Charu Srivastava

Lecturer in Architecture, GSD

Charu Srivastava is a design researcher and engineer working at the intersection of architecture, human-building interaction, and computational modeling. Her research uses AI and machine learning to study human experiences in the built environment and predict how spatial design influences human health, behavior, and well-being.

Charu is a Lecturer in Architecture at the GSD and a researcher at the Livable Spaces Lab in the Building Technology department at MIT. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Building and Environment, Journal of Environmental Psychology, and Journal of Building Engineering. Charu has given lectures at Harvard, Rhode Island School of Design, Wentworth Institute of Technology, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Previously, she has worked as an architectural designer at DES and CAW Architects, conducted building research at Google and the U.S. Green Building Council, and held research positions at Stanford’s Urban Informatics Lab and Hybrid Physical + Digital Spaces Lab.

Charu holds a Doctor of Design from the GSD, and both an M.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering and a B.S. in Architectural Design Engineering from Stanford University. She also studied abroad at Oxford University, where she completed a tutorial in Architectural Psychology
and Healthcare Environments. She is a recipient of the Daniel L. Schoedek Award, the Harvard Real Estate Research Grant, the ARCC King Medal for Excellence in Architectural Research, the Schneider Fellowship, the Chappell Lougee Fellowship, and an Honorable Mention by the NSF GRFP