Specialization:
Areas of Concentration: Twentieth and Nineteenth-Century Architecture in the United States; Design and Material Culture; Decorative Arts; Indigenous Architecture of the Americas; Exhibition Histories
Faculty Advisor: Swati Chattopadhyay
Committee Members: Richard Wittman, Manuel Shvartzberg Carrió (Urban Studies and Planning, UC San Diego)
Dissertation: "The Domesticated Landscape of War: Army Family Housing, Settler Belonging and Environmental Toxicity in the United States"
M.A. Thesis: "Dreamscapes of Domestic Fantasy: Advertising 1970s Interiors" (University of Brighton, completed 2016)
Bio:
Sylvia Faichney is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of History of Art & Architecture at The University of California, Santa Barbara, specializing in architecture in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in the United States. She is writing her dissertation on military family housing in the United States. Sylvia is a current recipient of the Margaret Mallory Fellowship. She has received support for her dissertation from the Humanities & Social Sciences Research Grant (UCSB) and The Moore Family Fellowship in The Making of the American Landscape. Additional research interests include architectural exhibitions, interior architecture and design history, and material culture. Likewise, she completed a minor exam in Indigenous architecture in the Americas. In addition to her academic interests, Sylvia has worked with various museums, including the Chicago Cultural Center, the MAK Center for Art and Design, and the Art, Design, and Architecture Museum at UC Santa Barbara. Sylvia is a Graduate Student Advisory Committee member for the Society of Architectural Historians. Before coming to UCSB, Sylvia completed her M.A. in Design History and Material Culture in 2016 at the University of Brighton, earning a Distinction.