David Franco, PhD | Associate Professor of Architecture

David Franco is the director of the School of Architecture at University of Texas at Arlington. He formerly served as co-director of Architecture Graduate Programs and Associate Professor of Architecture at Clemson University in South Carolina.

David Franco is an acclaimed architect, educator, and scholar with nearly two decades of experience. He has received international recognition for his work, winning over 16 awards in prestigious architecture competitions, including two of the prestigious EUROPAN prizes. He has been nominated for the Lakov Chernikov Prize for young masters of contemporary architecture. Franco's articles and projects have been featured in renowned international publications and exhibited at prestigious venues such as the Venice Biennale, la Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris, the Matadero Art Center in Madrid, and the Canary Islands Art & Landscape Biennale. Franco has a well-rounded academic background with a Ph.D. in Architectural and Urban History and Theory and a Master of Architecture degree from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.  

Franco is a nationally recognized leader who has made a significant impact in practice and academia. His research focuses on how social inequalities and political conflicts affect the built environment and how they have played a usually ignored role in the development of modern architecture. This basic frame has informed both his creative practice—mostly centered on projects of social infrastructures, affordable housing, and public spaces and his scholarly research.  

David Franco is a leading advocate for environmental justice in design. He is the co-founder of the Environmental Justice Design Lab at Clemson School of Architecture, whose student work has received 23 National Awards, including 11 COTE AIA Top Ten Awards.