assisted teaching architectural history and studio, and organized and directed experimental workshops, and is a co-founder of the group Experiencia Fronteriza.
Daichi Shigemoto
Daichi Shigemoto is a Ph.D. candidate in architectural history at the School of Architecture, The University of Texas at Austin. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in architecture at Waseda University, Tokyo. He was also a special student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he began his study on the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who was from Wisconsin. His doctoral dissertation titled “Hideto Kishida: Mediator between Modernism and Japanese-ness in Architecture” examines the backgrounds from which post-World War II Japanese architecture epitomized by the works of several important architects such as Kunio Maekawa (1905–1986986) and Kenzo Tange (1913–2005) emerged, through the life and work of the architect Hideto Kishida (1899–1966).
Dissertation Committee: Dr. Christopher Long, Dr. Danilo Udovički-Selb, Dr. Mirka Beneš, Dr. Kevin Nute (University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa), and Dr. Ken Tadashi Oshima (University of Washington).
Susan Singh
Susan Singh is a Ph.D. student in Architectural History at The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture. Her research interest lies at the intersection of the history of construction and building technology and preservation of twentieth-century modernism. She enjoys exploring the origins and evolution of innovation within the modern built environment, especially structural expression in the material of concrete. In July 2024 she received a travel award to visit Italy to learn concrete conservation and educational techniques with the Pier Luigi Nervi Foundation. Her aim is to create an interpretive history program to educate the American public on the significant role technological ingenuity has played in shaping the nation’s contemporary built environment. Susan holds a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dissertation Committee: Michael Holleran (UTSOA advisor), Chris Long (UTSOA), Bryan Norwood (UTSOA), Bruce Hunt (History Department), Thomas Leslie (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).
Ulrike Unterweger
Ulrike (Ulli) Unterweger is a doctoral student in Architectural History at the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin. She studied Art History and Russian at the University of Vienna and the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow. She previously worked for the Austrian artist Franz West and the Franz West Foundation. Her research explores histories of the built environment through different methodological lenses that challenge traditional disciplinary boundaries and incorporate new methodologies in cultural studies. Her dissertation project titled “Claims from the Margins: Group Activism and Strategies of Place-making in Vienna’s Built Environment, 1870-1938” focuses on the ways in which social, political, and cultural movements (re)interpreted the meaning of architecture and urban spaces in Central Europe around the turn of the twentieth century. She was awarded a Donald D. Harrington Graduate Fellowship (2018-2023) for her doctoral studies at UT Austin.