Richard Sommer is an architect and an Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at Harvard GSD, where he is also the Director of the Master in Urban Design Programs. Mr. Sommer’s design practice (borfax: B.L.U.), research and writing take the complex physical geography, culture, politics and historiography of the contemporary city as a starting point for a speculative approach to architecture and urbanism. Drawing on the historical techniques and discourses of architecture, this work is concerned with reconceiving the architect’s relationship to the contemporary metropolis, particularly in light of the democratic processes by which competing cultural and economic forces vie for the future of the built landscape.

He teaches in core studio, Elements of Urban Design and Planning, which seeks to develop an awareness of the city as a complex physical organism; an organism that in whole and in innumerable parts is subject to analysis, planning, and design intervention. Sommer also teaches architecture and urban design studios and seminars in history, theory, and representation.

Sommer is currently a Visiting American Scholar and the O’Hare Chair of Design and Development/ at the University of Ulster, working with government agencies, academics, and other groups to develop new models for the design of Northern Ireland’s cities and towns as they emerge from “The Troubles”. Preceding his appointment at Harvard, Sommer was the Scholar-in-Residence at the California College of Arts. He has also held visiting teaching appointments at The University of Leuven, Belgium, Washington University, Columbia University, and Iowa State University.

Sommer's most recent research concentration has resulted in a book entitled The Democratic Monument in America: a Twentieth Century Topography, co-authored with Glenn Forley. His other writings and projects have been published in the books Shaping the City: Studies in History, Theory and Urban Design; Post-Fordist Landscapes; Supernatural Urbanism: the L.A. River Studio; Hell's Kitchen South: Developing Strategies; and Regenerating Older Suburbs, among others. Sommer's articles and essays have been published in Perspecta/The Yale Journal of Architecture, ANY Magazine, Metropolis, and the The Harvard Design Magazine. Exhibitions and symposia he has organized include Cities in the Making; Urban Paradigms: Visions for Mission Bay, San Francisco; Studioscope: Design and Pedagogy. Support for Sommer's research has included grants from the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts, The LEF Foundation, the Wheelwright Fellowship and the The Graham Foundation.