Douglas E. Noble, Ph.D., FAIA, FTI Fellow
Professor
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- Phone:(213) 740-4589 (213) 740‑2723
BS in Architecture and B.Arch, Cal Poly Pomona M.Arch and Ph.D., UC Berkeley
Douglas Noble joined the faculty of the USC School of Architecture in 1991. His research is focused on advancing the knowledge base in the overlapping arenas of building science/technology, critical design reasoning and architectural education, especially in the field of façade tectonics, design information systems, early-career advancement, and doctoral education in architecture. He maintains a deep commitment to a collaborative and student-centric career in which his research and service are mutually reinforcing. He has provided research and teaching leadership in the early years of the transformation of the profession toward digital workflows, and he fosters the use of the building sciences and natural forces as design drivers.
Noble was elevated to Fellowship in the American Institute of Architects in 2003, and he has been selected for many presentations at AIA National Conventions. He serves on the scientific review committees of several scholarly journals and conferences and is a past-president of the Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture. He has been named a nationally “most admired” faculty member in architecture three times.
He has served two terms as Associate Dean, Director of the Graduate Building Science program, and he founded and led the Ph.D. program.
He has become most well-known for work with building enclosures and the co-founding of the internationally recognized Façade Tectonics Institute as well as his work in creating the NotLY program supporting licensing preparation and early career professionals.
With support from the PCI Foundation, he led a team of students and faculty in the design and fabrication of the Carapace Pavilion, located in Joshua Tree National Park. This project has won six significant awards, including awards from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and the Precast / Prestressed Concrete Institute (PCI).
Noble has a passion for National Parks, and has created an interdisciplinary course at USC titled “Exploring America’s National Parks.” His current research involves the design and fabrication of tiny homes for seasonal Rangers at Joshua Tree National Park.
Noble is an affiliated faculty member of the Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability.
Related Links: bcf.usc.edu/~dnoble/
- 370Architectural Studies- Expanding the FieldArchitectural Studies- Expanding the FieldArchitecture 370, Introduction to Architectural Studies, provides a thorough overview of the content and value of architectural education. Students will learn about the various modes of architectural education, internship and practice. ARCH 370 introduces the broad range of opportunities, specializations, and related professions that an architectural education can enable. For the four-year degree in Architectural Studies, a resource for professional growth in the Bachelor of Architecture five-year program, and an introduction to the profession of architecture for the non-major. No special background or skills are required that would place non-majors at a disadvantage. With successful completion of this course, students will have been personally exposed to and investigated a variety of professional options within traditional architectural practice, within the development and construction industry and within a variety of associated professional fields. Successful professionals will share first-hand accounts of their unique careers that resulted from their interest in architecture. You will have the opportunity to hear what it takes to get there from here and to ask questions of a wide variety of leading professionals.
- 499An Exploration of America’s National ParksAn Exploration of America’s National Parks
The National Parks are truly one of America’s best ideas. Our National Parks are much more than simply recreational lands. The parks offer opportunities for learning and engagement in the sciences, arts, environmental design, leadership, culture, heritage, law, and policy. This course will provide an integrated multi-disciplinary overview of our national parks from the unique perspectives of the teaching and research of the combined expertise of a broad coalition of more than 20 faculty members from the University of Southern California, plus topic experts from the National Park Service.
- 692aLBuilding Science ThesisBuilding Science Thesis
This course has several coincident agendas. We will complete the Master’s Thesis for the Building Science program which each student has developed in preceding 596 and 692a classes. But in the process, we will address a broad range of ancillary topics. We will create a “culture of learning” as part of the course. Although it is a studio course, there will be guest lecturers, lectures of assigned topics and periodic reviews, as well as normal studio time. We will review the scientific method in general and as it applies to each thesis topic. We will consider the value and impact of investigative tools in the process and product of Architecture. We will write papers which could be submitted to conferences or journals as a prototype of technology transfer (and a measure of the value and validity of the material.) Those of you who have had abstracts accepted will use the abstracts as topics for these papers. We will do several interim presentations to the first year students and to outside consultants and to committee members, prior to the final presentation. We will examine topics in Building Science which are of current interest, whether or not one of the current theses addresses these topics. We will write the thesis in several stages, so that there is opportunity to modify and improve both the research and the writing prior to the thesis due date. Prior to the due date, each student will produce a thesis in the format acceptable to the University and with content acceptable to all committee members. Finally, each student will produce a shorter version of the thesis material in a format consistent with publication. In the process, each student will learn something about the content area of each other student’s thesis.
Prerequisite(s): ARCH 596