Adèle Naudé Santos is Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as well as principal architect in the San Francisco-based firm, Santos Prescott and Associates.
She is an architect and urban designer whose career combines professional practice, research, and teaching.
Her academic career includes professorships within the graduate programs of UC Berkeley, Harvard, Rice University, and the University of Pennsylvania, where she also served as Chairman of the Department of Architecture. She was appointed Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT in 2004.
She was also the founding Dean of the new School of Architecture at the University of California, San Diego, and has had numerous visiting appointments throughout the United States and the world, including Italy and in her native South Africa.
Adèle Naudé Santos graduated from the Architectural Association (AA) in London (1961) and continued her studies in the United States, receiving Masters of Architecture and a Masters of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania (1968) and a Masters of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard University (1963).
Her earliest projects, built in South Africa, Swaziland and Botswana, included affordable and luxury housing as well as institutional buildings with very low budgets. She later completed projects throughout the United States and in Japan. Her projects include the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia; the Center for the Arts at Albright College, Reading, PA; and the Yerba Buena Gardens Children’s Center in San Francisco.
In 1996, she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), and 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/La Brea in Los Angeles; and the Penn Children’s Center, PA.
Adèle Naudé Santos was member of the Holcim Awards global jury in 2006 and a member of the Holcim Awards jury for region North America in 2005 and 2008.
[last update 23-Aug-10]