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2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part VII

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In Part VII of the 2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase, we feature incredible projects centered on housing. From affordable housing and modular structural systems to trauma-informed designs and community-centered policies, these projects explore the expansive ways architecture can be used as a tool to design housing that meets both community and individual needs.

Wall as Commons: Minimum Collective Infrastructures for Informal Domesticity and Growth by Raveena Deshpande, M.Arch. ’26
Rhode Island School of Design | Advisor: Surella Segu

Why Wall? 

As urban populations grow, access to affordable housing declines, pushing certain sections of the population to build informal settlements outside legal and formal construction systems. These settlements often lack access to basic living infrastructure—water, sanitation, and electricity—even as they house a large share of the population in developing countries.

Current models of designing for informality exist as top-down planning approaches that ignore lived realities at the scale of the home. These design models are incongruent with informal lifestyles and undermine the sense of belonging that comes with rituals of self-authorship in space-making that exist in such settlements.

Wall for Domesticity

This thesis proposes an alternative: repositioning design for informal housing as a wall- a tool to articulate growth through collective infrastructure that delivers minimum essential utilities (water, electricity, drainage, sewage) for domestic stability, while facilitating self-building of homes along the wall, preserving inhabitants’ belonging and ownership. Different wall types are explored based on density and the type of growth they could catalyse (doubly loaded/ singly loaded/ alternately loaded for open space), as well as based on the benefactor’s budget for infrastructure investment (low investment versus high investment walls, i.e: wall as plane versus wall as room). Studies of how planning authorities might employ different wall types to organise and plan for informality as part of urbanity and ensure fair and comfortable amenities to all are conducted. 

Wall for More

The thesis also imagines the wall as a way to introduce public amenities such as play areas and work areas that such organically growing settlements lack. These include wall for worship (as circumambulatory paths), wall for work, wall for play, wall for water (common water spouts and WCs).

This project won the Department Thesis Award.

Instagram: @ravwlv, @workingrav, @surellasegu

Right up Your Alley: Integrating Affordable Housing and Walkable Infrastructure to Revitalize Denver’s Neighborhoods by Mason Anchondo, M.Arch. ‘26
North Dakota State University | Advisor: Charlott Greub

This thesis examines how existing single-family neighborhoods in Denver, Colorado, can be transformed into more walkable, socially connected, and affordable communities by reactivating the city’s underutilized mid-block alleyways. Through policy analysis, data-driven spatial analysis, and on-site neighborhood observation, the study identifies opportunities to introduce accessory dwelling units (ADUs) and pedestrian-oriented design strategies that improve connectivity and housing diversity without displacing existing residents.

A multi-scalar site selection process ultimately focuses on the Barnum and West Barnum neighborhoods, where intact alley networks and demographic conditions support a replicable framework for gentle densification. Informed by case studies and interdisciplinary research on walkability, human-scale design, and zoning reform, the project proposes incremental interventions that expand accessible housing opportunities, reduce car dependency, and strengthen neighborhood cohesion. The resulting approach demonstrates how modest, community-centered design and policy changes can reshape aging suburban neighborhoods into healthier, more sustainable urban environments.

This project was selected as a finalist for the McKenzie Award.

The Interflow by Kevin Juarez-Martinez, B.Arch. ‘26
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona | Advisor: Katrin Terstegen

Located at the intersection of South Broadway and Slauson Avenue in South Los Angeles, California, the project responds to a historically and culturally vibrant community through a mixed-use housing project that combines residential, commercial, and communal spaces using mass timber. The project is organized around an elevated courtyard and circulation system that allows for movement to become a social experience amongst residents and visitors. Rather than isolating residents within conventional apartment corridors, the design challenges this concept and introduces terraces, bridges, and outdoor gathering spaces and gardens that encourage interaction between neighbors while also maintaining privacy within individual units. The proposal contains one, two, three bedroom configurations that support various family sizes. 

Mass timber serves as both the structural and design strategy, with members spanning into the courtyard. A repetitive system of CLT panels and columns establishes an efficient, modular framework that supports prefabrication, reduces construction waste, and lowers embodied carbon. Applications of biophilic living conditions, such as terraced gardens, are also supplemented in the exposed timber elements to enhance the residents’ interaction with the building. 

The ground floor is a mass timber grid, supporting the residences above, in a post-and-beam structural design. The structural members are connected with the consideration of disassembly at the building’s end of life. The beams capture the mass timber floor panels, which are also typical throughout the project, to allow for mass shipment through prefabrication of all members. 

The floor-to-floor height of the project is consistent at each level to provide a uniform dimension, simplifying the design and providing an efficient solution that saves material, cost,  and fabrication time. The mass timber grid also extends up through the residential units to consider carbon emissions in the construction process. 

At the ground level, retail and community-oriented programs activate the street and strengthen connections between residents, local businesses, and transit users. By integrating housing with shared public amenities, the proposal creates a vibrant urban ecosystem. 

Click here to learn more. 

Instagram: @kevin_j.m, @katrinterstegen

Domus Ianicula by Alan Watts, BS in Architecture ‘26
University of Virginia | Advisor: Peter Waldman

Domus Ianicula explores the design of a dwelling system on Roanoke Island in the Outer Banks of North Carolina in the form of a multi-generational home fostering an experience of living in the coastal threshold. Sited on a strand of 23 small islands towards the southeast side of the main island, this thesis provides a counter-proposal for the development of this previously protected natural space. 

An individual dwelling on one of these islands faces two ways: the Roanoke Sound and the Atlantic to the east and a protected marsh and the mainland to the west. Those who live in the dwelling share an experience intensified by their relationship to the land as they fish in the sea and garden in the marsh–with no land connection to the rest of Roanoke Island, residents access their dwellings and the community through smaller jon boats on the west side and larger offshore fishing boats from the east side. 

The home begins as a small gathering around a hearth and grows with time and the family via a modular system. A truss system holds a light roof of corrugated metal above the dwelling, protecting the few enclosed living spaces as well as covering shared outdoor spaces. The roof collects water into two cisterns, which is purified, stored, and used by the residents via one central water line running through the dwelling. The main two masses of the building are separated by a central hearth and the intersection of a north-south path which connects dwellings along the strip of 23 islands. This system for housing, once deployed across several of the islands over time, creates a unique anti-urban community for year-round residents that directly interact with the surrounding communities of Wanchese and Manteo.

Instagram: @architectalan.dwg 

Subaltern Alternatives: Reclaiming Agency Through Spatial Articulation by Nadirah Ali, B.Arch. ’26

Kennesaw State University | Advisor: ​​Jade Yang

The concept of the subaltern [was] introduced by Antonio Gramsci to describe populations excluded from political, social, and economic power while still being used to sustain dominant systems. Today, migrant construction workers often occupy this condition: essential to urban growth, yet denied dignity, visibility, and participation in the cities they build. Their housing is frequently reduced to an instrument of control—spaces designed to contain labor rather than support life. This thesis proposes an architectural alternative.

The project examines contemporary cases of labor exploitation in the United States, Qatar, and Singapore, where migrant workers have faced unsafe conditions, wage theft, overcrowded dormitories, and social exclusion. Among these, Singapore becomes the primary site of study. As the city advances new “live-work-play” districts and large-scale redevelopment, thousands of migrant workers are imported to construct this vision, yet remain housed far from the city center with little access to the urban life they create. The thesis asks: when city design decisions are made about who participates in urban life, who is truly at the table?

To answer this, the project studies architecture as a political tool. Precedents such as adaptable collective housing, civic border infrastructures, and hospitals organized through humane circulation demonstrate that space determines who is seen, who participates, and who is excluded. Rather than reproduce another dormitory model, this thesis begins with the everyday spatial practices of the workers themselves. Cultural studies of Indian, Bangladeshi, and Chinese domestic life reveal shared needs: communal cooking, floor-based gathering, prayer, flexible sleeping arrangements, and courtyard-centered social life.

From these observations, the thesis develops a modular kit-of-parts housing system organized around the courtyard as a social and civic core. Kitchens, living quarters, prayer rooms, wash areas, and gathering spaces can be assembled, expanded, or relocated according to changing labor populations and construction timelines. Designed to fit Singapore’s construction grids and transport systems, the kit can occupy vacant urban parcels and active building sites near employment centers.

Tested within Singapore’s CBD fringe redevelopment zone, the proposal repositions worker housing from distant containment to visible urban participation. Subaltern Alternatives argues that architecture must move beyond shelter as control and instead become a framework for agency, citizenship, and dignity. If workers participate in building the city, they must also have the right to participate in living within it.

Click here to learn more. 

This project was selected as one of the Top 5 Thesis Projects for the Niles Bolton KSU Thesis Competition and received an Honorable Mention.

Instagram: @nadirah_ali6_, @​​jadeyjadeyang

Invisible Fragments: Strengthening a Small Informal Settlement within a Transforming Buenos Aires by Camilla Greppi, B.Arch. ’26
Tulane University | Advisors: Ammar Eloueini & Juan Medina

Located in Buenos Aires, Barrio Saldías is a small, often forgotten informal settlement positioned at the edge of major urban transformations. This thesis strengthens the community without erasing its existing fabric or displacing residents. Through selective retrofitting, structurally viable homes are improved with safer circulation, pitched roofs, windows, and doors, while underutilized warehouses are reused for essential programs like education, healthcare, and food access. New incremental housing follows the scale and spatial logic of existing dwellings, allowing families to expand horizontally over time. An abandoned rail corridor becomes a railroad park, creating a public spine that reconnects Barrio Saldías to Villa 31, the port, and the broader city. 

Click here for a closer look. 

This received a Thesis Commendation during the Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment Diploma Ceremony in May 2026.

Instagram: @greppiarchitecture, @eloueini, @salazarsequeromedina

Teaching TID: Reframing Shelter as a Site of Productive Making by Haley Beverlin, M.Arch. ’26
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

Homelessness is a systemic, multi-disciplinary issue that demands collaboration across diverse stakeholders to develop shelter models promoting dignity and challenging the current limitations. While not solely an architectural crisis, AEC professionals serve as the link within the design process to ensure final projects translate the needs of users. Current shelter models perpetuate a simplified generic mass-production model of room design. To serve a universal audience, rooms begin to lack personality and limit personal choice, in turn making each room identical to the one next to it. Each person has different forms of trauma, meaning healing is also multi-layered. These differences highlight that residents may have different ideas of what a space for healing may look like.

The approach of Trauma-Informed Designed (TID) fosters ideas of connection, choice, comfort, and safety (Shopworks, 2025). “Choice, closely tied to the concepts of autonomy and control, emerged as a powerful determinant of the residents’ well-being” and heavily influenced whether residents felt “protected or restricted” (Shopworks, 2025). While choice typically comes in the form of navigating independently on site, there is an opportunity to increase this. Makerspaces parallel these ideas by providing people access to “tap into the unique history, culture, or characteristics of their host communities” (Debowski, 4). For those who have been displaced, this is a chance to reconnect with place and identity (see Figure 1).

This thesis argues that the design and creation of objects can be a means to marry the acts of making and healing, for it places the agency in the hands of the residents inhabiting the space to alter it as they please. The incorporation of a makerspace provides a unique opportunity to explore new skills, build connections, and incorporate vocational training within the architectural programming of the shelter. Reimagining the potential of these spaces aims to empower residents within the realm of choice and enhance this element of TID within the building designs. This all could lead to a truly trauma-informed design; the structure given by the architect, but the details defined by the taught users.

Click here to learn more. 

Instagram: @haleybeverlin, @​​scott_shall

Cultivating Agency in Multi-Generational Co-Housing: Respecting Choice with Spatial Articulation for the Betterment of Aging and Growing Communities by Logan Croghan, M.Arch. ’26
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

Current housing options in the U.S. limit how individual and family units operate in their homes and communities by reducing their ability to maintain permanent residence. Each year, approximately 40 million Americans move out of their homes due to financial insufficiencies and physical inflexibility. An estimated 63% of households choose to remain in the same county, citing familiarity in their community, existing social ties, and established routines as primary reasons for staying, despite their unsustainable housing options (Harvard University, 2020).

