CAPLA Receives Top Spots in 2018 EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge

April 23, 2019

CAPLA student teams have received national recognition two years in a row.

Overview
The Challenge is a green infrastructure design competition for American colleges and universities.
Who
Third year Master of Landscape Architecture Students
What
2018 EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge
Where
The University of Arizona Campus
When
April 23, 2019
Categories
Students conduct a soil percolation test

Two of the six winning teams in the 2018 EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge were from Bo Yang's third year master of landscape architecture design studio. This marks the second year in a row that CAPLA student teams held two of the top spots. The CAPLA teams received 2nd place in the Demonstration Project Category and an Honorable Mention in the Master Plan Category.

The Campus RainWorks Challenge is an annual "collegiate competition that engages the next generation of environmental professionals to design innovative solutions for stormwater pollution."

CAPLA students collaborated with students Jack Anderson and Samantha Swartz from hydrology. An key part of the EPA challenge is identifying the watershed in which the site falls in order to calculate the rates of storm water runoff. Teams used this data to inform their designs of passive and active rainwater storage systems, which include check dams, permeable surfaces, and cisterns.

2nd place - Demonstration Project Category: (Re)Searching for a Spot

Team members Matthew Lutheran, Aaron Johnson; and Zhiyuan Song re-imagined a parking lot that sits just south of the CAPLA building, creating a design that routes water through a series of swales that slow and treat water before pollutants can concentrate and pollute larger waterways.

MLA students Aaron Johnson, Zhiyuan Song, and Matthew Lutheran.

 

Honorable Mention - Master Plan Category: Socio-Hydrology

Team members Jon Choi, Jennifer Moscato, and Cody White chose to bring many of the green infrastructure improvements to the forefront of their design in a way that would directly affect and improve the user experience, rather than hiding the functional site improvements behind the scenes. This project was also the recipient of the 2018 Liba Wheat Prize and the 2019 Award of Excellence - Student Collaborative from the Arizona Chapter of the ASLA.

MLA students Cody White, Jennifer Moscato, and Jon Choi.

 

  

Subscribe to The Studio

Sign up for CAPLA's monthly e-newsletter to get the latest news and events, insights from faculty and leadership, profiles of students and alumni and more.

Subscribe Now

Latest CAPLA News, Projects and Profiles

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.

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.

See More