School of Architecture Faculty Professional Work

CAPLA has announced the recipients of the 2026 Grassroots Seed Grants, which support innovative teaching, research and creative activity aligned with the college’s Strategic Plan. This year’s projects advance collaboration, community engagement and new approaches to addressing social, environmental and economic challenges.

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.

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.

Architecture Professor Teresa Rosano, Research Coordinator Greg Veitch, and their students won the 2026 ACSA Collaborative Practice Award for their “Tucson Hope Factory Micro Shelter Village” project. The studio partnered with the community to design and build micro-shelters, emphasizing equal collaboration between students and community members. This approach fostered student agency, teamwork, and meaningful impact. The project was praised for advancing inclusive, community-driven architecture. Rosano and Veitch will present the work at the ACSA conference in Chicago.

Professor Beth Weinstein has been promoting her 2024 book on collaborations between architects and choreographers across Europe while researching the Centre d’Identification de Vincennes (CIV), a former internment site in Paris. Her work combines archival methods and community engagement through lectures, walks, and publications, aiming to raise awareness and achieve official recognition of the CIV as a memorial site.

CAPLA students, alumni and faculty are redesigning the Cooper Center’s aging cabins to create more sustainable, student-friendly spaces.

Jesus Robles, an Assistant Professor of Practice and co-founder of the architecture studio DUST, was selected to showcase Tucson-inspired work at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale, one of the world’s leading platforms for design innovation.

Michael Kothke, principal at HK ASSOCIATES and professor at CAPLA, was invited to speak at Reimagining Desert Modernism: The Architecture Shaping Arizona Today, a forum hosted by ARCHITECT Magazine and Marvin Windows at Taliesin West.

The College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture has awarded the 2025 Grassroots Seed Grants to three faculty-led projects that advance innovative teaching, research, and creative activity.

Tucson’s cherished independent nonprofit art-house theater, The Loft Cinema, is expanding—and leading the project is Bob Vint, assistant professor of practice at the School of Architecture.

Bob Vint, assistant professor of practice in the School of Architecture, collaborated with the Rancho Feliz Charitable Foundation to design La Hacienda Feliz, a traditional courtyard-style dormitory in Agua Prieta, blending his lifelong connection to Mexican culture with a commitment to addressing systemic poverty through architecture, while also providing CAPLA students an immersive experience in border communities and the challenges they face.

The second annual Remembering Spaces of Internment (ReSI) International Symposium convened an interdisciplinary network to study internment sites globally. Co-founder Beth Weinstein discussed ReSI's goals, emphasizing the need to analyze and remember the systemic nature of internment