All Studio Stories

Led by faculty member Brian Bidolli, the CAPLA Study Abroad program “Cities of the Future: Japan” combined classroom learning with site visits in Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Students explored smart cities and sustainable urban development through lectures, professional meetings, cultural excursions, and visits to cutting-edge institutions. The program offered an immersive experience that connected theory with practice while deepening students’ global perspective on planning and design.

Inspired by the creativity and drive of CAPLA students, Matt Emory, senior undergraduate academic advisor, is passionate about building meaningful relationships and supporting students in reaching their goals.

Michael Kothke, principal at HK ASSOCIATES and professor at CAPLA, was invited to speak at Reimagining Desert Modernism: The Architecture Shaping Arizona Today, a forum hosted by ARCHITECT Magazine and Marvin Windows at Taliesin West.

The College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture has awarded the 2025 Grassroots Seed Grants to three faculty-led projects that advance innovative teaching, research, and creative activity.

CAPLA Master of Landscape Architecture students Ashley Danforth and Xavier Fernandez are leading a $45,000 grant-funded project to advance sustainable stormwater solutions on campus. Through research, collaboration, and community outreach, their work will create a campus-wide database of green stormwater infrastructure to help address challenges like drought and extreme heat.

Ladd Keith, director of the University of Arizona’s Heat Resilience Initiative and a leading national expert on heat planning, has been appointed to Governor Katie Hobbs’ new Workplace Heat Safety Task Force. In this role, he will help develop science-based, equitable guidelines to protect Arizona’s workers from the growing risks of extreme heat.

CAPLA’s Drachman Institute brought together experts from across the Southwest for a two-day workshop focused on advancing Net Zero Urban Water—an approach where cities meet water needs through sustainable, local sources without harming long-term supplies or ecosystems.

CAPLA Associate Professor Philip Stoker is advancing research on heat resilience with a new study highlighting how residents of mobile and manufactured housing in Arizona’s urban areas face heightened vulnerability to extreme heat due to limited access to vegetation and land ownership.

Esmeralda Rubi Carrasco, Class of 2026, is pursuing a Master of Landscape Architecture at CAPLA after earning her Doctor of Business from Grand Canyon University. Inspired by her family’s garden center, Ponderosa Cactus, she’s passionate about plant-forward, community-rooted design that honors the Sonoran Desert.