mehaffy studied music composition and the arts at california institute of the arts for his first two years of college study, before transferring to evergreen state college where he received his bachelor of arts in liberal arts, science and architecture in 1978. he studied philosophy of science at the graduate school of the university of texas at austin, and architecture and urban planning at the university of california, berkeley, before earning his phd in architecture at delft university of technology. as a member of the faculty of architecture at delft, he worked on urban form and climate change, pattern languages, and new wiki technologies in design.