CAPLA Student Ella Parsons earned national recognition for Aguán, a project that looks to the Sonoran Desert’s longstanding building traditions to inform a sustainable relationship between architecture and the natural world.
CAPLA Student Reef Townsend earned national recognition for Arid Futures Pavilion, a design that explores how contemporary architecture can respond to the Sonoran Desert through thoughtful site integration, material choices and sustainability.
“ISAPD in Our Hands: Student Chapters Shaping the Future” explored how student chapters of the Indigenous Society of Architecture, Planning, and Design (ISAPD) can foster learning, cultural engagement, advocacy and professional growth within universities and their communities.
Last spring, CAPLA students partnered with Community Gardens of Tucson to explore new possibilities for the Mary Meredith Community Garden. Led by Architecture Lecturer Chris Tucker, students in the BA.DAP program’s Spatial Design Studio developed design proposals for the garden’s school-side grounds, considering how the space could support children’s outdoor experiences and the surrounding ecosystem.
For Javi Barcelo, B.Arch ’27, architecture is deeply connected to place, culture and community. His City Immersion Scholarship gave him the opportunity to explore those connections firsthand in Mexico City, an experience that ultimately helped shape the direction of his capstone project.
CAPLA faculty, students and researchers joined SCORCH’s Greenspaces and Health Photovoice Study, a participatory project that invited community members to document how parks, trees and other green spaces shape their health and daily lives. The collaboration highlights CAPLA’s interdisciplinary approach to research and design, connecting community voices, public health and the built environment.
Anselmo Vinhas, CAPLA’s Class of 2026, reflects on growth, favorite projects (3D-printed housing for Angola), cherished memories, and his next steps: U.S. experience and launching a business in Angola.
Dillon Tisdale’s externship with The M Group in D.C. immersed him in real-world architecture workflows, sustainability, and collaboration, shaping his career goals in net-zero design and project management.
CAPLA architecture students were featured by KGUN9 for designing and constructing a shipping-container microshelter prototype that addresses housing instability while providing hands-on experience in community-engaged design and construction.
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.
Francisco Zazueta, B.Arch '26, was recently featured by Arizona Public Media for a story as much about perseverance as it is about design.
CAPLA students earned top honors at the AZASLA Awards Gala, including awards for Cycles of Renewal and Watermark’s Re-imagined Therapeutic Garden. Recognized for excellence in landscape architecture.