School of Architecture Research

Our faculty conduct a wide array of transformative research related to design and the built environments.

View select publications, presentations and research stories:

Select Architecture Faculty Publications

View faculty publications by year:

Dennis Doxtater. "Close Mapping of St. Olav's Pilgrimage Path Through Gudbrandsdal Norway: Probabilities of a Designed, Land Surveyed Concept of a Large-Scale Christianised Landscape," International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage. Volume 11, Issue 1. March 2023.

Lisa D. Schrenk. Learned: Relevant Design Practices from Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress International Exposition. 2023 ISIE Symposium: Best Practices in International Exposition Design, Institute for the Study of International Expositions (ISIE), Online, 23 March 2023.

Ryan E. Smith, Ivan Rupnik, Tyler Schmetterer and Kyle Barry. Offsite Construction for Housing: Research Roadmap. Office of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. February 2023.

Esther M. Sternberg, Well at Work: Creating Wellbeing in Any Workspace. Hachette Book Group. 2023.

Altaf Engineer. "Impacts of Light and Sound on Stress and Wellbeing in the Built Environment." 2022 International Congress of Integrative Medicine and Health, May 24, 2022.

Erin Cubbison, Eduardo Guerrero, Brianna Hays and Mark Thaler, "Exploring the Future of Hybrid Education through National Research." Society for College and University Planning 2022 Annual Conference, July 26, 2022.

Eduardo Guerrero, Margaret Hagan and Erin Cubbison, "Education Engagement Index: Exploring the Future of Hybrid Education through National Research." Society for College and University Planning Pacific 2022 Regional Conference, March 23-25, 2022.

Lisa D. SchrenkEconomic and Political Disruptions on the Design, Reception, and Impact of the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition. Conference of the International Assoc. for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE), Singapore, 18 December 2022.

Lisa D. SchrenkA Century of Progress's Role in the Rise of the Modern Science Museum in “Locating Museums of Medicine and Science Across Geographies.” 75th Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Pittsburgh, PA, 29 April 2022.

Lisa D. SchrenkThe Foundation of Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition: The Creation and Evolution of Northerly Island. 2022 Popular Cultural Association Meeting, 14 April 2022. [Virtual due to COVID.]

Lisa D. SchrenkTreasure Island: U.S. Artistic Imperial Visions for the Pacific at the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition, in Diplomacy by Design: Cultural Politics and the International Expositions of the Late Interwar Period, 1933–39. American Historical Association, Seattle, WA, 25 February 2022.

Beth Weinstein. "Forensics and Fora: Reconstructing and Re-membering the Centre d’Identification de Vincennes (CIV)," Empower: the 110th ACSA Annual Meeting, May 18-20, 2022.

Beth WeinsteinLe Centre d’Identification de Vincennes, performativité de la figure du fantôme, Seminar: Le bâtiment comme trace du crime, Curated by Ruines/Condorcet, musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, June 7, 2022.

Courtney Crosson. 2021. "Answering the Supply-Demand Gap with Alternative Water Sources: Retrofitting Cities to Achieve Net Zero Urban Water". Landscape Journal 39 (1).

Courtney Crosson, Daoqin Tong, Yinan Zhang & Qing Zhong. (2021). "Rainwater as a renewable resource to achieve net zero urban water in water stressed cities." Resources, Conservation and Recycling 164, 105203.

Susannah Dickinson. “The Complexity of the Built and Natural Environments” AMPS, The City and Complexity: Life, Design and Commerce in the Built Environment, Conference Proceedings Series 19.2, 80-87. ISSN 2398-9467

Susannah Dickinson and Aletheia Ida. “Climate Change and Design: Multiscalar Design Research in the Sonoran Desert.” The Architectural Research Centers Consortium, ARCC, Performative Environments, Conference Proceedings. 2021.

