Gather Light: ARC 201
Students in CAPLA’s ARC 201 studio, guided by faculty including Christopher Domin and others, completed the "Gather Light" project focused on understanding and designing in harmony with the Sonoran Desert environment. Through observation, drawing, and modeling, students explored how light, nature, and architecture interact. Key activities involved studying desert plants, translating their forms into design systems, and developing canopies that filter light and enhance outdoor spaces. The project emphasized hands-on learning, teamwork, and iterative design using 2D and 3D representations to create thoughtful architectural interventions that respect and respond to the desert landscape.
Lecturer Christopher Tucker wins AIA Design Pedagogy Award for innovative Abiotic Studio
Christopher Tucker, a lecturer in architecture at CAPLA, received the American Institute of Architects’ Design Pedagogy Award for his Abiotic Studio, a fourth-year course that challenges students to engage with ecological realities and reimagine post-industrial landscapes through more-than-human perspectives.
Library: Hui-Yen Yang '22 M.Arch
Hui-Yen Yang's Library is an interpretation of a contemporary library branch located in Tucson, Arizona, using an architectural language of intersecting and overlapping curvilinear walls.
The Floating City: Kate Stuteville '18 B.Arch
Narrated through speculative design, The Floating City by Kate Stuteveill tells the story of a future world dealing with rapidly rising sea levels and population growth, by proposing a new type of community that can inhabit a world we have yet to build upon: the water’s surface.
Garcia Residence: Teresa Rosano, Assistant Professor of Practice in Architecture
The challenge for the design team of Teresa Rosano and Luis Ibarra on the Garcia residence was to design a structure that would appear to grow out of the rocky desert hillside without dominating the landscape.
Untangling Silos: Kristina Currans, Associate Professor of Urban Planning
Associate Professor of Urban Planning Kristina Currans, who has a background in civil engineering, began at CAPLA in 2017. She has a wide variety of research and other interests, with a particular focus on land-use development and transportation planning.
El Camino Verde: Emily Lorenz, Heather Schmidt, Irene Pineda, Austin Young and Jordan Lawson MLA
El Camino Verde is a project by Master of Landscape Architecture students Emily Lorenz, Heather Schmidt, Irene Pineda, Austin Young, and Jordan Lawson that creates solutions for addressing the hottest land plot in Tucson, Arizona.
re-House Modern: Damon Leverett, Senior Lecturer in Architecture
The research project re-House Modern by Damon Leverett is a prefabricated modular housing concept made of recycled HDPE plastic that is formed into individual building components.
Secrets of Sense: Tasbeeh Alaqtum '20 MS Arch and Sara Ghaemi '20 MS Arch
Secrets of Sense, a project by MS Architecture students Tasbeeh Alaqtum and Sara Ghaemi, stimulates human senses to better appreciate the serenity and beauty of the Vulture Mountains Recreation Area in Maricopa County, Arizona.
The Intersection of Architecture and Technology: Damon Leverett, Senior Lecturer in Architecture
Senior Lecturer in Architecture Damon Leverett began at CAPLA in 2019. With a background in computer science and architecture, he brings a rich mix of architectural technology and systems design experience to the college.
Primer Hogar, Communal-Living Housing: Humberto Lopez Villanueva '20 M.Arch
Humberto Lopez Villanueva's project, Primer Hogar, Communal-Living Housing, which is set near the U.S.-Mexico border, is developed with three different performance realms: cultural specificity, context mediation and fostering community.