Of the affected households, older Americans are seeking alternatives to institutional settings that support aging in place and their rapidly changing lifestyles more than ever. The University of Michigan found that 88% of Americans aged 55 to 80 wanted to live in their homes as long as possible but did not believe they had the tools to do so (Institute of Healthcare Policy and Innovation, 2022). Housing options with supportive and adaptable qualities would enable older individuals to remain in their established communities and gain the emotional and social comfort that benefits their overall health and those who interact with them (Sharifi, 2023).

 As an alternative option, co-housing can encourage long-term residence among older populations and growing families alike. An iteration of the model can not only expand to include multi-generational households to increase community support, but also incorporate architectural elements that give residents the power to shift spaces as needed. To further understand the impact of spatial alterations over time, shared and privatized spaces require investigation to articulate how negotiation between neighbors can determine the iterations’ legitimacy in encouraging individuals to work together towards the collective goal of remaining in their forever homes.

Click here to learn more. 

Instagram: @taycroghan929, @​​scott_shall

Building Memory: Constructing Collage Architecture in Outer Urban Spaces by Emily Grimaldi, B.Arch. ’26
Virginia Tech | Advisor: Gonzalo Munoz-Vera

Building Memory: Constructing Collage Architecture in Outer Urban Spaces is an architectural thesis that investigates how new development can engage the layered identities of interstitial urban neighborhoods without erasing their cultural and spatial memory. Centered in Astoria, Queens, the project critiques conventional redevelopment practices that replace existing urban fabric with uniform, commodified architecture, often resulting in visual and cultural disconnection. Instead, the proposal advances an alternative design methodology rooted in “collage architecture,” an additive process that preserves, reinterprets, and builds upon the accumulated layers of the built environment.

The thesis is grounded in the understanding that outer urban areas—unlike iconic city centers—evolve incrementally through human-scale interventions over time. Buildings in these neighborhoods are shaped by diverse occupants, resulting in a heterogeneous architectural language rich in memory and identity. These environments function as living archives, where facades, materials, and spatial patterns act as artifacts of social and cultural history. New construction that ignores these qualities risks not only aesthetic disruption but also the erasure of collective memory.

In response, the project proposes a design framework composed of three primary elements: the artifact, the ghost, and the new mass. Artifacts preserve the most historically significant portions of the existing site—such as facades or structural remnants—maintaining their symbolic and material presence. Ghosts reinterpret less significant but spatially important elements as lightweight, frame-like structures that retain the memory of what once existed while creating openness and new public connections. The new mass introduces necessary program—primarily housing—designed to align with the scale, spatial logic, and social dynamics of the surrounding neighborhood.

Through this tripartite strategy, the project creates a “city within a city,” integrating density with familiarity. Housing units are configured to support social interaction, drawing from the spatial principles of traditional Queens homes, while varied materials and forms reinforce the language of collage at multiple scales. Ultimately, Building Memory argues that sustainable urban growth must be rooted in continuity rather than replacement. By embedding memory into the design process, architecture can foster a more empathetic, connected, and contextually responsive urban future.

This project was one of eleven Fifth-Year Thesis Honors Finalists.

Instagram: @grimaldi_ad, @gmunozvera

Empathetic Architecture: Mixed-Use Housing for Young Adults with Autism by Brooklyn Watson, B.Arch. ’26
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: Robin Puttock

Architecture, by its very definition, is the art or science of building; that is, specifically the art or practice of designing and building structures, especially habitable ones (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Besides being an art of habitable spaces, architecture influences how people experience belonging, comfort, and autonomy, yet contemporary design often overlooks the needs of all types of people, such as the neurodivergent experience. Despite advances in technology and policy, architectural design continues to lag in addressing the full spectrum of disability needs. The Americans with Disabilities Act requires accessibility in new construction, but is often interpreted through minimal interventions such as ramps, elevators, and accessible restrooms (ADA National Network, 2024). While these measures are critical, they primarily serve visible and physical disabilities, leaving the sensory and cognitive needs of neurodivergent individuals, such as autistic young adults, largely unconsidered. Research has shown that inclusive design practices remain inconsistently implemented across the building industry, with many professionals still defaulting to compliance rather than innovation (Zallio & Clarkson, 2021).

The result is that many built environments remain overstimulating, alienating, or exclusionary. This research redefines accessibility as empathy; an active design approach grounded in human diversity. Through precedent studies, literature, and site analysis, it identifies inclusive tactics such as predictable circulation, sensory zoning, adaptable lighting, and acoustic control. The site at 77 North Park Square in Marietta provides an urban setting where civic and residential systems intersect, fostering both independence and connection. Synthesizing therapeutic, educational, and architectural insights, the project proposes empathetic housing that nurtures comfort, sensory balance, and belonging. Rather than separating neurodivergent and neurotypical users, the design celebrates difference, using architecture as a medium of care, inclusion, and shared humanity.

Instagram: @robinzputtock

Within the Lakou by Bedgid Aurelie Laguerre, Abigail Bauman & Cheyenne Granahan, M.Arch. ’26
Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: Wyly Brown

This project responds to Haiti’s ongoing displacement crisis by proposing a decentralized housing model for a young professional couple relocating from Port-au-Prince to Cap-Haïtien. Inspired by the traditional Haitian Lakou system, the design combines a compact microhome with a community-oriented framework that promotes collective resilience and mutual support. The proposal reinterprets the spatial and social qualities of the Lakou, including shared outdoor spaces, cultural exchange, and strong social networks, within a contemporary housing solution. By integrating climate-responsive strategies and adaptable construction methods, the project provides safe, dignified, and sustainable housing while supporting cultural continuity and community well-being.

Click here to learn more.

This project was shortlisted for MICROHOME 10 Competition.

Instagram: @B_the_architect, @Dysynchronized, @Cheyennegranahan, @washusamfoxschool

Evolum – Evolving Housing by Antonio Tejeda, B.Arch. ’26
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Jorge Javier, Patricia Cutiño, Federico Hernández, Álvaro de los Cobos & Guillermo Márquez

The project emerges as a response to the social, economic, and demographic transformations that have reshaped contemporary ways of living in the city. Today, the largest segment of the economically active population is shared between young adults and established professionals; however, it is paradoxical that younger generations, despite representing one of the most productive sectors of society, face the greatest barriers to accessing a first home. In response to this condition, the proposal introduces an evolutionary housing model based on flexibility, customization, and incremental growth. Conceived as a system of modular vertical-lot towers, the project allows each dwelling to adapt and evolve alongside its occupants. Strategically located in an area with strong connectivity, accessibility, and proximity to urban services, the development promotes efficient land use while ensuring optimal daylight, natural ventilation, and environmental comfort.

Affordability serves as the project’s guiding principle and informs every design decision. To reduce the final cost of housing, underground parking was intentionally avoided, as its construction would have significantly increased the cost per square meter. Instead, parking is resolved at grade alongside the residential towers. Material selection likewise prioritizes durability, low maintenance, and economic efficiency, incorporating exposed three-piece stone-faced concrete block walls that age gracefully without additional finishes, terrazzo flooring that utilizes the structural compression layer as the final surface finish, and permeable linear pavers that facilitate natural groundwater infiltration. In addition, shared amenities are concentrated within outdoor communal spaces, allowing maintenance costs to be distributed across the entire development rather than individual buildings, substantially reducing long-term operational expenses.

Architecturally, each tower is composed of four dwelling units confined by load-bearing walls that provide structural rigidity to the overall system. These units are organized around a central vertical circulation core that opens into a shared lobby, from which each residence is accessed.

The modular structural system is a key element in making this growth strategy feasible.

Instagram: @antoniotejedaa, @arquitectura_anahuac, @arqwave

Stay tuned for Part VIII!

2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part VI

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Today’s edition of the 2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase explores the intersections of education and design. Part VI features adaptive learning centers, modular kits for adaptable classrooms, education centers for vulnerable adolescents, and research spaces. These outstanding projects also use design as a tool to interrogate and address nuanced topics in education, including preserving student creativity in today’s digital age and how architecture can bridge and facilitate workplace integration for community college students.

Reframing the Learning Landscape by Valeria Lemus, M.Arch. ‘26
University of Florida |  Advisors: Eugene Damaso, Albertus S. Wang & Stephen Bender

Reframing the Learning Landscape explores how outdoor learning environments can become an essential component of education in Florida. Located in an urban context adjacent to Parramore, [a neighborhood] in Orlando, the project challenges conventional school models that prioritize indoor, standardized learning environments and instead proposes a campus that integrates nature, health, community, and education into the daily learning experience.

The project is informed by research on whole-child development, environmental psychology, experiential learning, and adaptive educational environments. Findings from literature reviews, case studies, and educator feedback identified four primary design drivers: connection to nature, adaptive learning environments, experiential learning, and long-term adaptability. These drivers informed a series of spatial strategies that blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor learning.

The proposed school organizes classrooms, community spaces, activity zones, nutrition gardens, and outdoor learning environments around a network of shaded transitional spaces that encourage movement, exploration, and social interaction. Native landscapes, productive gardens, water-focused learning environments, and passive climate-responsive design strategies support both environmental stewardship and student well-being. Building orientation, shading systems, landscape buffers, and outdoor classrooms respond to Florida’s climate while reducing dependence on conditioned space.

Rather than treating outdoor space as a recreational amenity, the project positions nature as educational infrastructure. Learning landscapes become places for discovery, collaboration, physical activity, and environmental awareness. The design demonstrates how schools can simultaneously address educational outcomes, community health, ecological resilience, and climate responsiveness while creating more meaningful connections between students, their environment, and the communities they serve.

Instagram: @valelemus1, @stephen.bender

Extraction, Control and Permanence of Memory by Jack Allison, BS in Architecture ‘26
University of Virginia | Advisor: Peter Waldman

This thesis uses the existing Bingham Copper Mine as a site for an environmental institute that examines limits to extraction, control, and permanence within Utah’s Salt Lake Valley by reclaiming an architectural understanding of the desert that defines it. With this reading of the place, the thesis becomes a critique of Latter-day Saint settlement patterns that sought to superficially “make the desert bloom.” In their taming of the Desert, they became apathetic to the existing landscape, creating a disconnection from ‘The Place,’ most profoundly seen at the Bingham Copper Mine. 

By unraveling the extent of environmental destruction produced by the mine over its 120-year lifespan through a network of cultural, ecological, and research spaces, this place of extraction becomes a site for understanding the histories that shaped it and the future that reimagines it. Reclamation, connection, and memory bring the locale closer to the neglected environment, prioritizing experiential contact and aesthetic retrospection.

With the Bingham Mine’s lifespan extended through 2040, the future remains unclear regarding what will happen after it is discontinued. This thesis seeks to answer the question of ‘what next?’ for the mine and future extraction in the Salt Lake Valley.

The thesis uses a multidisciplinary program that will reclaim, reconnect, and remember the site in its own way. Environmental research laboratories analyze the progression of ecological health at the site. Art studios frame views, using the landscape’s expression to define an aesthetic experience, preserving moments of destruction, stagnation, and rejuvenation. Exhibition space creates an experiential, physical narrative journey through the mine’s history, while public classrooms and workshops showcase professional humanities skills to be passed down. 

This project uses architecture as a medium to access and understand the mine and the process of healing its ecologies. By using architecture to bridge the gap between the urban and the landscape, we can learn the importance of our roles within a larger ecological order, thereby reinforcing a local commitment to it. Understanding it by observing and then connecting to the landscape physically by working within and for it.

