Education: A.B., Princeton University; M.Arch., Yale University

Background: William Sherman is the Associate Dean of Academics in the School of Architecture, an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture and a practicing architect. His research and teaching have been focused for many years on the relationship between architecture and the city from the perspective of the cultural responsibilities of technology. Currently, he teaches graduate design studios and is the Director of the graduate Venice Program. At the undergraduate level, his required fourth year technology course, Building III: Elastic Boundaries, investigates the role of the built environment in mediating human experience and dynamic natural systems. As Associate Dean for Academics, he is assisting with the creation of new relationships between faculty in the School of Architecture's four fields, both among the departments and across University grounds, in order to open fresh perspectives for research and teaching.
Three related areas of study currently comprise his research: the exploration of the perceptual link between ecological systems and physiological responses as a fundamental property of architecture, with perception being the first step to understandings of responsibility; the critical reconsideration of architectural and urban spaces of the contemporary city in relation to the support of intergenerational relationships, with the University's Institute for Aging; and the work of his practice.
In his practice, William Sherman is focused on charging the ordinary events of everyday life with an enriched perception of the specific place, time and cultural context of the experience. Through the design of projects ranging in scale from an addition to the School of Architecture, a cohousing community, houses, housing and museum renovations, he works with modest materials to structure a setting for new institutional, communal and personal relationships. Mr. Sherman's work has received a number of awards from the American Institute of Architects and has been published in Progressive Architecture and Architecture magazines.