Douglas E. Noble

Douglas E. Noble
Douglas E. Noble, Ph.D., FAIA
Born	Miami, Florida
Known for	Architectural Computing, Building Science, Architecture Education, Design Theories and Methods
Title	Architect
Academic work
Discipline	Architecture, Building Science
Institutions	University of California at Berkeley, University of Southern California, Facade Tectonics Institute, CLIPPER Lab

Douglas E. Noble is an American architect and tenured faculty member at the USC School of Architecture. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. He is known for his work in four overlapping arenas: Architectural Computing, Building Science, Architecture Education, and Design Theories and Methods. He received the ACSA/AIAS New Faculty Teaching Award in 1995, and the ACSA Creative Achievement Award in 2013 He was named among the "10 most admired educators" in architecture in 2010 and was selected as a "most admired educator" again in 2015

Noble completed a Bachelor of Science in Architecture and a Bachelor of Architecture at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, and both a Master of Architecture and Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley. His doctoral dissertation built on the work of Horst Rittel by creating a computer supported Issue-Based Information System. Noble taught for a few years at UC Berkeley and then joined the faculty of the USC School of Architecture in 1991. Noble has taught at USC since 1991, focusing on architectural computing, building science, and design theories and methods. He has written more than 100 articles, and collaborated with noted architects and educators, including Pierre Koenig, Horst Rittel, and Ralph Lewis Knowles. He served as Associate Dean of the School from 2007-2009, and has served as Chair of the Ph.D. program and Director of Graduate Building Science since 2009.

With Karen M. Kensek, he founded the CLIPPER Lab at USC in 1991 in support of research and education in architectural computing. With Karen Kensek, he conducted early architecture design studio experiments including a "supercomputing studio" in 1988 (among the first design studio to use a Cray Supercomputer in support of a design studio) and one of the first fully "paperless studios" in 1993. After serving as Editor of the ACADIA Quarterly for four years, he was elected president of the ACADIA (Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture) in 1998.

With Kensek and Mic Patterson, he founded the Facade Tectonics Institute in 2007 as a university-based research and education organization. The Facade Tectonics Institute has hosted dozens of conferences and published hundreds of research papers focusing on research in building facade technology. He received a Graham Foundation Grant in 2011 for research related to the Samuel Freeman House, a residence designed in 1924 by Frank Lloyd Wright.