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Christian Norberg-Schulz (1926—2000) was a Norwegian architect, architectural historian and theorist.

He was born in Oslo. He is the father of singer Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz.

Though Norberg-Schulz had practiced as an architect in his home country, he is well-known internationally both for his books on architectural history (in particular Italian classical architecture, especially the Baroque) and for his writings on theory. His concerns for theory can be characterised by a subtle shift from the analytical and psychological concerns of his earlier writings to the issue of phenomenology of place, being one of the first architectural theorists to bring the thinking of Martin Heidegger to the field.

During 1974 he taught an architecture class at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Architecture Department. In that class he emphasized the difference between Italian sense of space which was very open and public, with the Norwegian sense of space which was more enclosed, behind doors, and private. In the former the sun and heat were primary influence, whereas for the latter, the cold winter played a strong role. He could describe these differences well, as he had homes in both countries, and his wife was from Italy. It was a very influential class for the student architects. Norberg-Schulz at that time was reading from and fascinated by the American transcendentalists. As he was in Massachusetts, he asked to be taken on a winter trip to Walden Pond to see the genious loci of Henry David Thoreau. This writer, one of his students, attests that he thoroughly enjoyed standing on the ice and witnessing the place.

In 1996 he received the Fritt Ord Honorary Award.

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