Logged Inside the Box: The Replacement of Childhood Imagination by Digital Content and Its Effect on Creative Development  by Joangelisse R. García-Rivera, B.Arch. ‘26
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisor: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

In a time marked by rapid technological growth, digital devices have become essential to daily life, profoundly changing how children learn, play, and experience the world around them. While technology provides endless access to information, games, and entertainment, its excessive use during childhood raises growing concerns about the decline of creativity and imagination. As screens increasingly replace traditional forms of play, exploration, and hands-on activities, children risk becoming passive consumers of content rather than active creators and problem-solvers. This shift raises an important question: how does constant exposure to digital media impact the natural development of creativity and the ability to generate original ideas?

Research by Kyung Hee Kim, through her study of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT), shows a steady decline in creative performance among younger generations, even though today’s children often score higher on intelligence measures but are less creative. These findings suggest that while technological advancements expand knowledge and efficiency, they may also unintentionally limit imagination, originality, and creative development, especially during formative years when curiosity and play are essential.

This research examines how digital content replaces childhood imagination and its effects on creative growth. It considers multiple frameworks: theoretical, sociocultural, ecological, economic, and regulatory. It also investigates how design can help restore balance between technology and imagination, exploring how environments and educational systems influence creative potential. Understanding this relationship is crucial for preserving the human spark of creativity and invites reflection on whether modern progress truly nurtures or unintentionally constrains the minds of future generations.

This project was nominated for the Francisco Luis Porrata-Doria Medal for Excellence in Design.

Overcrowding to Opportunity: Reinventing the Portable Classroom by Evan Lehner, M.Arch. & MRED ‘26
University of Maryland, College Park | Advisors: Michael Kleiss, Peter Noonan & Tanya Bansal

As schools across the United States grapple with overcrowding and chronic underfunding, many turn to portable classrooms as a cheap, quick, and temporary solution. Despite widespread usage, this typology is largely neglected by architects. Portables are critical for many overpopulated and underfunded schools to operate. Consequently, when schools are unable to afford new buildings or extensive renovations, these “temporary” structures become permanent. Numerous studies reveal that these portables often do not meet adequate standards to foster a productive learning and teaching environment. Their antiquated design renders them difficult to transport and a financial liability for their schools. This project asks, “How might portable classrooms be reinvented to be more adaptable, flexible, and reliable learning environments?”

Methods of analysis included interviews with school administrators, facilities managers, portable classroom distributors, students, and teachers, a review of existing literature, and a site visit to a portable prefabrication facility to understand both stakeholder and producer perspectives.

The resulting “Adaptive Modular Classroom” (AMC) utilizes a prefabricated, modular “kit of parts”, all of which can be shipped on a standard flatbed. The AMC can be programmed to provide additional space for other much-needed common areas, including gyms, libraries, and makerspaces. The kit is designed for flexibility. Spaces can expand or contract, and facades can quickly be interchanged. High-performance envelopes made from carbon-sequestering materials embody sustainable principles. Care was also given to imagine how the outdoor spaces between AMCs could contribute to a school’s sense of community.

Although designed to be deployable anywhere, a site was selected to test how the AMCs could be deployed on a real school campus. Careful siting and arrangement demonstrate that the AMC is not merely a better portable, but a replicable framework for rethinking how schools grow, adapt, and invest in their learning communities over time.

Click here to get a closer look.

Instagram: @evan_lehner12

Anti-Gang Architecture: Youth, Labor, and Spatial Agency in Mexico by Arturo Resendiz, B.Arch. ’26

Kennesaw State University | Advisor: ​​Ehsan Sheikholharam

This project responds to the lack of safe public spaces for young people in Matamoros, Mexico, a border city where many teenagers are vulnerable to gang recruitment. As opportunities for youth continue to diminish, architecture has the potential to offer alternatives by creating spaces that encourage learning, work, and community engagement. Rather than functioning as a conventional youth center, the project proposes a place where education, art, and vocational training come together to support long-term personal growth. The site is located between existing schools and adjacent to a public park.

The project provides a place for after-school activities, giving high school students an alternative to returning directly home or spending their afternoons without meaningful opportunities. It offers a range of programs that channel students’ talents and energy toward skill development, community service, the arts, and sports.

The design is grounded in the belief that architecture can strengthen connections between generations. Inspired by Giancarlo Mazzanti’s understanding of architecture as a tool for social inclusion, the project creates spaces where young people can build confidence, develop practical skills, and eventually return as mentors for future generations. In this way, the center becomes part of an ongoing cycle of community development.

A central challenge was balancing safety with openness. My design addresses this through a sequence of thresholds and a circulation system that accommodates different users while maintaining clear visibility throughout the building. Along the perimeter, heavier massing and compressed volumes establish a clear threshold from the uncertainty of the street. As visitors move deeper into the building, spaces gradually become more open, and ceilings rise, creating a stronger sense of safety and belonging. Clear circulation, visible gathering spaces, and flexible programs encourage interaction while minimizing isolated areas, allowing the architecture itself to support security, trust, and community life.

Click here to get a closer look.

This project received an honorable mention in the 2026 Niles Bolton Thesis Competition.

Instagram: @arxuro

Bridging Campus and Career by Farshad Beheshti, M.Arch. ’26
Academy of Art University | Advisor: Eric Reeder

This thesis investigates the role of architecture in facilitating the transition from education to the workforce, with a focus on students and graduates of Canada College. Community colleges serve a highly diverse and often non-traditional population, many of whom balance education with employment and face limited access to professional environments, networks, and career opportunities. This project responds to the gap between academic experience and workforce entry by proposing an integrated spatial framework that supports learning, professional development, and community engagement within a shared environment.

Situated in Redwood City, the project extends the role of the campus beyond its conventional boundaries, positioning it as an active interface between students, graduates, and the broader community of San Mateo County and the Bay Area. The design introduces a range of adaptable spaces that accommodate individual and collaborative work, mentorship, networking, and engagement with industry. By embedding opportunities for interaction with employers and entrepreneurial initiatives, the project fosters a dynamic ecosystem that supports both career entry and ongoing professional growth.

The research explores how architecture can mediate social and economic challenges related to accessibility, affordability, and workforce inclusion. Emphasis is placed on creating an environment that is welcoming to users of different backgrounds, ages, and levels of experience, while maintaining a strong connection to the values of the community college system. Through spatial flexibility, inclusive design strategies, and a focus on user experience, the project aims to redefine the educational campus as a civic and professional infrastructure that supports long-term development and economic mobility.

Instagram: @ericreeder.architect

TADI – Craftsmanship, Design, and Identity Workshops by Valeria Martínez, B.Arch. ’26
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Jorge Javier, Patricia Cutiño, Federico Hernández, Álvaro de los Cobos & Guillermo Márquez

TADI is an architectural proposal located in Querétaro, Mexico, conceived as a platform for the preservation, empowerment, and evolution of local craftsmanship. The project responds to the growing challenges faced by artisans, including economic precarity, lack of adequate workspaces, limited access to markets, and the gradual loss of traditional knowledge due to globalization and changing production systems.

Rather than functioning solely as a production facility, TADI is envisioned as a multidisciplinary hub where artisans, designers, students, and visitors can interact through making, learning, exhibiting, and exchanging knowledge. The program integrates workshops for different craft disciplines, educational spaces, collaborative design studios, exhibition galleries, retail areas, and administrative facilities that support cultural and economic development.

The architectural concept is grounded in the idea of dignifying craftsmanship by making the creative process visible and accessible. Spaces are organized around shared courtyards and public circulation routes that encourage interaction between makers and visitors, transforming the act of production into a cultural experience. The project seeks to strengthen the connection between heritage and contemporary design while creating new opportunities for innovation and entrepreneurship.

Beyond its physical form, TADI aims to redefine the role of craft within contemporary society. By fostering direct relationships between artisans and consumers, promoting co-design practices, and providing infrastructure for education and commercialization, the project contributes to a more sustainable and equitable creative economy. TADI ultimately serves as a catalyst for cultural preservation, social inclusion, and regional identity, demonstrating how architecture can support both community development and the continuity of intangible cultural heritage.

Instagram: @valemartinnez, @arquitectura_anahuac, @arqwave

Stay tuned for Part VII!

2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part V

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Part V of the 2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase shines a spotlight on innovative designs in agriculture. From the Prairie to home gardens, these projects propose design methodologies that integrate architecture, community engagement, ecology, sustainability, construction, and climate-responsive programs to cultivate strong agricultural practices.

Between Earth and Sky by Jane Grant & Jack Taliaferro, M.Arch. ‘26
Kansas State University | Advisor: David Dowell

Founded as a nonprofit organization in 1976, The Land Institute (TLI) is committed to researching and developing food production methods that sustain the land and soil, a precious resource in an increasingly precarious state around the globe.

“The history of Earth-abuse through agriculture has been horrendous. Essentially, all of nature’s ecosystems are perennial polycultures. Agriculture reversed that. Consequently, soil erosion became a problem. The wilderness has to become a standard against which we judge our agricultural and cultural practices.”

–Wes Jackson, co-founder, The Land Institute.

In this fast-paced, intensive and collaborative studio, we were asked by The Land Institute to reimagine the original implements barn, hand-built by Wes, as a New Event Barn to host TLI’s annual Prairie Festival and as a Welcome Center to acknowledge TLI’s increasingly important role as a destination and public gathering place for people seeking inspiration in regenerative agriculture best practices. Prairie Festival is currently on hold and will reemerge in September 2026. The work of this studio helps define what that looks like, as a direct application of ideas generated this fall and as a longer-term vision.

This is a real project, located in native mixed-grass prairie north of TLI’s research facilities. Our work started in August 2025 with understanding context – history, site environmental conditions, barn vernacular, innovative material and structural systems. We worked with environmental consultants, architects, landscape architects, scientists, contractors, TLI staff and leadership to program, design and prototype multiple visions for this important new facility, for a groundbreaking institution. TLI’s executive director, Rachel Stroer, challenged us to create an architectural approach and model that parallels The Land Institute’s ethos of regenerative problem solving.

This booklet, a shared production from graduate architecture students at Washington University in St. Louis’s Sam Fox School and Kansas State University’s College of Architecture, Planning and Design, contains evidence of our diverse responses to this challenge. Organized collaborations between universities ebbed and flowed throughout the semester.

It’s been an eye-opening semester for a host of reasons, not the least of which is processing the challenge of what constitutes regenerative architecture, what stories materials offer both in terms of what’s currently given and where design and construction industries could and must evolve. The core problem The Land Institute has in its crosshairs is ten thousand years in the making. To have a chance for architecture to both participate in problem solving with TLI and to embody their core values, we have to look not only at what is, but also imagine what will be.

Our event barn design for The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, is conceived as a direct exploration of the dialogue between two fundamental planes: earth and sky. By treating these planes as active, shifting surfaces rather than static boundaries, the building

becomes a mediator between the natural and the built, allowing visitors to experience how architecture can heighten their relationship to the prairie landscape. Upon entry, the earth and sky planes merge, where visitors ascend into the skyline plane and gain a new vantage point over the surrounding tallgrass prairie. The ground plane, shaped by the site’s natural slope, turns into a grass amphitheater that invites gathering and immersion in the prairie. We utilize steel in our design to maintain a light touch on the land while also offering longevity and flexibility for future uses. Together, these elements create a space that is both rooted and elevated, aligning closely with The Land Institute’s mission to immerse individuals in landscapes. Designed to host a broad range of community events, our barn becomes not only a functional venue but also a space that encourages visitors to feel the land and participate in their community.

Instagram: @taliaferro._.9, @jane.k.grant, @ksudesignmake

Soil Rites: Cultivating a New Perennial Commons by Samantha Agostinelli & Ellis Donahue, B. Arch. ‘26
Pratt Institute | Advisors: Evan Tribus, Cathryn Dwyre & Saul Anton

Industrial agriculture has pushed Midwestern soils to the brink of collapse, and no technical fix can restore what a deeper cultural rupture has broken. Soil Rites proposes that architecture, working intimately with living soil systems, can do more than mitigate ecological crisis—it can reorganize collective life around the act of ecological care. By treating soil as a public agent rather than a passive ground, our project argues that regenerative land stewardship can become the basis for a new perennial commons. Can architecture, working intimately with soil-based strategies, perform both ecological work and produce common meaning? What spatial and tectonic frameworks allow communities to cultivate land stewardship as a shared cultural practice rather than an extractive obligation?

