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.
Civil Engineering Magazine Discusses Green Infrastructure Proposals Created by CAPLA Architecture Students
“How do you retrofit a city for infrastructure that it doesn’t have?” asks Assistant Professor of Architecture Courtney Crosson in Civil Engineering magazine. “The idea is that instead of digging up roads and putting in single-purpose piping, green infrastructure is a multi-benefit way to adapt and upgrade city infrastructure.”
Confronting Borderlands: Kenneth J. Kokroko '17 MLA
Kenneth J. Kokroko's Confronting Borderlands proposes a new monument to peace the straddles the United States-Canada border, and seeks to integrate the existing (to be dismantled) Peace Towers into the newly designed landscape at the International Peace Garden.
Designing for the Future: Athba Alradaan '23 B.Arch
Bachelor of Architecture student Athba Alradaan, who is from Kuwait, took advantage of remote learning due to the pandemic to participate in two informative internships in her home country. In this profile, she shares what she loves about architecture, how she's overcome challenges and more.
CAPLA’s Jesús Edmundo Robles Jr and DUST Architects’s Marfa Suite Featured in The New York Times
Completed by DUST Architects in winter 2020, the Marfa Suite located in Marfa, Texas, and designed by CAPLA Assistant Professor of Practice Jesús Edmundo Robles Jr and partner Cade Hayes of DUST Architects was featured in The New York Times story “How Do You Add On to the Perfect Small House? You Don’t.”
Center for Innovation and Collaboration: Eunbee Kang '22 B.Arch
The Center for Innovation and Collaboration in Tucson, Arizona by Eunbee Kang '22 B.Arch is an urban oasis that extends an invitation to its immediate surroundings and much further, shaded by rich greens fed by trickling water.
CAPLA Assistant Research Scientist Adriana Zuniga and Fellow Researchers Win Best Paper Award from Water International
Adriana Zuniga has been awarded the 2018 Water International Best Paper Award. The editors of Water International choose the winners in three-year cycles, recently naming the 2018, 2019 and 2020 awardees, who will be honored in Korea in December 2021.
Urban Planning Professor Arthur C. Nelson Discusses Bus Rapid Transit Investment in The Washington Post
Arthur C. Nelson, professor of urban planning and real estate development, was quoted in a July 23, 2021 article in The Washington Post on rapid transit and urban growth, referencing a study conducted by Nelson and other UArizona researchers on bus rapid transit sites from 2013-2019.
Jesús Edmundo Robles Jr and DUST Architects Win 2021 Jeff Harnar Award for Contemporary Architecture in the Southwest
DUST Architects, led by Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture Jesús Edmundo Robles Jr and founding principal Cade Hayes, has been awarded the top design prize by the University of New Mexico School of Architecture + Planning and the Thornburg Foundation for Southern Arizona's Casa Caldera.
Architecture and Planning Faculty Quoted in Salt Lake Tribune Article on 'Water Shaming'
Courtney Crosson, assistant professor of architecture, and Ladd Keith, assistant professor of planning and sustainable built environments, were quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune's July 12, 2021 story, "Neighbor wasting water? Is 'water shaming' the answer?"