Dennis Doxtater, "Probabilities of designed locations of ceremonial foci: the Chaco Meridian, temple IV at Tikal, and a large-scale sacred Adena river landscape." Time and Mind, Vol. 14, Issue 1, 2021.

Altaf Engineer, Ria J. Gualano, Robert L. Crocker, Jacquelyn L. Smith, Victoria Maizes, Andrew Weil and Esther M. Sternberg, "An integrative health framework for wellbeing in the built environment." Building and Environment. 205 (2021).

Alaqtum, T., Altaf Engineer, & Moeller, C. (2021, April). From perception to design: Daylight glare mitigation in architectural spaces. Conference Presentation and Paper, ARCC 2021.

Hyde, J., Runyon, R., Altaf Engineer, Kramer B., Lindberg C., and Esther M. Sternberg. (Accepted; expected publication: September 2021). "Wearable technologies in the workplace: Sensing to create responsive industrial and occupational environments optimized for health." Book chapter, in Mehl, M., Wrzus, C., Eid, M. & Harari, G. (Eds.) Mobile Sensing in Psychology: Methods and Applications (A Handbook). Guilford Books.

Laura Hollengreen. “Qal’at Sim’an: A New Venue of Power in Late Antique Syria.” Proceedings of the 2021 ARCC [Architectural Research Centers Consortium] Conference (2021): 275-82.

Bill Mackey and Chavez, Bryanna. "Identification of Limits to Development of Innovative Affordable Housing Types in the Tucson Area," paper produced through the Drachman Institute, College of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape Architecture for AARP. January 2021.

Robert Miller. “Verum Seri” (“Truth Serum”), in Brian Delford Andrews, Verum Fictum: Architectural Delineation and Speculation, 1984-2020. Culicidae Architectural Press (2021): 39-51.

Lisa D. Schrenk. The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021.

Robert Vint. May 3, 2021. "Tucson Opinion: Building a bridge, literally, between park and zoo." The Arizona Daily Star.

Beth WeinsteinRe-scripting the Spatial through Lepecki’s Choreopolitics (abstract), Design as Collective Improvisation, UCLouvain (BE) & EAD PUC Valparaíso (CL), 4-6 November 2021.

Jonathan Bean, Kristina Currans & Nicole Iroz-Elardo. (2020). "Unmasking invisibility". Interactions. 27(3): 22-23.

Sandra Bernal, Altaf Engineer & Nader Chalfoun. (2020, May). Assessment of the implications of natural and mechanical ventilation on exposure to dust in the residential sector. Vivienda y Comunidades Sustentables (Housing and Sustainable Communities).

Alhabib, G., Sandra BernalAletheia Ida Altaf Engineer. (2020, February). "Passive Strategies for Reducing the Impact of Outdoor Air Pollutants on Indoor Air Quality: A Combination of CAM Plants and Hydrogel Membranes." Proceedings of the 16th Conference of the International Society of Indoor Air Quality and Climate (Indoor Air 2020).

Courtney Crosson, Andrea Achilli, Adriana Zuniga-Teran, Elizabeth A. Mack, Tamee Albrecht, Padmendra Shrestha, Dominic L. Boccelli, Tzahi Y. Cath, Glen T. Daigger, Jennifer Duan, Kevin E. Lansey, Thomas Meixner, Stephanie Pincetl and Christopher A. Scott. "Net Zero Urban Water from Concept to Applications: Integrating Natural, Built, and Social Systems for Responsive and Adaptive Solutions." Environmental Science and Technology Water (2020).

Tong, Daoqin, Courtney Crosson, Qing Zhong & Yinan Zhang. (2020). "Optimize urban food production to address food deserts in regions with restricted water access." Landscape and Urban Planning 202, 103859.

Courtney Crosson. (2020). "A Model for Community and Criticality: The University Urban Design and Research Center." Proceedings of ARCC-EAAE.

