specialization History and theory of architecture, especially British, German and Californian, from the 19th century onwards, urbanism and the debate about the modern city since the 19th century; historiography of modern architecture; history and theory of sustainable architecture
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office hours T 10-11 Arts 1233
phone 805 893 5875
Ph.D. University of Edinburgh
Volker M. Welter studied architecture at the Technische Universität Berlin and received his Ph.D. in history of architecture from the University of Edinburgh. He has worked as architectural historian in Berlin, in Scotland (University of Edinburgh and Strathclyde University, Glasgow), and in England (University of Reading). 1998-2000 Recipient of a Senior Research Grant, Getty Grant Program, Los Angeles. Since 2003, he directs the undergraduate emphasis Architecture and Environment at the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, UCSB. During the Academic Year 2007-8, he received a senior fellowship of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. During summer 2009, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Centre Canadien d'Architecture, Montreal.
His research focuses on Western, in particular British, German and Californian, architecture and urbanism since the late 19th century onwards, especially the interactions between architectural, philosophical, sociological, and environmental thought. The critique of Modernism in architecture and urbanism, in particular narratives that are critical of Enlightenment and Modernity, are another area of his scholarly interest. Moreover, his teaching and research are shaped by his interest in the aesthetics of architecture, especially in relation to theories about both the aesthetic and the perception of nature.
His latest book is Biopolis-Patrick Geddes and the City of Life (Cambridge, Ma., 2002, reprint 2003). More recent publications have focused on mid-20th century urbanism, for example, 'From Locus Genii to Heart of the City-Embracing the Spirit of the City,' in The Spirit of the City in Modernity, ed. by I. B. Whyte (London, 2003); 'In-Between Space and Society-On some British Roots of Team 10's Urban Thought in the 1950s', in Team 10, 1951-81-In Search of the Utopia of the Present, ed. Max Risselada and Dirk van den Heuvel (Rotterdam, 2005) , and 'Everywhere at any Time-Post-World War Two Genealogies of the Modern City,' in The Man-Made Future: Planning, Education and Design in the mid-twentieth Century, ed. by I. B. Whyte (London, 2007). Amoung his forthcoming publications are 'The 1925 Master Plan for Tel-Aviv by Patrick Geddes'. Israel Studies (2009); 'Museum Architecture', Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (2010); and 'The Limits of Community--The Possibilities of Society: On Modern Architecture in Weimar German', Oxford Art Journal (2010).
He has just completed a book manuscript on the bourgeois modern architecture of Ernst L. Freud, the architect son of Sigmund Freud. His essay 'Ernst L Freud-Domestic Architect,' was published in the Yearbook of the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies (London, 2005).
undergraduate courses Introduction to Architecture and Environment Architecture and Monumentality in the Twentieth Century Revival Styles in Southern Californian Architecture Modern Architecture in Southern California, 1890s to the present ‘It’s not Easy Being Green’ - History and Aesthetics of Sustainable Architecture State Street Santa Barbara (undergraduate seminar) Campus Architecture (undergraduate seminar) Santa Barbara Architects (undergraduate seminar) Modern Architecture in Southern California, c. 1890s to the Present
graduate seminars 2003 Gazing at the (Urban) Environment 2004 Organic, Biological, and Natural Metaphors in Architecture 2005 History and Theory of Conservation and Restoration in Architecture 2005 Expressionism in German Architecture 2007 The Architecture of Museums and Painting Galleries 2008 Reading of Space and Spatiality: Aesthetics, Gestaltpsychology, Sociology, Phenomenology, Art History, Theory of Architecture 2009 Domesticity/Interiority
Volker M. Welter studied architecture at the Technische Universität Berlin and received his Ph.D. in history of architecture from the University of Edinburgh. He has worked as architectural historian in Berlin, in Scotland (University of Edinburgh and Strathclyde University, Glasgow), and in England (University of Reading). 1998-2000 Recipient of a Senior Research Grant, Getty Grant Program, Los Angeles. Since 2003, he directs the undergraduate emphasis Architecture and Environment at the Department of the History of Art and Architecture, UCSB. During the Academic Year 2007-8, he received a senior fellowship of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. During summer 2009, he was a Visiting Scholar at the Centre Canadien d'Architecture, Montreal.
His research focuses on Western, in particular British, German and Californian, architecture and urbanism since the late 19th century onwards, especially the interactions between architectural, philosophical, sociological, and environmental thought. The critique of Modernism in architecture and urbanism, in particular narratives that are critical of Enlightenment and Modernity, are another area of his scholarly interest. Moreover, his teaching and research are shaped by his interest in the aesthetics of architecture, especially in relation to theories about both the aesthetic and the perception of nature.
His latest book is Biopolis-Patrick Geddes and the City of Life (Cambridge, Ma., 2002, reprint 2003). More recent publications have focused on mid-20th century urbanism, for example, 'From Locus Genii to Heart of the City-Embracing the Spirit of the City,' in The Spirit of the City in Modernity, ed. by I. B. Whyte (London, 2003); 'In-Between Space and Society-On some British Roots of Team 10's Urban Thought in the 1950s', in Team 10, 1951-81-In Search of the Utopia of the Present, ed. Max Risselada and Dirk van den Heuvel (Rotterdam, 2005) , and 'Everywhere at any Time-Post-World War Two Genealogies of the Modern City,' in The Man-Made Future: Planning, Education and Design in the mid-twentieth Century, ed. by I. B. Whyte (London, 2007). Amoung his forthcoming publications are 'The 1925 Master Plan for Tel-Aviv by Patrick Geddes'. Israel Studies (2009); 'Museum Architecture', Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (2010); and 'The Limits of Community--The Possibilities of Society: On Modern Architecture in Weimar German', Oxford Art Journal (2010). 
He has just completed a book manuscript on the bourgeois modern architecture of Ernst L. Freud, the architect son of Sigmund Freud. His essay 'Ernst L Freud-Domestic Architect,' was published in the Yearbook of the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies (London, 2005).