A second Dust Bowl—driven by accelerating soil degradation, aquifer depletion, and the eastward shift of the 100th meridian—is no longer a speculative future but an emerging design condition. In response, this project proposes a regenerative farming collective and eco-community on 80 acres in Ionia, Nebraska, structured as a Community Land Trust. Using the compost cycle as a design methodology, three interdependent systems—landscape, architecture, and ritual—work simultaneously to build soil, form space, and produce collective life, yielding a habitable windbreak, an earth-built community, and a ceremonial framework through which ecological labor becomes culture.

This project won the 2026 Best Degree Project and the 2026 Michael Hollander Drawing Excellence Award (Honorable Mention). 

Instagram: @samamam._, @ellis.donahue, @pressg5, @pneumacat, @saulanton1

Built From Permanence and Return: Pre-Engineered Metal Building (PEMB) by Carlos Baez, Aidan Cannon, Keyshawn Lewis & Ty Blumberg, M.Arch. ‘26
Kansas State University & Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: David Dowell

Founded as a nonprofit organization in 1976, The Land Institute (TLI) is committed to researching and developing food production methods that sustain the land and soil, a precious resource in an increasingly precarious state around the globe.

“The history of Earth-abuse through agriculture has been horrendous. Essentially, all of nature’s ecosystems are perennial polycultures. Agriculture reversed that. Consequently, soil erosion became a problem. The wilderness has to become a standard against which we judge our agricultural and cultural practices.”

–Wes Jackson, co-founder, The Land Institute.

In this fast-paced, intensive and collaborative studio, we were asked by The Land Institute to reimagine the original implements barn, hand-built by Wes, as a New Event Barn to host TLI’s annual Prairie Festival and as a Welcome Center to acknowledge TLI’s increasingly important role as a destination and public gathering place for people seeking inspiration in regenerative agriculture best practices. Prairie Festival is currently on hold and will reemerge in September 2026. The work of this studio helps define what that looks like, as a direct application of ideas generated this fall and as a longer-term vision.

This is a real project, located in native mixed-grass prairie north of TLI’s research facilities. Our work started in August 2025 with understanding context – history, site environmental conditions, barn vernacular, innovative material and structural systems. We worked with environmental consultants, architects, landscape architects, scientists, contractors, TLI staff and leadership to program, design and prototype multiple visions for this important new facility, for a groundbreaking institution. TLI’s executive director, Rachel Stroer, challenged us to create an architectural approach and model that parallels The Land Institute’s ethos of regenerative problem solving.

This work, a shared production from graduate architecture students at Washington University in St. Louis’s Sam Fox School and Kansas State University’s College of Architecture, Planning and Design, contains evidence of our diverse responses to this challenge. Organized collaborations between universities ebbed and flowed throughout the semester. Presented here are a range of proposals organized around core constructive materials – rammed earth, dimensional lumber, stone, steel, reclaimed barns, mass timber and pre-engineered metal.

It’s been an eye-opening semester for a host of reasons, not the least of which is processing the challenge of what constitutes regenerative architecture, what stories materials offer both in terms of what’s currently given and where design and construction industries could and must evolve.

The core problem The Land Institute has in its crosshairs is ten thousand years in the making. To have a chance for architecture to both participate in problem solving with TLI and to embody their core values, we have to look not only at what is, but also imagine what will be.

The use of a Pre-Engineered Metal Building (PEMB) system represents a sustainable and contextually appropriate material choice. PEMB structures are highly material-efficient, minimizing waste through factory fabrication and precise sizing of structural components. The steel system is durable, recyclable, and designed for long life spans with minimal maintenance. Additionally, the large clear-span capability reduces the need for interior supports, allowing flexible program use while optimizing material performance. In a prairie environment such as Salina, the PEMB system responds effectively to climate, wind loads, and expansive site conditions, making it both an environmentally responsible and pragmatic construction solution.

For the second material strategy, straw bales were introduced to help define and organize interior spaces within the PEMB event barn. Rather than functioning as permanent walls, the straw bales are envisioned as modular partition elements that can be manipulated, rearranged, and reconfigured based on the needs of different events. This approach allows the interior to remain flexible while maintaining the openness of the primary structure. In addition to spatial definition, the use of straw bales provides on-site storage when not in use as partitions, reinforcing the building’s agricultural character while supporting adaptability, material efficiency, and reuse.

Instagram: @c_los1812, @keyshawn._, @ksudesignmake

Tandem – Agri-Food Innovation Centre by Regina Ortega, B.Arch. ’26
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Jorge Javier, Patricia Cutiño, Federico Hernández, Álvaro de los Cobos & Guillermo Márquez

Located in Los Olvera, Corregidora, Querétaro, Tandem addresses an activity deeply rooted in the region’s economic and social identity: meat production, processing, and commercialization. While the meat industry is vital to Mexico’s agri-food sector, fragmented processes often limit growth for local merchants, producers, and entrepreneurs.

Tandem proposes a new architectural typology that unifies innovation, education, and production within a single infrastructure. Rather than operating as a conventional, specialized building, it serves as a knowledge-exchange platform where butchers, producers, students, researchers, and industry partners collaborate to strengthen this regional economic pillar.

Crucially, the facility is not a slaughterhouse; it does not involve animal sacrifice. Pre-certified meat arrives from authorized facilities for reception, sanitary inspection, cold storage, processing, research, and commercialization. This operational shift allows Tandem to focus on professionalizing the production chain through technical training, process certification, value-added product development, and technology transfer.

The architectural program includes meat-processing facilities, laboratories, innovation workshops, training classrooms, coworking spaces, an auditorium, and commercial areas. The spatial organization balances educational and sanitary requirements, separating clean from contaminated zones to guarantee food safety while distinguishing productive areas from learning environments. The layout of the building volumes visualizes the synergy between production, innovation, and education, transforming architecture into a tool for knowledge transfer.

Tandem aims to boost the local economy by supporting sector formalization, driving entrepreneurship, and fostering collaboration between producers, academic institutions, and specialized corporations to enhance regional competitiveness.

Structurally, the project features glued laminated timber (GLT) made from radiata pine and exposed concrete. This material combination balances industrial efficiency, sustainability, and spatial quality. 

Ultimately, Tandem offers a replicable model of productive infrastructure that transforms a traditional trade into a platform for innovation, economic development, and social cohesion in Querétaro.

Instagram: @regina_ortegaz, @arquitectura_anahuac, @arqwave

Celebrating the Prairie, Modular Heavy Timber by Pony Alongkornvilai, Abi Bauman, Aleah Delgado, Cheyenne Granahan & Lindsay Miller, M.Arch. ’26

Kansas State University & Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: David Dowell

Founded as a nonprofit organization in 1976, The Land Institute (TLI) is committed to researching and developing food production methods that sustain the land and soil, a precious resource in an increasingly precarious state around the globe.

“The history of Earth-abuse through agriculture has been horrendous. Essentially, all of nature’s ecosystems are perennial polycultures. Agriculture reversed that. Consequently, soil erosion became a problem. The wilderness has to become a standard against which we judge our agricultural and cultural practices.”

–Wes Jackson, co-founder, The Land Institute.

In this fast-paced, intensive and collaborative studio, we were asked by The Land Institute to reimagine the original implements barn, hand-built by Wes, as a New Event Barn to host TLI’s annual Prairie Festival and as a Welcome Center to acknowledge TLI’s increasingly important role as a destination and public gathering place for people seeking inspiration in regenerative agriculture best practices. Prairie Festival is currently on hold and will reemerge in September 2026. The work of this studio helps define what that looks like, as a direct application of ideas generated this fall and as a longer-term vision.

This is a real project, located in native mixed-grass prairie north of TLI’s research facilities. Our work started in August 2025 with understanding context – history, site environmental conditions, barn vernacular, innovative material and structural systems. We worked with

environmental consultants, architects, landscape architects, scientists, contractors, TLI staff and leadership to program, design and prototype multiple visions for this important new facility, for a groundbreaking institution.

TLI’s executive director, Rachel Stroer, challenged us to create an architectural approach and model that parallels The Land Institute’s ethos of regenerative problem solving.

This booklet, a shared production from graduate architecture students at Washington University in St. Louis’s Sam Fox School and Kansas State University’s College of Architecture, Planning and Design, contains evidence of our diverse responses to this challenge. Organized collaborations between universities ebbed and flowed throughout the semester. Presented here are a range of proposals organized around core constructive materials – rammed earth, dimensional lumber, stone, steel, reclaimed barns, mass timber and pre-engineered metal.

It’s been an eye-opening semester for a host of reasons, not the least of which is processing the challenge of what constitutes regenerative architecture, what stories materials offer both in terms of what’s currently given and where design and construction industries could and must evolve. The core problem The Land Institute has in its crosshairs is ten thousand years in the making. To have a chance for architecture to both participate in problem solving with TLI and to embody their core values, we have to look not only at what is, but also imagine what will be.

Keeping The Land Institute (TLI) principles in mind, we propose a space designed to celebrate the prairie through thoughtful design in terms of environment, form, and material. We strive to develop a relationship between building and prairie, while accommodating

the diverse range of programming that the building will support throughout the year.

The project proposes a modular construction method where systems are composed of standardized and repeatable components. There are many benefits to this construction process.

Cross-Laminated-Timber (CLT) is the proposed structural material. CLT provides two directions of structural reinforcement. It additionally has environmental, sustainable, and atmospheric qualities that achieve the goal of the overarching driving concept of the project.

A prairie green roof is proposed to camouflage the built structure into the landscape, alongside environmental benefits. Along with recognizing some of the values of TLI, we

have also incorporated the six design principles identified by TLI Masterplan author, MASS Design Group:

Establishing the Commons

Deepening Roots

Designing for a Public Threshold

Solving for Service

Phasing Campus Evolution

Designed with and for the Land

Instagram: @poniebuoy, @aleahdelgado, @cheyennegranahan, @dysynchronized, @lindsay_miller4045, @ksudesignmake

House & Garden by Lola Garvie, BS. in Arch. ’26
University of Virginia | Advisor: WG Clark

A radical transformation of the suburban home has been in order for decades. The current house-and-yard model provides little more than a place to sleep, while sprawling development continues to consume land and reinforce dependence on centralized food systems. Yet the immense infrastructure supporting American suburbia makes wholesale restructuring impractical, and displacing residents would be both unethical and unnecessary. Instead, meaningful change can begin at the scale of the individual home.

House & Garden proposes a new suburban housing typology that integrates the house and yard into a productive garden, drawing from successful models of urban agriculture. On a standard suburban lot, this deployable single-family housing system challenges conventional suburban planning and capitalist food markets by combining domestic living with highly productive farming.

The house is pushed to one edge of the site, freeing up to 80% of the lot for in-ground agricultural production. A single scaffolding-like superstructure contains all the systems necessary to support both the family and the farm. After the superstructure is assembled, housing and farming components are installed according to each family’s needs. A living room might sit near the entrance for families who frequently host guests or farther back for greater privacy. As families grow, the home can expand within the superstructure, which may be sized in anticipation of future needs.

This adaptable system allows individual families interested in sustainability and reform to have responsibility in the production of their own food while remaining rooted in their communities. For some, the garden remains a private extension of the home; for others, it becomes a shared neighborhood resource. While one family may adopt the model independently, entire streets could gradually transform, creating communities that live, cultivate, and grow together. Rather than replacing suburbia, House & Garden reimagines it from within, offering an economically viable framework for a more sustainable and resilient American dream.