Courtney Crosson & Sandra Bernal. (2020). "The Citizen-Architect: Evaluating an Interactive Game for Collaborative Urban Solutions and Green Infrastructure Success." Proceedings of ARCC-EAAE.

Susannah Dickinson, Jonathan Bean and Aletheia Ida. Critical Practices in Architecture: The Unexamined. 2020 (Cambridge Scholars).

Altaf Engineer. (2020, November). "New synergies between research, education and practice for health and wellbeing outcomes in the built environment." EAAE-ARCC International Conference Proceedings.

Altaf Engineer, Sternberg, E.M. & Aletheia Ida. (Eds.). (2020, August). "Healing Spaces: Designing Physical Environments to Optimize Health, Wellbeing and Performance." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Special Issue Book Reprint. Basel, Switzerland: MDPI.

Altaf Engineer, Aletheia Ida & Sternberg, E.M. (2020, August). Editorial: "Healing Spaces: Designing Physical Environments to Optimize Health, Wellbeing and Performance." International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Basel, Switzerland: MDPI.

Altaf Engineer. (2020, August). "Immersive Physical Environment: Office Interiors and Preparedness." In Mechanick, J. & Kushner, R. (Eds.), Building and Implementing a Lifestyle Medicine Program: From Concept to Clinical Practice. NY: Springer.

Altaf Engineer. (2020, April). Confluence of design and technology to promote healthy aging and longevity in older adults. Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA51), Tempe, AZ.

Ketchum, R.S., Yuan, H.C., Ruiz-Diaz, L., Lyons, N.P., Cui, S., Frasier, M., Showghi, S.A., Kim, K.J., Aletheia Ida, Pan, W. & Norwood, R.A. (December 2020). "Design and Characterization of a Translucent Solar Module (TSM) for Greenhouse Structures." Journal of Engineering and Architecture.

Aletheia Ida. (2020, February). "Fluid Matters," in Examining the Environmental Impacts of Materials and Buildings, Ed. Blaine E. Brownell. Pennsylvania: IGI Global Press.

Aletheia Ida. "Fluid Matters: The Embodied Water Footprint of Building Materials," chapter in Examining the Environmental Impacts of Building Materials. 2020.

Bill Mackey. "Worker Inc's 2020 Products for the New Home Environment," The Quarantine Times, Marszewski, Ed, Wylie, Nicholas, Chiu, Jeremiah, eds. Public Media Institute, Chicago. March 28, 2020.

Beth Weinstein. "Installing Performances of Spatial Labour," Platform (Theatres of Labour). Vol. 14, Nos. 1&2, Autumn 2020.

Beth Weinstein. "Choreographies of Spatial Labor as Critical Spatial Practice," chapter in Critical Practices in Architecture: The Unexamined. 2020 (Cambridge Scholars).

Elena Canovas. Essay and interview in Conversations and Allusions: Enric Miralles. 2019 (Fundació Enric Miralles).

Elena Canovas. The Digital Space for Modern and Contemporary Catalan Architecture. 2019 (Col.legi d’Arquitectes de Cataluya).

Sternberg, E., Altaf Engineer & Aletheia Ida, Guest Editors.”Healing Spaces: Designing Physical Environments to Optimize Health, Wellbeing and Performance,” Special Issue for International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2019), MDPI Open Access.

Lisa D. Schrenk. Chapter: “Exposition Art Deco,” in The Routledge Research Companion to Art Deco, (New York: Routledge, 2019): 89-112.

Beth Weinstein. "Erasing, Obfuscating and Teasing out from the Shadows: Performing/installing the camps' (in)visibilities," Performance Research > A Journal of the Performing Arts. 2019.

Beth Weinstein. "Performances of Spatial Labor: Rendering the (In)visible Visible," Journal of Architectural Education. September 2019.


Select Architecture Faculty Presentations

View faculty presentations by year:

David Brubaker. On the Path to Zero in the Sonoran Desert. PhiusCon. November 9, 2023. Houston, Texas.

