Kirk Dimond has received the TRIAD Award from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, recognizing his exceptional leadership and sustained service to the field. Over eight years with the organization, including five as treasurer, he strengthened its financial stability, advanced long-term planning and helped establish key scholarships and endowments.

Associate Professors Philip Stoker and Shujuan Li have received a two-year grant to support community scenario planning and long-term water supply strategies in Blaine County, Idaho, a rapidly growing gateway region facing increasing development and water resource pressures. By combining urban growth modeling, water demand forecasting and spatial analysis, their work will help local leaders understand how different development patterns could impact future water availability.

CAPLA student Ella Parsons ('27 B.Arch) shares her ecological “cookbook,” blending art, architecture, and ecology to explore site, narrative, and design through experimental methods.

Ryan Smith, director of the University of Arizona’s School of Architecture, co-authored a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report outlining a national strategy to expand offsite construction as a solution to housing affordability and supply challenges. Drawing on global case studies, the report introduces an Offsite Action Plan focused on regulatory reform, innovation and education to accelerate scalable, high-quality housing production.

An engineered network of waterways flowing west from the Rockies sustains life in one of the hottest regions on Earth, forming a “cyborg watershed” that blends natural systems with human-made infrastructure and regional mythologies. Bon explored this system through her large-scale artworks, examining buried waterways, the complexities of policy and politics, and the pursuit of a civic identity shaped by water rather than boundaries.

Linus Friedman ('26 SBE) is graduating with dual degrees in Sustainable Built Environments and German Studies and will join Kimley-Horn as a Transportation Planning Analyst.

CAPLA’s Indigenous Society of Architecture, Planning and Design (ISAPD) will host an all-day symposium on April 6, bringing together students, faculty and practitioners to explore Indigenous approaches to the built environment. Featuring Indigenous designers and supported by campus partners, the event will highlight community-centered design, sustainability and the role of Indigenous knowledge systems in shaping more responsible relationships with land.

CAPLA students spent spring break in Agua Prieta, Sonora, building a home for a local family in partnership with Rancho Feliz. Working alongside community members, they gained hands-on construction experience while contributing to a reciprocal housing program designed to address affordability and climate-responsive design.

Jackie Hogan (’25 M.Arch + MS.Arch) is a dual-degree graduate of CAPLA whose work bridges architectural practice and research-driven design. Drawn to architectural history, theory and ethics, she pursued the M.Arch + MS.Arch dual degree to explore how research can shape meaningful design decisions. During her time at CAPLA, she engaged in community-centered design through Laura Carr’s studio working with the Tuba City community and completed a thesis examining architecture’s role in disaster relief and climate-related emergencies. Now working at Line + Space, Hogan brings an evidence-based approach to projects, applying research to create thoughtful spaces that connect people, culture and the environment.

Senior Lecturer in Architecture Oscar Lopez and three CAPLA alumni won first place in the 2025 AIA Arizona Ideas Competition for their proposal “BLOCK UP.” The project reimagines the urban tower as a vertical civic framework for Phoenix, integrating public space, housing and climate-responsive design into a shared, adaptable structure. Developed through close collaboration between Lopez and alumni Sal Arellano, Trevor Watson and Cameron Noble, the proposal explores how density can expand community and access beyond the street level, highlighting CAPLA’s impact on forward-thinking, civic-minded design in Arizona.