Instagram: @lola_garvie, @aschool_uva

Old Barns, New Roots by Quinn Adam, Krista Gerstner, Carter Grothusen & Zach Toth, M.Arch. ’26
Kansas State University & Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: David Dowell

Our initial meetings with TLI revealed a sensibility with the land that must be kept paramount in our intervention. The existing is the landscape, and the dichotomy of old against new must be made as a backdrop towards the greater landscape. The material for the semester chosen was reclaimed timber, initially as a strategy of salvage and on-site construction within the prairie, embracing the carbon neutrality benefits that emerge with an active reuse of existing wooden structure. But, as the course progressed, the strategy morphed into one of true adaptive reuse in the preservation and readaptation of two historic barns found available on the market. We propose that the barns can be readily moved onto the site, stripped of their old weathered cladding, braced with new structural interventions, and made new with simple but dynamic design decisions that continue to frame the existing landscape. The barns should support each other in anticipation of the Prairie Festival, but also set a tone for a surprisingly cost-efficient method of building that could potentially be expanded upon for the future of the Land Institute’s mission for the site. We are living in the age of the Anthropocene, and as such, we need to crystallize solutions that rethink our traditional methods of building, which align with the disruption that TLI hopes to create in the perennial agricultural industry.

Instagram: @quinnadam_design, @z.othhh, @kristagerstner, @cartire_31, @ksudesignmake

Stay tuned for Part VI!

2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part IV

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The materials that make up a building tell a story. From mass timber and aluminum to masonry and polycarbonate, building materials play a large role in the functionality and sustainability of a space. Part IV of the 2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase features projects that explore materiality in great detail. Each featured project demonstrates how materiality plays a large role in the built environment.

Scroll below to take a look!

F[3] by Daniela Cantu, Staci Collins, Timotei Dudas, Ana Gaytan, Robert Guerrero, Steve Gutierrez, Luis Horcasitas, Samiha Mahzabeen, Moises Pereyra, Garrett Rodriguez & Alfredo Sanchez, B.Arch. ‘26
University of Texas at San Antonio | Advisor: Armando Araiza

F[3] was designed for the entrance of a design studio, the moment before a visitor reaches a reception desk, where the space needs to do one thing immediately: signal what design, at its best, is capable of. It’s meant to be intriguing and inviting from the first glance.

The project was approached as an open question: how far could a single material be pushed before it told you what it wanted to become? The installation is a statement about the next generation of designers, showing what students can produce when they’re given the license to experiment with material, craft, and technology.

That experimentation started with understanding the material. Before any geometry was fixed, a materials board took shape: reflective dichroic film, aluminum composite and honeycomb panels, mirrored acrylic, woven textiles, faceted and wave-relief surfaces, twin-wall polycarbonate, each one tested on its own terms, for its color, its stiffness, its rigidity once folded, with a set of tests built around whatever qualities that material actually offered. The built project is positioned beside three large south-facing windows, the twin-wall polycarbonate had to do more than fold well, it had to carry and diffuse daylight, letting sun stream through its faceted surfaces and animate the space over the course of a day. Out of that process, the material stood out, for its structural rigidity once folded, for the quality of light it let through, and for how that same rigidity let individual modules interlock with one another directly, with minimal hardware. That discovery, not a predetermined shape, became the generative logic of the project. The faceted form of F[3] is a direct expression of what that material wanted to do once bent along a channeled crease.

Instagram: @armando_araiza

From Seeds to Architecture: Reducing the Carbon Footprint Through Bio-Based Materials – Hemp Innovation & Research Center by Adrián Vargas-Galloza, B. Arch. ‘26
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Luis V. Badillo-Lozano & Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

Conventional construction is one of the main contributors to environmental impact, significantly increasing carbon emissions, natural resource consumption, and waste generation. This approach relies on standard methods and materials that have been widely accepted and used for many years. However, these materials are often non-renewable, require high energy consumption for their production, and have a considerable environmental impact. In this context, bio-based materials are presented as a sustainable alternative to reduce the ecological footprint of buildings and promote more responsible practices in the construction industry.

As environmental regulations become stricter and social awareness about climate change increases, the construction industry is faced with an urgent need to adapt. In this sense, bio-based materials provide an opportunity for the sector to evolve towards a more sustainable future. These initiatives not only mitigate the negative impacts of construction, but also promote a positive change in the way architects design, aligning construction practices with global sustainability goals.

The creation of research centers dedicated to studying and developing new solutions based on these materials is essential to face current environmental challenges. These centers can become key platforms for innovation and the advancement of technologies that not only reduce environmental impact, but also promote more efficient and responsible construction practices.

It’s very important to mitigate the climate change that has affected humanity so much, by developing new ways of constructing buildings in a more sustainable way. This is where the future of construction lies, and being a pioneer in it provides the tools to take and create the first design rules of a new emerging style that is responsive to the problems that are experienced in the present and that will continue to affect the future. Now is the time to detect the peak of this immense wave that is approaching and to position correctly in this new industry of bio-based materials that is approaching.

myBRIC: Structural Characterization of Mycelium-Reinforced 3D-Printed Clay with Embedded Recycled Brick Debris by James Hoppe, M.Arch. ‘26
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

Masonry construction and demolition debris represent two of the largest offenders of embodied carbon loss in current waste streams. Fired clay brick, despite its durability and material value, has only a 12% reintegration rate into the built environment due to economic and logistical barriers associated with removing intact units from a mortared masonry assembly (EPA 2020). As a result, the most common and viable method of brick reclamation is when it is in a debris form, usually used as concrete aggregate and road subbase (Christen et al. 2022; Fořt and Černý 2020).

Fortunately, recent technological innovations are increasing our ability to reclaim masonry rubble in more varied and sophisticated ways (Dodampegama et al. 2024). In particular, 3D clay extrusion and mycelium material technology pose a great potential to effect a change in the practice of brick reconstitution (Pasupathy et al. 2023).

This research investigates the material feasibility of reconstituting brick demolition waste through the gradual substitution of virgin clay with pulverized reclaimed brick in 3D clay extrusions. A controlled series of printed clay modules is produced by incrementally replacing virgin clay content with recycled brick material to investigate embodied

energy, cost, and time in their production while achieving a baseline module strength. Building upon prior work in digitally manufactured mycelium-ceramic composites, the study further examines the capacity of mycelium growth within these modules to restore cohesion and structural performance lost through recycled content substitution (Jauk et al. 2022). By coupling recycled masonry content with mycelium reinforcement strategies, this research proposes a fabrication workflow that repositions brick debris as a viable feedstock for sustainable architectural materials.

Click here to take a closer look.

This project received the 2026 LTU CoAD Dean’s Award and the 2026 LTU CoAD Alumni Award.

Instagram: @scott_shall

Autophagic Sacrifice – The Self-Consuming Host by Anderson Qi Han Zheng, B.Arch. ’26
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Advisor: Ryosuke Imaeda

As social beings, we value reciprocal effort. We attempt to apply this to the relationship between buildings and inhabitants, but it often falls into pure functionalism. Instead of seeing them as host and guest, what if architecture is to be self-consumed? In this framework, the material lifecycle is inadvertently promoted by human activities acting as a catalyst. This project examines material reutilization as autophagy, a system consuming its own substance to maintain its presence.

The project framing draws from two theoretical references. Stanley Cook evaluates voluntary sacrifice as a moral and social tradition guided by logical reasoning. Harvey Whitehouse addresses the irrational and emotional side of self-inflicted harm. One embraces the logical necessity of a small loss for greater gain, while the other suggests that the loss itself is a means of realizing one’s identity.

This project takes a position of self-consumption as not a permanent loss, but a way to reactivate the field through material exchange. Located within Idumota Market in Lagos, Nigeria, the project proposes a market structure that absorbs and repurposes plastic waste circulating in its surrounding environment. The host here is not limited to the architectural structure but also includes the vendors who maintain and associate their lives closely with the market. Discarded plastics, primarily plastic bags, are collected by vendors from nearby streets, gutters, and waste areas as part of routine maintenance rather than being intentionally returned by shoppers to be reused as construction materials in the market. Through a process of controlled heat, the plastic shrinks and binds carved wooden joints together. This allows the host to continuously and locally reconstruct itself without external materials. The design utilizes a modular joint system that gives individual vendors autonomy while maintaining structural consistency, apparent through the undulating canopy system, uncovering the structure while enriching spatial circulation from descending drapings. As a circular system, what is once lost may return and be metabolized into another form, gradually rejuvenating the neighborhood, while passively making the day-to-day users aware that such a loss- a transformation cycle- has been occurring seamlessly amidst the bustling streets of the outdoor market.

This project was awarded the Architectural Research Centers Consortium’s (ARCC) King Student Medal for Excellence in Architectural + Environmental Design Research. 

Instagram: @aqhz.architecture, @ryoimaeda 

THE TIMBER STAGE: Design Proposal for Virginia Tech’s Mass Timber Theater by Z. A. Saleh Zebermai, M.Arch. ’26
Virginia Tech Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center | Advisors: Ezgi Isbilen, Paul Emmons & Susan Piedmont-Palladino

This thesis is a design proposal for a theater complex for Virginia Tech’s extended campuses in the Washington, D.C. region. Despite Virginia Tech’s growing footprint and increasing student numbers in Northern Virginia, the school does not have space for graduation ceremonies. [This] proposed project matches the need and Virginia Tech’s presentation in this area as a forerunner of innovative sustainable practices. 

Consequently, the project investigates the potential of mass timber as a structural and building material for a large space like a theater. The thesis begins with finding the appropriate site through an analytical urban study of the City of Alexandria. Comparing access, distance, relevance, future projection and other factors, the proposed site is at Potomac Yard, near the metro station and Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus. Then, a detailed study of the site investigates its urban potential and the observations are translated into design strategies for further development about the building form, urban spaces, orientation and directions.

Investigation of mass timber as a building material revisits the study of ancient timber roof building techniques of the Norwegian Churches, searching for the relationship between the shipbuilding techniques and the large-span timber truss system, which can be interpreted to modern buildings along with the latest technological development in the mass timber industry. Timber can be used for both technical and aesthetic purposes. The comparative study showed how mass timber is the appropriate material for the context considering sustainability, carbon footprint, material quality, sourcing, etc.

Although a large part of the program of the proposed design is the Commencement Event for Virginia Tech, there are other flexible functions of the building which serve the community on a regular basis. A high-performance building facing a large open Public Plaza creates a dialogue between the current innovation campus building through an axis of pedestrian movement.

Additionally, this project explores solar gain through a double-layered exposed timber screen, modular timber construction and joining details, Biophilic indoor shadow patterns, smooth circulation for a large gathering and the technical aspects of a high-performance theater space. Combining all the design considerations, the thesis proposes a meaningful public building which serves Virginia Tech as well as the local community.

This project received an Honorable Mention for the 2026 WAAC Thesis Prize.

Instagram: @saleh.zebermai, @vt_waac, @e_isbilen

Phong Nha Karst Gallery by Tai Le, M.Arch. ’26
Carnegie Mellon University | Advisor: Laura Garofalo

Tai Le’s Phong Nha Karst Gallery integrates visitor services at the entry of one of the most historically significant and complex karst environments in Asia. The Phong Nha Karst Gallery is located along the Son River at the threshold of Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng National Park in the Quảng Bình region of Vietnam. These environments are formed by the dissolution of soluble bedrock, creating multi-scalar linked caverns. The building is conceived as a set of blocks linked to create interconnected spaces through a soft flowing volume, translating the dissolution logic of karst formation into a rhythmic sequence of compression and expansion within a clearly manmade form.

Following a set of material explorations of aggregation and erosion, the exterior of the blocks is also manipulated, revealing a softer skin of 3D-printed terra cotta modules set back into the concrete volumes. Composed of bespoke ventilated blocks, this softer layer diffuses the tropical sun and allows for natural ventilation, improving thermal comfort and reducing the thermal load of the mechanical systems. This bioclimatic filter of light and air also hosts vegetation, allowing the building to evolve into an extension of the biome. 