Bill Mackey. Guess That Arroyo: Tucson Arizona. Worker Inc. and Watershed Management Group, with Southwestern Foundation for Education and Historical Preservation. March 31, 2023. Tucson, Arizona.

Natsumi NonakaFrom Iconography to Infrastructure: Engaging with the Green World in Early Modern Rome. College Art Association 2023 Meeting, February 16, 2023. New York City.

Lisa D. SchrenkLessons Learned: Relevant Design Practices from Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress International Exposition. 2023 ISIE Symposium: Best Practices in International Exposition Design, Institute for the Study of International Expositions (ISIE), Online, 23 March 2023.

Altaf Engineer. "Impacts of Light and Sound on Stress and Wellbeing in the Built Environment." 2022 International Congress of Integrative Medicine and Health, May 24, 2022.

Erin Cubbison, Eduardo Guerrero, Brianna Hays and Mark Thaler, "Exploring the Future of Hybrid Education through National Research." Society for College and University Planning 2022 Annual Conference, July 26, 2022.

Eduardo Guerrero, Margaret Hagan and Erin Cubbison, "Education Engagement Index: Exploring the Future of Hybrid Education through National Research." Society for College and University Planning Pacific 2022 Regional Conference, March 23-25, 2022.

Lisa D. SchrenkEconomic and Political Disruptions on the Design, Reception, and Impact of the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition. Conference of the International Assoc. for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE), Singapore, 18 December 2022.

Lisa D. SchrenkA Century of Progress's Role in the Rise of the Modern Science Museum in “Locating Museums of Medicine and Science Across Geographies.” 75th Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Pittsburgh, PA, 29 April 2022.

Lisa D. SchrenkThe Foundation of Chicago’s 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition: The Creation and Evolution of Northerly Island. 2022 Popular Cultural Association Meeting, 14 April 2022. [Virtual due to COVID.]

Lisa D. SchrenkTreasure Island: U.S. Artistic Imperial Visions for the Pacific at the 1939-40 Golden Gate International Exposition, in Diplomacy by Design: Cultural Politics and the International Expositions of the Late Interwar Period, 1933–39. American Historical Association, Seattle, WA, 25 February 2022.

Beth Weinstein. "Forensics and Fora: Reconstructing and Re-membering the Centre d’Identification de Vincennes (CIV)," Empower: the 110th ACSA Annual Meeting, May 18-20, 2022.

Beth WeinsteinLe Centre d’Identification de Vincennes, performativité de la figure du fantôme, Seminar: Le bâtiment comme trace du crime, Curated by Ruines/Condorcet, musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, June 7, 2022.

Susannah Dickinson and Aletheia Ida. “Temporal Boundaries: Multiscalar Dynamic Modeling Techniques for Climate Change and Design.” The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and the European Association for Architectural Education, ACSA/EAAE,  Teachers Conference:  Curriculum for Climate Agency: Design (in) Action, Conference Proceedings. 2021.

Altaf Engineer & Kramer, B. "Built Environment Considerations to Reduce Disease Transmission in Assisted Living and Skilled Nursing Facilities." Presentation at  Conference Intensive: Dimensions of Residential Environments and the Creation of Just Communities, EDRA52 Conference, Detroit. May 2021.

Altaf Engineer. "DASH-SAFE and DASH-Well: Two Near Real-Time Geographic Information System-Based Tools for Risk Assessment and Emotion Mapping in the Built Environment." Invited Presentation: AIA Design & Health Research Consortium. March 2021.

Yijie Chen, Y., Hyde, J.N., Berryhill, A., Morton, C.J., Dean, A., Altaf Engineer, Parthasarathy, S., Young-Jun Son, Y.J., & Esther M. Sternberg. (2021, April). Development of a complementary system for 3D personal CO2 bubble visualization to improve sleep quality and cognitive performance. Poster (virtual), Research to Innovation Showcase, BIO5 Institute, University of Arizona, Tucson.

