All Studio Stories

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Kirk Dimond

Kirk Dimond honored with CELA TRIAD Award

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.

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Aerial view of Ketchum Idaho

CAPLA faculty awarded grant to support planning in Idaho community

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.

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Ryan Smith

Ryan Smith co-authors HUD report advancing offsite construction for U.S. housing

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.

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Lauren Bon

Lecture Recap | The Cyborg Watershed of the American West | A Jones Studio Grand Challenges Lecture featuring Lauren Bon

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.

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Group photo of four CAPLA students who are members of the ISAPD

CAPLA to host Indigenous Design Symposium focused on community, sustainability

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.

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Six students and faculty work together to lift the frame of a wall for a house they are building in Agua Prieta

CAPLA students build housing in Agua Prieta during spring break

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.

  

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