You can learn more about this initiative here and here. 

Instagram: @taile.just.arch, @lauragarofalo

Stay tuned for Part V!

2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part III

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Part III of the 2026 Study Architecture Student Showcase features projects that demonstrate how design can advance sustainability in creative ways. Each design highlights the connection between architecture, the environment, and wellbeing. From sustainable frameworks for building, deconstructing, and designing to self-sustaining ecosystems and climate-resistant crops, these outstanding student capstones will inspire generations to come. 

Take a closer look below!

How the Strategic Integration of Biology and Architecture Can Help Us Generate an Ecological Balance Between the Built Environment, Natural and Social Systems by Francisco J. Monroig-Torres, B. Arch. ‘26
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres & Ligia Saldaña-Martorell

Although many of us see architecture as an isolated object, the reality is that architecture is not separate from nature; every building we create changes the environment around it. This interaction can support balance or cause damage. Today, cities grow fast, often without planning, and as a result, ecosystems are fragmented, air and water are polluted, and biodiversity declines. These issues show that the way we design and build must change. To move forward, we need strategies that connect biology and architecture in a clear and functional way.

Biology studies how life systems work, adapt, and stay in balance. Architecture organizes human activity into space. When these two fields are combined, buildings and cities can function more like living systems. Concepts such as Ian McHarg’s ecological overlays, Richard Forman’s urban ecology, Edward O. Wilson’s biophilia, and Ken Yeang’s eco-architecture all show how design can respond to natural processes instead of working against them. Each framework highlights that human well-being depends on the health of ecosystems. Architecture that integrates light, vegetation, water, and natural flows not only reduces harm but also restores connections between people and nature.

In Puerto Rico and in cities across the world, the impacts of pollution and urban growth show the cost of ignoring ecological limits. By using biology as a guide, architecture can create solutions that reduce energy demand, protect biodiversity, and improve public health. This research explores how the strategic integration of these two disciplines can generate ecological balance, ensuring that the built environment supports both natural systems and human communities.

Reframing Waste by Tom Stankowski, M.Arch. ’26
University of Utah | Advisor: Valerie Chang Greer

This project showcases the potential reclaimed waste material can have in the built environment by creating an architectural design from almost entirely reclaimed and waste materials. [Reframing Waste examines] how design can adapt to available materials rather than dictate them, reframing the architect’s role from one of selection to one of stewardship. The work ultimately seeks to demonstrate how waste-based construction can promote sustainable practices and reimagine material waste as a source of architectural innovation rather than environmental degradation. To expand upon the research, the design aims to be a vessel to study the building’s performance and the upside waste usage in architectural design can have on overall performance. In turn, this can be used to help promote more sustainable demolition and deconstruction practices that help to mitigate the amount of waste that ends up in landfills on a yearly basis.

This site is located on campus that pushes creativity and material testing, and allows for exploration outside the standard and conventional construction methods. As a programmatic component of this thesis, a zero waste center offers a direct extension of the research agenda by transforming the campus’s existing surplus of construction scrap and reclaimed materials into an active site of architectural experimentation, education, and stewardship. Rather than treating waste as a byproduct to be removed, the center positions material recovery, sorting, and reuse as visible and integral processes within the built environment.

This project won the Faculty Award for Best Final Studio Project.

Instagram: @tps.arch, @valeriechanggreer

Designed for Demolition, Rethought for Reuse by Pauline Barsegyan, B.Arch. ‘26
New York Institute of Technology | Advisor: Farzana Gandhi

Designed for Demolition, Rethought for Reuse critiques the waste generated through demolition, as well as the facilities used to process that waste, and incentivizes reuse through design for material reuse, design for adaptability, and design for disassembly. This project builds on rigorous research of innovative systems by proposing a new connector that reduces reliance on material penetration and tests it in a new facility that encourages public engagement with these processes in the neighborhood of Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY. 

Demolition is one of the greatest global contributors to waste generation in the construction industry. Most of that debris could have been repurposed or reused, but is instead combusted, landfilled, or downcycled. 

The facilities used to manage this debris are generally not designed to engage with the public in a meaningful way. Localized efforts at reusing building materials are more successful at doing so while facilitating reuse, but are less impactful because of their local nature. 

Another important side to the issue is building design. Modern buildings are designed with complex envelopes, systems, and connections, making it difficult to take them apart and reuse their materials. 

One design strategy that has emerged to challenge this pattern is design for disassembly. Buildings designed in this manner can be easily taken apart and their components reused in a new building. Another is designing for material reuse, sourcing waste, excess, or salvage materials for a project. Designing for adaptability is a third strategy that challenges the notion of designing for obsoletion by facilitating programmatic flexibility through design.  Combining these approaches at different building scales can magnify the impact of waste reduction, and this is the line of inquiry I pursued with this project. To accomplish this, I designed a reuse campus in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, NY, centered on an addition bridging two existing buildings.

Most of the addition is held together with non-penetrating connectors designed for reused wood, inspired by many other connectors previously designed for disassembly. I hope this project will inspire more designers to incorporate material reuse and design-for-disassembly strategies into their projects, and to help mitigate the effects of demolition.

Instagram: @fg_architecture

Roots of Resilience by Ana Sofia Botero & Sandy Cruz Falcon, B.Arch. ’26
Cal Poly Pomona University | Advisor: Pablo La Roche

[In Roots of Resilience,] culture activates the grounds by embedding Mayan roots of ecology, community and traditions and creating a bridge between people and landscape. Through everyday civic life, this project creates a space that transforms into a living system of learning, collective strength and healing. 

Instagram: @sandyyycruz, @anasofia_botero, @pmlaroche

Hale Hanauna by Gabriel Argote, B.S. Arch. ’26
University of the District of Columbia | Advisor: Dr. Golnar Ahmadi

Hale Hanauna — “Home of Generations” — is a multigenerational living community designed for the University of Hawai’i at Hilo, on the Big Island of Hawai’i. Rooted in Hawaiian cultural values and a deep respect for the land, the project fosters connection, learning, and well-being through shared spaces that bring students and the broader community together across generations. The building is organized in a push-and-pull design centered around a series of landscaped courtyards, with breezeways and open corridors that weave together indoor and outdoor life. Public and communal programs are distributed across all floors, while residential units — warm, flexible studios finished in natural materials — sit primarily on the second floor for privacy. Passive strategies shaped by the Hilo climate, including cross-ventilation from trade winds, deep roof overhangs for rain and sun protection, generous daylighting, and careful solar orientation, create a durable, low-energy framework. Fully accessible and built from a palette of natural, locally resonant materials, Hale Hanauna offers a resilient model for culturally grounded, intergenerational living.

Instagram: @Golnarahmadi

KAMP-BU: Climate-Resilient Regenerative Kampung Design in Curug, Indonesia by Devabhadra Haridas, Hana Checketts, Jamie Van Etten, Enoch Salvo, Bunga Assipa Wulandari & Muhummad Irsyad Ariaputra, B.Arch. ’26
University of Florida | Advisors: Aoife Houlihan Wiberg (Studio Lead) Beta Paramitha (UPI), with input from Ulfa Kun Aulia (PhD Researcher); Ryan Amsel (Masters student)

Climate change is intensifying pressures—floods, heat waves, sea-level rise, and land subsidence—on vulnerable communities worldwide, often resulting in compounding, cascading effects such as three times-a-day flooding in some villages. This is the context for the 2026 ZERO Indonesia Design studio, a joint UF-UPI Indonesia collaboration fostering Global North-South knowledge exchange, and part of PARCS (Participatory Approaches for Regenerative Climate Solutions), an internationally funded research project co-creating climate resilience strategies in three living labs: Medellín, Port Arthur, and Indramayu Regency, Indonesia.

The studio focused on Khandanghaur, on Java’s north coast of Indonesia, and ran in two phases: knowledge-building through global case studies and design sprints, then design deployment, where joint teams created Zero Emission Neighborhood plans incorporating vernacular design, local cultural traditions, embodied carbon analysis, and regenerative principles.

The featured student project, Kamp-Bu, is sited in Curug, an inland rice-farming village destabilized by El Niño/La Niña-driven droughts and floods that disrupt planting cycles and threaten food security. Kamp-Bu extends the existing Farmer’s Association into a climate field school teaching weather-data literacy, while promoting diversified land use—drought-resistant Palawija crops, jackfruit trees, and bamboo—to reduce reliance on water-intensive rice.

The design is organized into three zones: a Production Zone with a bamboo fabrication workshop for construction training and upskilling; a Transitional Zone with a guesthouse for residential course students, social pavilion, and local food stalls; and a Domestic and Sacred Zone featuring a Qibla-oriented Musholla (for praying) and local residences. Construction varies by typology—earth walls for thermal mass in some buildings, bamboo framing with traditional techniques for lattice walls and Javanese Joglo roofs in others—enabling passive cooling and natural ventilation. Foundations use rice husk ash concrete, repurposing locally available agricultural waste.

Kamp-Bu offers a spatial and material response to agricultural instability in Curug, integrating climate education, diversified land use, and locally sourced construction within a kampung framework. By extending the Farmers Association into a production-transitional-domestic/sacred sequence, the project creates a gradient of learning, making, and living that supports both agricultural resilience and community exchange. Bamboo and earth serve as primary materials for their environmental performance and their role in building a local economy tied to cultivation and craft—fostering a self-sustaining system responsive to long-term climate instability.

You can learn more about this initiative here and here. 

Sac Actun Research Library by Sergio Grajeda, B.A.A. ’26
University of New Mexico | Advisor: Karen J. King

In 2018, Mexican President Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that before the end of his presidency, the Yucatán Peninsula would see a rail network with the aim of modernization, connectivity and economic growth. Section 5, which spans the length from Cancun to Tulum, runs through a fragile underground cave system and the largest underground river in the world, Sac Actun. This meant that viaducts would be needed to sustain an elevated foundation to avoid the fragile ecosystems underneath. Obrador promised that “not a single tree would be cut down” and that every proper testing procedure was taking place. The project was met with immense criticism and opposition; injunctions were filed and a judge ordered to stop construction of Section 5 until proper testing was done. Obrador felt the pressure and turned the project into a matter of national emergency, which helped the project avoid testing and transparency while continuing construction. In August 2025, biologist and cave diving expert Roberto Rojo navigated the cave systems beneath the Tulum Train Station and discovered that 80’ tall Steel Pillars with a diameter of 4’ were penetrating the fragile Karst Limestone and polluting the pristine underground river. It’s estimated that 15,000 Steel Pillars are deployed across the peninsula to support the train infrastructure. Additionally, an estimated 25,000 archaeological pieces were destroyed along the way during construction. Coverage of the issue was censored. 

The Sac Actun Research Library will house water samples collected by eco-tourists and expert divers, exposing the disinformation campaign. The collection will serve to bring the pollution of the Sistema Sac Actun to light. 

This project won the UNM SA+P Undergraduate Excellence in Design award. 

Instagram: @sgc_arch, @conundrum63

Cohabiting the Air: The Aerie as Architecture for Human–Drone Interaction by Lianbin Xu, M.Arch. ’26
Virginia Tech Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center | Advisors: Paul Emmons, chair, Susan Piedmont-Palladino, Ezgi Isbilen

Throughout history, new systems of mobility have transformed not only cities but also the ways architecture organizes space and human experience. Railways redefined urban growth, elevators enabled vertical living, and automobiles reshaped patterns of settlement and circulation. As drones introduce a new aerial dimension to everyday movement, architecture is once again confronted with questions of access, spatial hierarchy, visibility, privacy, and social interaction.

While drones have been widely discussed as logistical tools and technological infrastructure, their architectural implications remain largely unexplored. Unlike previous transportation systems that occupied streets, rail corridors, or enclosed circulation networks, drones operate within a shared aerial realm that is simultaneously visible, dynamic, and difficult to define through conventional architectural boundaries. Their presence introduces new relationships between ground and sky, public and private space, human activity and autonomous systems.