Damon Leverett. "Biomimetic Generative Design in Symmetrical Grid Systems." SIGGRAPH 2021. August 9, 2021.

Bill Mackey. Panelist, Affordable Housing Summit Tucson: "Building a Housing Plan for Older Adults." January 25-28, February 5, 2021.

Lisa D. Schrenk. “Book Talk: Lisa Schrenk on The Oak Park Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright,” Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, 2021.

Lisa D. Schrenk. The Evolution of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park Studio” Glessner House, Chicago, IL, 2021.

Lisa D. Schrenk. The Impact of US Railroads in the Promotion and Success of the 1933-34 Century of Progress Exposition. World’s Fairs and Expositions Area, 2021 Popular Cultural Association Annual Meeting, 2021.

Esther M. Sternberg, Altaf Engineer, Bo Yang, Li, S., Co-Is: Young-Jun Son, Y.J., & Philip Stoker. "DASH-SAFE: A Multi-Modal Geographic Information System (GIS) Dashboard for Near Real-time Mapping of Perceived COVID Risk/Safety in a Campus Environment." Poster (virtual), 2021 Integrative Medicine & Health Symposium, University of Arizona, Tucson. March 2021.

Beth WeinsteinChoreo-Spatial Politics. Aurélie Dupuis in conversation w/ Beth Weinstein & Karen Kurczynski, ALICE Research Seminar Series: Surrounded by a fog of virtual images,  ALICE (Atelier de la conception de l’espace), ENAC/EPFL, 12 May, 2021.

Sandra Bernal. "Energy Services and Household Habitability," Virtual Colloquium: Energy, Poverty and Climate Change in the Transborder Region of Mexico and the United States. Colegio de la Frontera Norte, The University of Arizona, CONACyT, EL Colegio de Sonora, La Universidad de Sonora and RedIEL. November 26, 2020.

Altaf Engineer. "New synergies between research, education and practice for health and wellbeing outcomes in the built environment." EAAE-ARCC International Conference, Valencia, Spain. November 2020.

Sternberg, E.M., Altaf Engineer & Omar Youssef. "Health and Wellbeing in the Built Environment (Translating Research into Design Outcomes through Curriculum and Research" (Altaf Engineering), "Virtual Reality and Human Performance" (Omar Youssef). Centre for Conscious Design (CCD) Festival, Phoenix, Arizona. October 2020.

Sternberg, E.M., Yang, B., Li, S., Young-Jun, S., & Altaf Engineer. DASH-SAFE: A Multi-Modal GIS-based Real-Time COVID Risk Assessment, Management, & Navigation Tool - Dr. Esther M. Sternberg. Restruct Built Environment Research Symposium: Mid-Pandemic Adaptation, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ. September 2020.

Altaf Engineer. "Confluence of design and technology to promote healthy aging and longevity in older adults." Environmental Design Research Association. Tempe, Arizona. April 2020.

Altaf Engineer, Omar Youssef & Sternberg, E.M. "Poster: Wearable devices to measure the impact of built environments on health." Department of Medicine Annual Poster Session, The University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. January 2020.

Eduardo Guerrerro. Special lecture on “Contemporary urban theories” at the Kamla Raheja Vidyanidhi Institute for Architecture and Environmental Studies (KRVIA), Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. September 16, 2020.

Eduardo Guerrerro. Special lecture on “Contemporary urban theories and research methods” at Texas A&M, College of Architecture, College Station, Texas USA. September 8, 2020.

Eduardo Guerrerro. Panelist for the "Master of Urban Design Advanced Design Project Reviews", at University of California Berkeley, College of Environmental Design. August 14, 2020.

