Rome, Latium, Italy
Steven W. Semes is Professor of Architecture and Director of the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability at the University of Notre Dame. He was Academic Director of the Notre Dame Rome Studies Program 2008-2011. He is the author of The Future of the Past: A Conservation Ethic for Architecture, Urbanism, and Historic Preservation (2009) and The Architecture of the Classical Interior (2004), as well as many articles. His latest book is New Building in Old Cities: Writings by Gustavo Giovannoni on Architectural and Urban Conservation, with co-editors Francesco Siravo and Jeff Cody (2024). Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty in 2005, he practiced architecture for three decades in Washington, DC, San Francisco, and New York. Specialties: Architecture, urbanism, historic preservation, classical design, interiors, English translation of important Italian texts. Currently working on a book about traditional architects in Rome between the World Wars.
I joined the faculty at the School of Architecture in 2005 as an Associate Professor and was promoted to Professor as of August 2016. I began setting up the Master of Science in Historic Preservation (MSHP) graduate degree program in 2015. I am founding Director of the Michael Christopher Duda Center for Preservation, Resilience, and Sustainability, inaugurated in the fall semester 2021. Since 2017 I have typically spent the spring semester on campus and the fall semester in Rome. Courses taught include all levels of design studio and graduate seminars in Italian Urbanism and History and Theory of Historic Preservation. In the spring semester 2025, I will teach undergraduate thesis studio on campus.
From 2008-2011 I was Academic Director of the School's Rome Studies Program. After teaching full-time in Rome for four years, I have since 2013 spent the fall semester on campus and the spring semester in Rome, with summers split between the two locations. In 2013 I began setting up the Master of Science in Historic Preservation (MSHP)graduate degree program, inaugurated in the fall 2015. Prior to joining the Notre Dame faculty in 2005, I practiced architecture for three decades, mostly in New York.
My architectural practice included new single-family houses, apartment interiors, church work, and master plans. Two new houses in Water Mill and Amagansett, New York were featured as designer showcase houses by Hamptons Cottages & Gardens magazine in 2006 and 2007. After joining the faculty of the University of Notre Dame in 2005, I closed my New York office at the end of 2006.
Project architect/project manager, The Play House Theater, Cleveland, OH.