Francesca Oliveira
Faculty, School of Architecture
As a Principal at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill in San Francisco, Francesca R. Oliveira is responsible for projects from concept through construction execution, ensuring that sustainability principles are incorporated holistically. Her project experience includes a diverse range of building types from skyscrapers to civic buildings in the U.S. and overseas which seek creative design solutions synthesizing innovation in the built environment with vernacular architecture while pushing the boundaries of resiliency.
Specializations in high performance building enclosures and strategic programming compliment her strong balance of design and technical abilities. Her expertise ranges from high-rise buildings, corporate / commercial projects to multi-family residential, and R & D laboratory facilities. Additionally, Francesca serves on the executive committee of AIASF, and was the AIASF Emerging Professional 2018.
Francesca has been teaching at the Academy since 2014. Though her leadership role at SOM and frequent client meeting trips to China keep her busy, she always makes time for her students. Her past academic experience is primarily with Drexel University in Philadelphia. As an Adjunct Professor for the B. Arch program there, she had the privilege of teaching three different Design Studios for the 6th year students (year before Thesis). These studios included High-Rise Design, Long-Span Structures for Velodromes, and Co-Operative Housing. For the technical curriculum, she taught Building Enclosure Design during the summer for three years. In addition, Francesca taught free-hand drawing and drafting in Architectural Drawing I and II. Beyond these courses, she has been a critique juror for the undergraduate architecture Thesis mid- and final reviews at Drexel since 2009. For the undergraduate Architecture studios, she has been a jury member for Year 1 and 2 studio finals, as well as their high-school student summer programs since 2007. She has also been a juror for Drexel’s Interior Design graduate program studios, Temple University’s undergraduate Architecture studios, and Morgan State’s undergraduate Architecture studios.