Students

The Future of Building: Rachael Varin '21 B Arch
B Arch student Rachael Varin, who was born and raised in Tucson, has used her CAPLA studio and design/build experience, as well as her internships in Arizona and California, to build upon her passion for construction.

UArizona Architecture Student Receives 2021 COTE Top Ten for Students Award for Sustainable Design Excellence
Fourth-year B Arch student Ana Astiazaran has been awarded the top student sustainable design excellence award from the American Institute of Architects and Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.

A Passion for Sustainable Gardening: Christian Aguilar Murrieta ’23 MLA
Master of Landscape Architecture student Christian Aguilar Murrieta is from Ciudad Constitucion, Baja California Sur, Mexico, a small city surrounded by agricultural fields and chirinolas. She moved to Tucson in 2013 after earning her undergraduate degree in sustainable tourism at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California Sur.

CAPLA Students and Faculty Partner with Local First Arizona to Help Organizations Develop Sustainability Plans
Assistant Professor of Architecture Altaf Engineer and Lecturer in Architecture Sandra Bernal-Cordova helped build the SCALE UP curriculum and train its facilitators, and are now preparing to engage CAPLA students and recent graduates in the award-winning, community-oriented program.

Design Negotiation: Greg Veitch '23 M Arch
Greg Veitch, who is from New Haven, Connecticut, entered CAPLA's Master of Architecture program after receiving his undergraduate degree in English from the University of Connecticut. Prior to enrolling at CAPLA, he worked for two years at a design firm in Aspen, Colorado.

CAPLA 2021 Job Interview Fair Breaks New Ground, Digitally Speaking
88 students participated in 334 interviews conducted by 28 employers in an all-digital format at the 11th Annual Job Interview Fair held over a two-day span in February 2021. For the first time, CAPLA added sponsorships and scholarships to the dynamic event.

Rainwater Harvesting Analysis by Hunter Lohse ’22 MLA Takes Second Prize at UArizona 2021 Student Showcase
Hunter Lohse '22 MLA was awarded second prize in the UArizona 2021 Student Showcase categories of Sustainability and Environmental Impact for his project Free Water: An Analysis of Potential Impacts of Large-Scale Residential Rainwater Harvesting, which calculates the potential impacts of rainwater harvesting if implemented by single-family homes across Tucson.

A Balanced Mindset: Emma Nakpairat '23 BLA
Originally from Ann Arbor, Michigan, Emma Nakpairat came to CAPLA and the Bachelor of Landscape Architecture program in Tucson to be inspired by the Sonoran Desert—and to combine her love of the outdoors with her thirst to improve the environment in which we live.

Designing a Resilient Future: Carla A. Campos '22 BS SBE UArizona, B Arch UPC Lima
Carla A. Campos is a fourth-year architecture undergraduate student at UPC Lima in Peru. Through CAPLA’s innovative microcampus program, she’s also pursuing her BS in Sustainable Built Environments program at the University of Arizona.

UArizona Chapter of American Institute of Architecture Students Wins 2020 AIAS Chapter Honor Award
CAPLA’s AIAS student chapter, cited for its “incredible level of effort and coordination of leadership,” has won the highest honor the national AIAS organization can bestow upon a chapter.

Connecting to the Roots of Place: Zoe Sadorf '21 M Arch
Zoe Sadorf, who is from the Southern Arizona city of Sierra Vista, entered CAPLA's Master of Architecture program after receiving her Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Portland State University. Prior to joining CAPLA, she spent three years with a Portland, Oregon architecture firm.

Future Placemaker: Isabelle Loh '21 BS SBE
Isabelle Loh entered CAPLA's BS in SBE (Sustainable Communities Emphasis) after moving from Penang, Malaysia. “It’s a small island in the northern region of the country,” she says. “Fun fact: the island is only half the size of Tucson with almost double the population!”
