Although general faculty interests are in nineteenth and twentieth century architecture, the program is broadly conceived to encompass the architectural, cultural and political forces that have shaped the continuing discourse of modernity in architecture, including all of its contemporary manifestations.

Particular areas of faculty research include the many forms of modernity in architecture and urbanism in the traditional theatres of the West as well as the rest of the world. Subsets of these interests are: modern architecture and the decorative arts; the history and theory of preservation; architectural representation; the arts and crafts movement; and vernacular and domestic architecture. Faculty expertise also includes issues in regional and global modernity? an area of research that addresses the current demand to re-conceptualize the local-global duality and ensuing conversations of dialectical identity. Modernity in architecture is studied in both micro and macro environments. Examples of specific locations of interest include Pacific Northwest regionalism as well as colonial and postcolonial architecture in South Asia, Japan, Africa and the Middle East.