Mireille Roddier

Mireille Roddier serves as Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Michigan's Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. She maintains a joint appointment with Women's Studies and faculty affiliation at the Institute for Research on Women & Gender, reflecting her interdisciplinary approach. Roddier teaches across the architecture curriculum including design studios, architectural theory courses, and specialized seminars.

Her research centers on the cyclical emergence of vernacular forms, examining the intricate relationship between visual representation of the built environment and architecture itself as an indexical representation of place and time. Roddier investigates urban narratives, the production of public realm, and processes of belonging and appropriation, with particular attention to media representations of Detroit and Paris. Her work borrows theories from theatre, photography, and ethnography to explore how visual narration transforms urban environments.

Roddier's publications reveal a consistent trajectory examining representation in architecture and urbanism. Her book 'Lavoirs: Washhouses of Rural France' (2003) established her interest in women's civic spaces, which evolved into broader investigations of urban legibility, gendered spatial experiences, and vernacular architecture. Recent scholarship addresses energetic degrowth, urban decay aesthetics, and the paradoxes of preservation.

• Rome Prize in Architecture (2021-22) from the American Academy in Rome
• Architecture League of New York's Young Architects Prize
• Architectural Record's Design Vanguard (2005)

As an educator, Roddier mentors architecture students through thesis development and specialized seminars including 'New Babylon Redux' (2013-15), 'Medusa in the Metro' (2018-2021), and 'Radical Vernacular' (2023-). Her interdisciplinary teaching approach bridges design practice and critical theory, guiding students through examinations of how architecture is conceived, produced, and understood.

Through Mitnick-Roddier, her collaborative design practice with Keith Mitnick founded in 1997, Roddier produces architectural installations and speculative designs exhibited internationally. The practice has received numerous awards and has been published in major architectural journals including Architectural Record, Log, and Mark Magazine, with works featured at Storefront for Art and Architecture and SFMoMA.