"Assistant Professor of Architecture, Computation and Representation, Fall 2026"

The School of Architecture at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) invites applications for multiple tenure-track faculty members at the Assistant Professor rank to begin August 1, 2026. These positions are for full-time 9-month appointments. Applications for the rank of Associate Professor will be considered.

We are seeking inventive, collaborative, and critically-minded candidates whose research and teaching creatively engage with the fields of computation and representation in architecture. As architecture’s relationship with computation continues to expand—from digital fabrication and machine learning to generative design and advanced visualization—it is incumbent upon the discipline to more carefully craft its engagement with these emerging technological, cultural, and aesthetic conditions. At the same time, architectural practice is evolving alongside new technologies, from robotics and artificial intelligence to virtual reality and bio-material systems, where computational and representational expertise provide critical means to design with and think through data, to visualize complex phenomena, and to reassess the nature of authorship, agency, and form in the digital age.

We welcome a broad range of expertise within this area, including but not limited to: computational theory and criticism; advanced digital design and fabrication practices; creative visualization, rendering, and generative image-making; inventive approaches to building information modeling; and digital workflows for design and construction. Processes, tools, and methods that position architecture as both a technical and cultural practice—one capable of engaging with the complexities of computation, automation, and visualization as they shape contemporary life—are especially valued. Subtopics of concern might include, but are not limited to:

Computation and materiality: robotic fabrication, bio- or nano-material systems, performance simulation, design analysis, responsive environments, parametric and algorithmic design.

Computation and culture: artificial intelligence and creative agency, digital image cultures, data ethics and authorship, planetary-scale computation and its architectural implications.

Computation and representation: visualization, simulation, and narrative as design media; hybrid digital-physical processes; immersive and extended reality environments; generative drawing, scanning, sensing, and mapping as modes of inquiry.

Candidates should demonstrate the ability to teach design studios and contribute to both required and elective courses in the undergraduate and graduate architecture programs. Recent curricular developments in the B.Arch and M.Arch programs have expanded opportunities in computation, digital workflows, and representational literacy. The successful candidate will play a key role in shaping these courses and integrating them into the broader curriculum through their expertise and pedagogical vision.

Candidates are expected to build upon and extend the school’s existing strengths while establishing a strong research and/or creative agenda leading to tenure. Candidates should describe a proposed research agenda comprised of creative work, scholarly publication, technical innovation, and/or speculative or critical inquiry at the intersection of design, computation, and representation. Start-up funding is available to support the development of research in the candidate’s area of specialization.

About the School

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is a Research-1, land-grant university that houses eleven colleges and more than nine hundred programs of study. The College of Architecture and Design promotes imaginative, curious, and empathetic design, offering degrees in Architecture, Interior Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Graphic Design. The School of Architecture is committed to excellence in design education, creative activity, research, and outreach missions. The school’s growing faculty of around thirty full-time faculty members represent a breadth of creative experience, academic expertise, and innovative teaching for more than 400 architecture students. Generous state scholarship programs make education accessible to students from a broad range of backgrounds and income levels. Over 30% of our students are from out-of-state or are international. 

The College is committed to access, engagement and addressing the family needs of faculty members including dual-career couples, sole-provider or single-parent families, and faculty with family caretaking responsibilities.

The College of Architecture and Design meets for courses and cultural activities in three main facilities: the 160,000-square-foot Art + Architecture Building in the center of UT Knoxville’s campus; the 20,000-square-foot FabLab, an advanced maker space located downtown; and a new satellite location that will house design studios, faculty, and staff in the center of Knoxville.

The Art + Architecture Building is an award-winning building which features open studios, a four-story atrium, the Ewing Gallery, a woodshop, review spaces, lecture halls, and faculty and staff offices. Our Fab Lab, which is equipped with state-of-the-art robotics and advanced machinery for digital fabrication and computational construction, allows our faculty and students to integrate emerging technology into design education and research.

About Knoxville and the Region

Known as ‘The Maker City,’ Knoxville is the third largest city in Tennessee with a metropolitan statistical area population of just over 900,000. Downtown Knoxville supports an energetic urban culture with several entertainment venues for theater, film, art, and live music that range in scale as well as numerous acclaimed restaurants. The city also regularly hosts minority-heritage celebrations, music and arts festivals, farmers' markets, and community gardens. Knoxville’s unique, walkable residential and business districts include historic Market Square and Old City, North and South Waterfronts, and the Urban Wilderness recreational area. 

With a rich and diverse history, East Tennessee offers a vibrant backdrop for exploration in architecture and design. The broader region is comprised of urban areas across scales that are set within the agricultural and natural landscapes of Southern Appalachia, including numerous state and national parks. The region also has a strong tradition of cutting-edge technological and scientific exploration supported by public partnerships between the University of Tennessee, the Tennessee Valley Authority, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Required Qualifications

Candidates must hold at least one of the following: a professional graduate degree in architecture; an undergraduate degree in architecture and a graduate or doctoral degree in a related field; or an international equivalent of any of these.   

Desired Qualifications (address those applicable in application)

On Teaching 

• Teaching experience in a university setting
• Experience or capacity for integrating emerging technologies with studio, seminar and/or lecture teaching
• Experience with or ability to implement experimental teaching in terms of modality, methodology, and/or format
• Experience with or aptitude for teaching collaborative and/or interdisciplinary courses

On Research, Scholarship, Creative Activity, and Engaged Scholarship Research

• A trajectory in scholarship, creative activities, and/or engaged research.
• Experience with, or promise of, disseminating research or creative accomplishments.
• Experience or capacity for successful grant writing.

On Access and Engagement

• Commitment to fostering student success, student empowerment, and the development of inclusive cultures within studio and classroom settings.
• An interest in pursuing creative practice and/or scholarship that is inclusive of all communities and geographies.

Salary and benefits will be commensurate with the experience and accomplishments of the candidate.

Candidates wishing to be considered for rank of Associate Professor require a minimum of five years of experience at the rank of Assistant Professor.

To apply, submit the following materials using Interfolio. Please note that all files must be completed and uploaded to the system to be properly reviewed. Links to live documents shared on a cloud server are not acceptable. Please email Marshall Prado (marshall.prado@utk.edu) chair of the architecture faculty search committee for computation and representation, with any questions, using the subject line "Assistant Professor Architecture + Computation + Representation."

Submission Materials

• A Statement of Interest, not exceeding 3 pages, that identifies specific alignments with required and applicable desired qualifications. It should clearly identify an area of expertise above, contextualize the candidate?s accomplishments, and articulate a proposed research agenda and related teaching philosophy.
• Curriculum Vitae
• Portfolio of research, scholarship, creative activity and/or engagement activity not to exceed 10 pages
• An optional teaching portfolio that includes student work and/or excerpts from syllabi, not to exceed 10 pages
• Contact information for three references; contacted only upon approval from candidate

Initial review of applications will begin on January 1, 2026. Candidates applying before this deadline will be given full consideration; however, we will continue to accept applications until the position is filled. We expect to invite candidates for campus interviews in early March, 2026.