Architect

Christopher A. Roach AIA, MAUD, LEED AP is a San Francisco-based architect and urbanist with over 25 years of experience in the profession and a deep commitment to both the craft and the intellectual ambition of architecture. He is co-founder and principal of Studio VARA, a San Francisco-based practice working at the intersection of architecture, urbanism, and design, engaging with a wide range of project types, from custom residences and affordable housing to commercial offices and academic institutions. His work extends across exhibition design, graphic design, and art, civic space, urban agency, and the design of practice. Christopher’s work has appeared in Architecture Record, Dwell, San Francisco Magazine, and several books including The American House: 100 Contemporary Homes and San Francisco Architects: Top Bay Area Studios.

Christopher holds a Bachelor of Architecture with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master of Architecture in Urban Design with distinction from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where he received the Urban Design Thesis Prize and the Gerald M. McCue Medal for highest academic achievement. He is co-founder and Associate Director of the Urban Works Agency at CCA, where he has produced exhibitions including “The City & the City: Housing the Next 100,000” and the installation “A Seat at the Table” for Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ Bay Area Now 8. UWA’s work has traveled to New York, Sydney, and Seoul.

In addition to his forthcoming book Edutopias: The Utopian Geography of Education and the recent Apocalypse Now! Project for the Post-Retail City (2020), Christopher has written for Harvard Design Magazine, Bracket, MONU, The Urbanist, and others.

Christopher obtained his California architect’s license and LEED accreditation in 2005, and has been a long-time member of San Francisco Planning and Urban Research (SPUR), where he is currently on SPUR’s Urban Leadership Council. He serves on the board of the San Francisco Housing Action Coalition as Chair of the Project Review Committee, and is a member of the AIASF’s Public Policy & Advocacy Committee.

Christopher has been a guest critic at Harvard University of Washington, UC Berkeley, Pratt Institute, NJIT, and the San Francisco Academy of Art. He has served as Senior Adjunct Professor of Architecture at CCA since 2011, teaching advanced studios and seminars focused on housing, urbanism, and the design of architectural practice.