Located in Tysons, Virginia, this thesis asks how architecture might respond when aerial space becomes an active layer of everyday life. Through the design of a high-density mixed-use tower combining residential, retail, and telehealth programs, the project investigates how aerial mobility may reshape amenities, public and private boundaries, and new forms of interaction between people, technology, and space.

Ultimately, The Aerie proposes a framework for understanding drones not simply as tools of efficiency, but as agents capable of reshaping patterns of inhabitation and social life. The project argues that architecture should actively shape how technological innovation is experienced, fostering new forms of coexistence, community, and everyday engagement in an increasingly connected future.

This project was a finalist for the 2026 WAAC Thesis Prize. 

Instagram: @lianbin2024, @vt_waac, @e_isbilen

Stay tuned for Part IV!

Tulane University Launches Sustainable Urbanism Major and Minor

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(Via the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture)

The Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment has launched a new Sustainable Urbanism undergraduate program. Offering both a major and a minor, the program equips students with the knowledge and skills to analyze and address the environmental, social, and economic challenges shaping cities today. Rooted in the principles of urbanism and sustainability, the program trains students to study the built environment and its impact on human well-being and ecological systems.

As the global urban population rises — projected to reach 68% by 2050 — cities face mounting challenges, including housing affordability, climate resilience, environmental degradation, and social inequality. The Sustainable Urbanism Program takes an interdisciplinary approach to these issues, drawing from fields such as urban planning, environmental studies, architecture, sociology, political science, landscape architecture, and social innovation. Students will explore how cities develop, how they function, and how they can be improved—all while developing strategies to make urban environments more socially just, universally accessible, and environmentally responsible.

A key emphasis of the program is its alignment with global sustainability frameworks, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Paris Agreement, and the United Nations Urban Agendas for 2030 and 2050. Courses will examine sustainable city-making practices, climate action, green infrastructure, disaster resilience, and policies that support equity and inclusion in urban spaces. Through both theoretical study and applied research, students will learn to propose urban development pathways that promote environmental and social justice while ensuring cities remain vibrant, livable, and adaptable to change.

The major consists of 40 credit hours, while the minor requires a minimum of 18 credit hours, allowing students to combine their studies with other disciplines or take advantage of study-abroad opportunities. The curriculum integrates practical research methodologies, including urban data analysis, GIS mapping, stakeholder engagement, and representational design tools. By combining quantitative and qualitative research methods, students will develop the skills necessary to evaluate urban challenges and design innovative, actionable solutions.

Beyond the classroom, the program prioritizes hands-on learning through collaborative research projects, internships, and partnerships with local and international organizations. By working alongside community stakeholders, students will engage with real-world urban issues such as disaster preparedness, housing accessibility, transportation infrastructure, and climate resilience.

Details on the program are posted online.

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part XV

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Part XV of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase highlights various intersections of the natural and built environments. The featured projects provide design solutions that address various environmental elements and ecosystems. Scroll down to learn more!

Lake Meredith Aquatic Research Institute by Carlos Cepeda Gomez, B.S. in Architecture ‘24
Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: Zahra Safaverdi

Lake Meredith Aquatic Research Institute is a center that investigates water management, desalination, and local biodiversity in a man-made reservoir near Amarillo, in the Texas Panhandle. The lake contends with geological challenges from the Ogallala aquifer, Permian salt basin, and climate change. These features have caused diffusion points across the American arid regions, where the aquifer erodes the salt basin, forming brine pockets that then percolate into the water system through artesian pressure.

Salinification, lax water regulations, desertification efforts, and climate change effects have made the water reliance on the lake unreliable. During the emergency 2010-2014 drought, the lake dropped from 105 feet to a record low of 25 feet.

A diverse team of biologists, engineers, geologists, ecologists, and other specialists reside and collaborate at the institute. They engage local communities to educate them about the research conducted on-site while interacting with each other and the lake. The institute’s focus, systems, and research directions are decided sociocratically ensuring inclusivity, effective governance, and equity.

The Institute’s center around water, geology, and erosion was determined via an importance matrix—using six data sets affecting the lake’s surroundings: Weather, Salinity, Human Factors, Biodiversity, Water Levels, and Geology. The data sets and intersections were translated into a three-dimensional spider chart study. The concluding “blobs” created through data analysis were used through Boolean operations to develop an architectural language.

The building reflects its function, interior programming, and residents’ ethos, resulting in a blend of efficient, desalination, and scientific areas that develop research to protect the reservoir’s ecology. Its geological, cavernous structures diverge from contemporary architecture, allowing scientists to make eco-political statements on humanity’s abusive relationship with nature and advocating for dismantling systems of eco-exploitation and resource mismanagement. They address environmental catastrophes and innovative architecture and reconceptualize governance systems. The Institute’s community and purpose channel the scientists’ energy into activism, policy-making, and technological development, rather than self-radicalization, within the context of post-colonial and capitalistic frameworks.

This study focuses on water, sedimentation, and erosion, utilizing locally sourced materials to address local issues, enhance the local environment, and redefine the relationship between humans, nature, and architecture promoting intersectionalism between justice, equity, and environment.

Stó:lō Relationalities: Exploring Infrastructures of Climate Adaptation along the Fraser River by Wilson Tian Zhi Jiang, M. Arch ’24
Carleton University | Advisor: Jake Chakasim

This thesis confronts the issue of climate-induced flooding along Stó:lō, or the Fraser River in British Columbia. In November of 2021, the Sumas Prairie near Chilliwack flooded, creating what the agricultural minister Lana Popham described as the “largest agricultural disaster in BC.”  Many instances of flooding predate 2021, notably in 1894 and 1948, more recorded in Dirk Septer’s 2007 report Flooding and Landslide Events Southern British 1808-2006, and as old as 12,000 years ago. A conventional modern response to flooding is to build infrastructures like dykes that preserve the economic function of the land, perpetuating a colonial relationship to land dependent on technical, extractive processes which overlook existing cultural connections essential to climate adaptation. For its First Nations, Stó:lō has always been a formidable force, an interconnected ecosystem over 1300 kilometres long and home to migrating salmon for 9,500 years. Land sovereignty, defined through Indigenous cultural practices and ecologies, becomes a framework for approaching climate adaptation and decolonization, built on marginalized narratives from Indigenous and non-indigenous communities. The methodology follows three phases – encountering, entangling, and engaging – of indigeneity from a Chinese-Canadian perspective.

Encountering Stó:lō – Mapping exercises from the scale of the river to regional story maps. Macroscopic drawings document themes of climate, community, and infrastructure. Story maps of  ‘touch-down points’ document oral histories and anecdotes on architecture, infrastructure, and migrant labour.

Entangling Stó:lō – Explorations of embodied knowledge of Stó:lō by making, weaving, and interpreting. Initialized with a cedar basket-making workshop in Seattle, Washington, followed by weaving exercises on a custom-built Salish loom. This section concludes with a ‘Weirloom’ apparatus that interprets Coast Salish and Chinese Canadian history through craft.

Engaging Stó:lō – Design of a socio-ecological infrastructure over a creek near the Musqueam Cultural Center in Musqueam territory. Its program builds on the shared history of two marginalized groups on Musqueam-Chinese farms, synthesizing earlier research. The resulting structure combines indigenous basketry with an underlying beam-woven structure common to traditional Chinese bridges with a continuous space for exhibits and resting spaces, reminding users of entangled histories of place, cultural connections to water, and a fluid relationship to water and climate change.

This project won Carleton University’s 2024 OAA Guild Medal and was nominated for the Canadian Architect Student Award of Excellence.

Instagram: @wilson.tz.jiang, @jakechakasim

On the Edge: A Climate Adaptive Park for Battleship NC Memorial by Josh Gogan, Maggie Kroening & Stella Wang, M. Arch & B. Arch ‘24
North Carolina State University | Advisors: Andrew Fox & David Hill

On the Edge proposes a redesign for the parklands surrounding the Battleship North Carolina. The reimagined site celebrates a challenging narrative of place that reveals and highlights multifaceted histories while embracing infiltrating water. The new park transcends physical composition, serving as a dynamic memorial space connecting people, time, ecology, and climate through the goals of integration, adaptability, preservation, and restoration. The design proposes numerous site-specific community amenities, including a visitor center, a moveable tidal pavilion, a memorial bridge, and a hybrid shoreline. The result is a destination park that adapts to water as the climate and site shift, allowing the memorial to withstand the test of time.

Battleship Park in Wilmington, NC presents a contrast between the natural and built environment. Through our experience and analysis of the site, we asked ourselves as designers how this could adapt to consider people, time, ecology, and climate more cohesively for the greater community of Eagles Island. On the Edge explores Battleship Park as a space of education through experiences of integration, adaptation, preservation, and restoration. The site’s adjacency to the USS NC and views to Wilmington highlight the need to convert the current parking lot into five additional acres of park space. The new design elevates portions of the site by five feet and depresses areas for water to escape, allowing the site to embrace water over time with the construction of wetlands and rain gardens. Hydrologic remembrances are revealed at points along the path, staining the timber elements to remind visitors of sea level rise. At moments where the path converges, existing memorials are placed to provide contemplation. Within these explorations, users will engage with the site’s native species; encouraging the prosperity of the site as it continues to change. Native plantings act as wildlife attractions, softening edge conditions and generating educational opportunities. 

Over time, sea level rise and climate conditions will infiltrate the site. On the Edge allows users to experience the amenities of the park and the Battleship as water overtakes. 

This project won the 2023 National ASLA Award of Excellence in Student Collaboration, the 2024 North Carolina ASLA Student Award of Excellence in General Design, and the 2023 AIA Aspire Student Design Award. 

Instagram: @kroening.3dm, @davidhillarch, @stellawang_2 

High Seas, Low Lands: When Water Creates Spaces by Aya Youssef, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisor: Trevor Patt

Understanding the relationship between architecture and climate change necessitates a detailed scientific comprehension of their causality. Collaborating with the National Geographic Society, this initiative explores how architecture can mitigate climate change impacts through innovative building practices. Central to this approach is the integration of biorock technology, a process that forms solidified building materials underwater using mineral accretion. This technique not only produces materials with a zero carbon footprint but also harnesses the ocean as a novel construction medium.

Biorock technology leverages natural electrochemical processes to precipitate minerals from seawater, creating strong, durable materials akin to limestone. This environmentally friendly method significantly reduces carbon emissions traditionally associated with concrete and steel production. Furthermore, the biorock structures support marine ecosystems, promoting coral growth and enhancing biodiversity.

The design process is inherently adaptive, taking into account site-specific environmental and geographic conditions. This allows for procedural iterations, ensuring each project is tailored to its unique context. The result is architecture that harmonizes with its surroundings, minimizing ecological disruption and maximizing sustainability.

At its core, this approach is both planet and human-centered, emphasizing the importance of ecological balance and human well-being. By utilizing the sea as a construction medium, this initiative opens up new possibilities for sustainable architecture that not only reduces carbon footprints but also contributes positively to marine environments. This paradigm shift in building design signifies a promising step towards addressing climate change, showcasing how innovative architectural practices can lead to sustainable and resilient built environments.

This project was recognized as the Best Degree Project of 2023/2024.

Instagram: @ard_aub

BREAKWATER – Breaking the Cycle by Adrian Mora, M. Arch ’24
University of Maryland, College Park | Advisors: Julie Gabrielli, Brian Kelly & Marcus Cross

A significant portion of the world’s population is concentrated along coastlines. Climate change has produced hazardous environmental conditions that threaten coastal populations, including many poor, vulnerable communities. The built and natural environment within this diverse boundary zone must be redeveloped as a self-resilient system that can protect its inhabitants from climate-induced hazards. 

