Robert Williams

roblwilliams@umass.edu

Design Building Room 345

Robert is an assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Rob earned a M.Arch from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2010 and a B.A in Philosophy and Physics from Cornell University in 2005. He is a practicing architect currently licensed in Massachusetts and a certified passive house consultant.

Rob's professional work to date and research interests explore both how the built environment can respond to the changing climate to become more energy efficient, sustainable, and resilient and also how these technical challenges become opportunities for architectural invention and expression. He is interested in these questions across a variety of scales, from urban design and the city down to details and building technology. In particular, Rob is an expert in high-performance, low-energy, and low-carbon residential architecture, including both single-family and multi-family housing.

At UMass, Rob teaches a variety of studio design courses and supporting technical courses at both the graduate and undergraduate level. Courses taught include Graduate Design Studio III, Graduate Design Studio II, Integration Studio, Undergraduate Design Studio II, Undergraduate Design Studio V, and Analysis and Representation I. He regularly advises M.Arch theses, and also coordinates the department's Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure (IPAL) program to support students interested in taking their architectural registration exams while in school.

Alongside his teaching and research, Rob maintains a professional affiliation with Truth Box Architects, a small, nationally recognized architecture and development firm based in Providence RI that specializes in sustainable, energy efficient design, and urban infill projects. During his almost eight years with Truth Box, he led the design of a series of high-performance mixed-use, multi-family buildings in and around Providence, including what is anticipated to be the first certified passive-house multifamily building in the state. Prior to Truth Box, Rob worked at Stempel Form PC in rural Utah on a series of energy efficient homes and site design in a fragile desert landscape.