Faculty-led, student-powered research advances heat and health innovation
Third-year B.Arch student Brett Lewis earned first place in the poster competition at the 2026 Big Idea Challenge Research Showcase for his work on a climate-responsive cooling unit developed in CAPLA’s Human Factors and Wellness class. M.Arch student Nick Yang also received fully funded National Science Foundation Innovation Corps (I-Corps+) training, reflecting the growing impact of faculty-led, student-powered research at CAPLA.
Class of 2026: ‘Shaping how people live’
Francisco Zazueta, B.Arch '26, was recently featured by Arizona Public Media for a story as much about perseverance as it is about design.
U.S. Embassy and Consulate in Lisbon, Portugal: Christopher Kirk '72 B.Arch, Fred Bassetti and Company
The new U.S. embassy and consulate built in 1983 in Lisbon, Portugal was a high-security office building for the ambassador, political, military and economic departments, as well as other, more secretive functions. The site was a pastoral 12-acre location of a historic 17th-century former monastery and estate on the outskirts of the city.
Tucson NBC Affiliate Highlights Affordable Rowhouses Designed and Built by CAPLA Architecture Students
Rowhouses created as part of CAPLA design-build studios led by architecture professors Mary Hardin and Eric D. Weber, and designed and built by architecture students, were featured on KVOA News 4, an NBC affiliate in Tucson, on April 29, 2022.
Passive Building: CAPLA’s Jonathan Bean on How Infrastructure Funding Can Help Buildings Meet Climate Change Goals
In the Biden administration’s new infrastructure law, funding is available to states and communities that UArizona Assistant Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Built Environments Jonathan Bean says can be used to help fight climate change. Learn how and listen to the full interview.
Planning for a Changing Climate: Christina Scarpitti '22 MS Urban Planning
MS Urban Planning student Christina Scarpitti made her way to Tucson in the midst of the pandemic. Although her time here came with a few trials, she looks back and reflects on the positive experience CAPLA and the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning have provided her as she enters the job field.
Drachman Institute Relaunches with Showcase Event and Appointment of Director Courtney Crosson
Assistant Professor of Architecture Courtney Crosson has been appointed director of the University of Arizona’s Drachman Institute by CAPLA Dean Nancy Pollock-Ellwand. Crosson's introduction was combined with a project showcase on April 13 in a "relaunch" of this important, community-focused institute.
Class of 1977 Architecture Alum Establishes Scholarship in Honor of Renowned Architect Judith Chafee
A Class of 1977 Bachelor of Architecture alumnus has established the Judith Chafee Scholarship to honor the legacy of the architect and School of Architecture professor, who in her classroom and studio created "new expressions in the built environment that caused in the viewer reflection and gave a new sense of existential ‘delight’."
Planning for Urban Heat Resilience: Professor Ladd Keith Partners with American Planning Association on Essential Publication
Thanks to a partnership with the American Planning Association, CAPLA's Ladd Keith and ASU's Sara Meerow have published a comprehensive guide for planners and their communities to equitably prepare for urban heat resilience and mitigation: Planning for Urban Heat Resilience.
Plan the Plan
Plan the Plan aims to apply crowd-source technology to foster greater inclusion and social justice in the City of Tucson’s neighborhood planning process. CALPLA faculty and students applied this platform to seven neighborhoods in the Grant-Alvernon area of Tucson, Arizona.
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.