Galen Cranz

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Galen Cranz is a Professor of the Graduate School, Architecture at the College of Environmental Design at the University of California, Berkeley, [1] who studies the social and cultural bases of architectural and urban design. She is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, a kinesthetic educational system, who founded the new field "Body Conscious Design."

Contents

She is the author of The Politics of Park Design: A History of Urban Parks in America (1982), which surveys the rise of the park system from 1850 to the present through four stages -- "the pleasure ground, the reform park, the recreation facility and the open space system," [2] and the 1998 book The Chair: Rethinking Culture, Body, and Design.

Educational philosophy

Paying close attention to social practices can inspire architectural innovation. Social patterns are not a "straight jacket," but rather a muse. Professor Cranz wants to help students become better artistically by helping them interpret and feel social forces. Accordingly, she emphasizes ethnography in environmental design pedagogy. Her approach to teaching is learning-centered, rather than teaching-centered, so she emphasizes experiential learning. As a teacher of the Alexander Technique, she is passionate about bringing experience of the unified self back into the classroom and workplace. She established the term "Body Conscious Design"to describe a body centered approach to both product and architectural design.

Major fellowships, grants, prizes, and honors

Selected publications

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References

  1. "Galen-Cranz".
  2. "Galen Cranz - the MIT Press". Archived from the original on 2011-06-29. Retrieved 2011-02-03.