Aviv, D., Moradnejad, M., Aletheia Ida, Wang, Z., Teitelbaum, E. & Meggers, F. “Hydrogel-Based Evaporative and Radiative Cooling Prototype for Hot-Arid Climates” in Simulation in Architecture and Urban Design (SimAUD) 2020 Conference Proceedings, Vienna, Austria. May 2020.

Clare Robinson and Arlie Adkins"The Green Book in Arizona: Intersecting urban history, heritage, and planning." EAAE-ARCC International Conference, Valencia, Spain, November 11-14, 2020.

LIsa D. Schrenk. "Dystopia in the World of Utopia: The Transient Nature of Modern International Expositions." Southeast Society of Architectural Historians. Natchez, MS (Virtual due to COVID-19), October 2, 2020.

LIsa D. Schrenk. "The Use of Exploratory Fieldwork Techniques in the Development of Observational and Analytical Skills in Students of the Built Environment." Teaching-Learning Research Design and Environments Virtual Conference, AMPS. Manchester School of Architecture, Manchester, England. December 3, 2020. 


Our Research Stories

View our latest research stories and profiles:

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Laura Carr

Office of the Provost Grants Senior Lecturer Laura Carr $200,000 for Native People's Design Coalition

Laura Carr, a Senior Lecturer in Architecture at the College of Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture, is part of a team that secured a $200,000 grant for the Native People's Design Coalition. This grant will support their efforts in collaborating with tribal communities to plan and design sustainable and resilient built environments.

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HUD grant recipients

Drachman Institute Will Help Establish New Center to Study Housing Equity and Sustainability with $3M Federal Grant

Researchers from the UArizona Drachman Institute, along with colleagues from ASU, NAU and the University of New Mexico, will research housing security, climate and health with a focus on Hispanic and underserved communities in the arid Southwest.

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Noémie Despland-Lichtert

Teaching as Mediation: Noémie Despland-Lichtert, Emerging Faculty Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of Architecture

Noémie Despland-Lichtert joined CAPLA this fall as our second Emerging Faculty Fellow. An accomplished teacher, researcher and practitioner, she spent the last year in Brussels and has also worked at Taliesin West, the Canadian Centre for Architecture and the Architecture Department of Getty Research Institute, among others.

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Esther M. Sternberg

Dr. Esther M. Sternberg Authors Acclaimed New Book, ‘Well at Work: Creating Wellbeing in Any Workspace’

Esther M. Sternberg, M.D., Inaugural Andrew Weil Chair for Research in Integrative Medicine and professor of architecture, landscape architecture and planning (by joint appointment), has published Well at Work: Creating Wellbeing in Any Workspace, a "Top Ten Lifestyle Book" by Publishers Weekly.

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Guess That Arroyo cover

Architecture Lecturer Bill Mackey’s Book ‘Guess That Arroyo’ Sheds Playful Light on the Tucson Region Watershed

“Arroyos on the desert are magic,” writes CAPLA Lecturer in Architecture Bill Mackey in the introduction to his new bilingual book Guess That Arroyo: Tucson, developed in collaboration with the Watershed Management Group's River Run Network.

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Beth Weinstein

Prestigious Graham Foundation Grant Supports Architecture Professor Beth Weinstein's Research on Architecture and Choreography

Thanks in part to a 2022 grant from Chicago-based Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts, Associate Professor of Architecture Beth Weinstein is synthesizing more than a decade of her research on architecture and dance into a book that “establishes a field of practice, raises many critical questions” and also aims to “inspire people interested in interdisciplinary dialogues.”

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Camp Naco

Award-Winning Heritage Conservation Efforts by CAPLA Faculty and Students Lead to $4.6M in State Restoration Funding for Buffalo Soldier Camp

CAPLA Heritage Conservation Program Project Director Helen Erickson and graduate students Sarah McDowell and Teresa DeKoker have been instrumental in efforts to preserve Camp Naco, a borderlands Buffalo Soldier camp located near Bisbee, Arizona, resulting in awards for their story map and new funding to preserve the site.