CAPLA Lecturer and Alumni Win 2025 AIA Arizona Ideas Competition
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.
Applied Active Transportation Class Aims to Improve Bike and Pedestrian Safety on Campus
A CAPLA studio led by Senior Lecturer Joey Iuliano is turning student interest into action by focusing on improving walking and cycling conditions on campus. In collaboration with Parking & Transportation Services and the Office of Sustainability, students analyze crash data and develop design proposals for key campus corridors to improve safety and connectivity. Inspired in part by last fall’s fatal traffic accident near campus, the course aims to produce practical ideas that could inform future campus planning.
Camp Naco Story Map
The Camp Naco story map tells the story of the still-standing adobe Buffalo Soldier cavalry camp and its meaning both to the descendants of these soldiers and to African American members of the military and their families.
Identification of Limits to Development of Innovative Affordable Housing Types in the Tucson Area
Architecture lecturer Bill Mackey investigates the development regulations, costs and trends within the metropolitan Tucson region associated with “innovative” housing types on individual lots for a Drachman Institute project funded by AARP.
City of Tucson's Climate Action and Adaptation Plan
Faculty members Courtney Crosson and Ladd Keith, along with community partners, develop a Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) to help the City of Tucson establish a path to reduce carbon emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Border Studio: Oñate Crossing
Students in Teresa Rosano's ARC 410/510 studio worked with students from New Mexico and Chihuahua to design concepts and visualization of the El Camino Real de Tierra Adentro Oñate Crossing historic site in El Paso and associated sites in the city of Jaurez, Mexico.
50 Years of Commercial Real Estate Development in Tucson
When Arizona Daily Star sought to put together a “visual trip down memory lane” of Tucson’s commercial real estate development over the last five decades, it turned to students in the Master of Real Estate Development program to lead the research.
Lecture Recap and Video: Sigrid Adriaenssens on 'Extraordinary Mechanics & Structural Innovation in Architecture'
Sigrid Adriaenssens lectures on "Extraordinary Mechanics & Structural Innovation in Architecture."
Lecture Recap and Video: Mónica Ramírez-Andreotta on 'Cultivating Science, Justice and Action Through Participatory Research Methods'
In this presentation, Ramírez-Andreotta will describe participatory research methods which advance exposure to science and communication strategies that visualize and translate environmental health research to action.
Ryan Smith Named Director of School of Architecture at the University of Arizona
Ryan Smith, a 2002 UArizona B.Arch alumnus who has served as professor and director of the School of Design and Construction at Washington State University since 2018, has been named the director of the School of Architecture at CAPLA. He will join us in Tucson on July 1, 2022.
Lecture Recap and Video: Vann Mollyvann: Lecture by Štefan Tkáč
In this presentation, Štefan Tkáč discusses the work of work of Cambodian modernist architect Vann Molyvann.