Branko Kolarevic

Branko Kolarevic was born in 1963 in Cacak, in central Serbia, and grew up in Kraljevo, a city he liked to note as a historic place of coronations. In 1982 he moved to Belgrade to study architecture at the University of Belgrade, where he completed a Diploma Engineer in Architecture in 1986 and met Vera Parlac, who would become his wife and long-time collaborator.

In 1988 he came to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship to study computer-aided design at Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. He earned a Master of Design Studies in 1989 and a Doctor of Design in 1993, grounding a research life focused on computation in architecture.

Kolarevic taught widely before and after his Harvard degrees, including appointments and visiting posts at Harvard, Northeastern University, Cal Poly Pomona, the University of Miami (where he directed computing and later received Professor of the Year recognition), Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Pennsylvania (founding the Digital Design Research Lab in 2001), North Carolina State University and Ball State University as Irving Distinguished Visiting Professor.

From 2007 he was based at the University of Calgary as Chair in Integrated Design and professor, serving as associate dean for architecture from about 2010 to 2013 and helping lead the Laboratory for Integrative Design. In 2019 he became dean of NJIT's Hillier College of Architecture and Design, positioning the school around emerging digital and AI-enabled design education during a roughly three-year term.

Beyond campus leadership he was president of ACADIA (1997-98), president of the Canadian Architectural Certification Board (2013-14), and president of ACSA (2018-19). As ACSA president he championed international memorandums of understanding and joint teachers' conferences with European counterparts. His publications mapped the shift from digital drafting to fabrication, performance simulation, adaptive building systems and mass customization.

Kolarevic married Vera Parlac, an architect, educator and frequent co-author and co-organizer of symposia on building dynamics and change. They had a son, Marko Kolarevic. Family and colleagues described him as determined and intensely engaged, someone who preferred action to long speeches and who poured the same energy into daily tasks and major institutional projects. In lieu of flowers after his death, the family suggested donations to a legacy scholarship in his name.

Branko Kolarevic died suddenly on 29 January 2026 at the age of 62, surrounded by his family. A public cause of death was not detailed in institutional memorials. NJIT, Harvard GSD, ACSA, the Canadian Architectural Certification Board and Archinect published tributes in the following days, remembering his scholarship, mentoring and service to architectural education.

Kolarevic is remembered as one of the first architectural educators to treat digital fabrication, performative simulation and later machine learning as central to design culture rather than peripheral techniques. His books remain widely cited in studios and research labs, and his presidencies of ACADIA, the CACB and ACSA tied North American architectural education to international networks. Students and colleagues at Calgary, NJIT and elsewhere continue work he encouraged on generative and performative design. A legacy scholarship fund was proposed by his family to extend that educational commitment.