This project acts as a testbed for the ecological urban renewal of the Baseco Compound, a high-density urban neighborhood located on an artificial island within Manila Bay. An underutilized lot adjacent to the island’s beach and a small mangrove nursery has been transformed into a series of urban spaces defined by three distinct modules inspired by vernacular stilt housing. The modules also feature traditional and experimental construction techniques being pioneered in the Philippines, including structural bamboo, recycled plastic cladding and bamboo-reinforced concrete. Two residential modules, the Bahay Patayo and the Bahay Kublihan, explore different configurations of two-bedroom units that offer varied levels of density. The Kapwa Community Center module will serve as the new focal point for the neighborhood, providing multi-functional amenity spaces for public use and shelter during emergencies. 

The renewal of the built environment will be coupled with the restoration of the natural mangrove forests that previously occupied Manila Bay. The new buffer zone will also create an adaptable living barrier that will mitigate the impact of storms and flooding on the community and the rest of the Baseco Compound. The proposal will provide amenities that promote activities to support the neighborhood’s self-resilience and environmentalism within the urban context. Establishing a critical connection between new residents and the emerging grove will encourage active stewardship of the local environment.

This project won the UMD Architecture Thesis Award.

Instagram: @amora.art.photos, @umdmappschool

Building Biodiversity: Architectural Interventions for Mangrove Restoration and Community Engagement by Emily Bigelow, M. Arch ’24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

Biodiverse ecosystems play a critical role in maintaining the health of the world. They help to combat climate change, prevent natural disasters, and mitigate the spread of diseases among other benefits. Mangrove ecosystems are biodiverse habitats that provide more important benefits including carbon sequestration, water filtration, and coastal erosion mitigation.

However, these habitats are frequently threatened by human development and construction practices that prioritize speed and profit over sustainability. Current conservation strategies, which involve regional-scale coexistence, struggle to address this issue because the demand for more human settlements remains higher than the demand for wildlife preservation. As more ecosystems are compromised by urban landscapes, the regional balance between the two shifts in favor of humans at the expense of the environment.

These problems are worsened by the imposition of building strategies that are foreign to a climate region. This practice not only reduces occupant comfort and increases energy demands, but also disrupts natural processes like the flow of water and predation patterns. Vernacular architecture, on the other hand, has an intimate relationship with the surrounding environment and has been adapted to provide comfort within the given conditions. These practices can provide insider knowledge of the local climate and ecosystem to produce new developments that aid in restorative projects rather than harming them.

This thesis seeks to find a symbiotic development strategy, wherein architectural interventions benefit biodiverse ecosystems along with human constituents. It explores innovative and indigenous strategies for urban integration with mangrove ecosystems which reduce habitat destruction and promote restoration. This project recommends a transformative strategy for urban development that makes use of indigenous building techniques and ecological principles to guarantee a symbiotic coexistence of mangrove ecosystems and human infrastructure.

This project won the CoAD Chairs Award, 2024. 

Instagram: @emilybigelow_designs, @scott_shall

Disrupting the Global Supply Chain in Architecture – A Hyper-local Approach to the Built Environment by Frangiscos Hinoporos, M. Arch ’24
Carleton University | Advisor: Sheryl Boyle

The building industry has come to rely heavily on the global supply chain with materials such as concrete, glass and steel becoming ubiquitous. From manufacture to construction, these materials adversely contribute to climate change. This thesis embraces a circular economy and uses data and design to inform how a hyper-local materials ecosystem for construction could be achieved locally; proposing how, over the next century, steps towards circularity can be achieved in Ottawa. By establishing hyper-local supply chains that only use materials local to the region, the goal of this thesis is for Ottawa to become minimally reliant on the global supply chain. Local materials in this case are defined as materials extracted from the Ottawa area and ones extracted from existing built structures. Through experimentation, prototyping, design, and research this thesis explores concepts and presents a design proposal that enables Ottawa’s future to become unshackled from the global supply chain.

This thesis is separated into three distinct parts. Part I envisions a Regenerative Building Center that helps facilitate the move away from the Global Supply Chain. Situated on the footprint of a soon-to-be-demolished public works building in Ottawa, the design utilizes the existing foundation as well as other building components to create a center that espouses the ideas that this thesis stands for, bio-based local materials, radical reuse, design for disassembly and more.

Part II explores materials, locality, and supply chains, going in-depth on broader global scales as well as focusing on Ottawa. In this part, a rough account of potential materials diverted from landfill in the Ottawa area is taken, and local availability is assessed.

The last part, Part III imagines speculative futures, in the form of 3 distinct typologies each one 25, 50, and 100 years into the future. Here a future that is gradually less and less reliant on the Global Supply Chain is imagined, to the point where minimal reliance is required and Ottawa’s architectural ecosystem is fully circular and self-sufficient.

This project won the Maxwell Taylor Prize, through Carleton University’s Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism. It was also awarded the CAGBC Scholarship for Sustainable Design and Research, through the RAIC Foundation

Instagram: @frankhinoporos, @csaltarchitecture, @carleton_architecture

Aquatic Bio-Park: Harmonizing Public Space and Water Treatment by Andrew Hertz, M. Arch ’24
New York Institute of Technology | Advisors: Marcella Del Signore & Evan Shieh

The relationship between water and the built environment continues to challenge designers. Water, although an obstacle in design, is a defining element among many urban environments; it influences ecology, building typography, social equity, social gathering and economy. Sao Cristovao of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is no exception. 

The Aquatic Bio-Park is designed to serve the community of Sao Cristovao. Rivers emanating from the mountains to the west merge with the city’s urban systems and canals and out to the Guanabara Bay to the east. The canals carve through the urban fabric, often running parallel to major roads, highways, and places of gathering and commercialism. While rich in culture and industry, Sao Cristovao’s inequities, access to urban systems and green space burden the community and environment.  

The bio-park addresses the challenges of inequity, access to water, purification of water bodies, urban heat, and so on. While confronting these issues, the bio-park also celebrates the local culture, ecology, and the utility of water. Using three different grounds: the lowest ground treats the canal water, which is channeled into the site, and purified through simulated marshlands through multiple filtration stages. The highest ground provides the public with open space, vegetation supported by the processed water, and visual connections to the filtration ponds below. Lastly, the middle ground merges the public space with water treatment. Bridging across the ponds creates a physical connection and understanding of the processes of filtration. At the destination of all grounds, whether water treatment, park or spectacle, they unify. At this point of celebration, the results of the journey are on full display: flourishing vegetation, purified water, and a place to gather, observe and learn. These grounds taper off into the urban landscape extending public space into the site. 

Throughout Sao Cristovao, there are numerous canals and implementation opportunities. Different canals carrying varying quantities of water can adjust the scale of each bio-park, as required. Servicing multiple areas throughout the region would theoretically reduce the urban heat concentration, provide public space and clean water, all while celebrating the culture and ecology of the local community. 

Instagram: @marcelladelsi, @ev07

Building Resilience: Innovative Architectural and Planning Strategies for Ecological Restoration in Qinghai’s Deserted Landscapes by Bochuan Zheng, B. Arch ’24
Rhode Island School of Design | Advisors: Junko Yamamoto & Leeland McPhail

This thesis explores the interplay between architectural innovation and planning strategies for ecological restoration in Qinghai, China, a high-altitude grassland region severely impacted by desertification. The area, primarily dependent on herding, faces challenges from overgrazing, over-cultivation, and sparse rainfall, which threaten the livelihoods of pastoralists and lead to conflicts over resources like land and water. The study proposes integrated architectural and planning approaches focused on sustainable land management and resilient infrastructure development to mitigate these threats and ensure stable, sustainable habitats for local communities. Particularly, the research emphasizes cultivating two resilient plant species, Saxaul (Haloxylon ammodendron) and Cistanche Deserticola, which are well-suited to harsh climates. It details how tailored architectural solutions enhance planting efficiency and safety, accelerating ecological restoration and improving community living conditions. The findings provide a blueprint for addressing similar environmental challenges globally, demonstrating that merging ecological science with architectural and planning ingenuity is crucial for enhancing community resilience and socio-economic development and mitigating the impacts of desertification and climate change.

This project was recognized as a Thesis Award Nominee.

Instagram: @innerpeacechuan, @junkoyamamoto_, @risdarch

Stay tuned for the final installment, Part XVI!

2023 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part XXIII

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Athletics and wellness are at the forefront of the designs featured in Part XXIII of the 2023 Study Architecture Student Showcase. The displayed projects range from sports centers dedicated to improving the quality of life for those living with disabilities to facilities that draw on the connection between health and design – demonstrating how the built environment can foster healthy lifestyle change.

ENLACE (CONNECTION) by Alejandra Camacho Meza, B.Arch ‘23
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisor: Jorge Javier

An Adapted Sports Center can provide a dignified space for those living with a disability or who wish to start a rehabilitation process to improve their quality of life. At the same time, it can empower this “small” sector of the population that not only has a presence in the delegation but throughout the state of Querétaro.

This project was received the Dept. Chair Award Senior Year Capstone and an Honorable Mention at the USGBC Detroit Student Competition

Instagram: @ale_camchomez87 , @arqwave

Sports Recreation Adapting Communities in Puerto Rico by Christian A. Pérez-Montalvo, B.Arch ‘23
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisor: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

The objective of this project is to look for modern and functional architecture that reflects the motivation and enthusiasm of young people and inspires Roberto Clemente’s desire to help young Puerto Ricans come true.

The architectural program calls for a modern educational and sports center in the Roberto Clemente Sports City Park in Carolina, Puerto Rico. The goal is to address the challenges that Puerto Rican youth (ages 13 to 17) face when trying to develop their athletic capacities due to various negative factors that impede their full potential.

The proposal is based on rescuing and renovating the disused existing sports facilities and combining them with an educational purpose that integrates academics and sports, guaranteeing a positive impact on society. The axiality concept focuses on the complex’s functionality, creating a central axis that helps circulation between the different areas.

The architectural design focuses on functionality, accessibility, and youth safety. A sports school and recreation center are designed to function as a dorm, supplying a focus on educational performance and sports therapy. The rooms are spacious, well-lit, and equipped with the necessary elements.

The project is divided into four programmatic phases:

  1. Sports Phase: includes the construction of modern facilities to foster physical development and athletic skills, such as baseball and soccer fields.
  2. Education Phase: includes classrooms, library, and computer rooms to ensure a good educational environment.
  3. Therapeutic Phase: supplies specialized therapies, such as psychotherapy and physical therapy, for those youth who need emotional and physical support.
  4. Dormitories Phase: offers accommodation to young people with athletic abilities and good academic performance, allowing them to improve beyond their limits.

In summary, the proposal looks to turn the Roberto Clemente Sports City into a first-rate educational and sports center, where young Puerto Ricans find support to develop their potential and learn values such as hard work, integrity, and teamwork. The project helps young people from different origins and situations, improving their quality of life and allowing them to develop sports careers, for the country’s benefit.

 

Instagram: @__chapm1 

Movement Legacy: A Bioethical and Epigenetically Grounded Architectural Framework for Healthy Lifestyle Change Brett Walter, M.Arch (professional degree) ‘23
McEwen School of Architecture, Laurentian University | Advisor: Aliki Economides

Strong correlations between environmental stressors and absolute mortality rates have been shown in medical research for decades. New research in neuroscience, environmental psychology, urbanism, and medicine have identified many of these specific factors, which include quality of light, noise levels, ease of wayfinding, sense of safety, opportunities for socialization, and proximity to nature, however, these are not yet widely understood or adopted by the design community. A novel approach that better leverages the scientific literature to inform design is required. Recent discoveries in epigenetics further reveal the immense impact our environment has on intergenerational human health through a process called epigenomic editing. Simply put, our built environment and the nudges it can provide for better lifestyle choices, such as exercising, can positively impact us via epigenetic mechanisms which change the expression of our DNA. These changes in gene expression improve cellular function making us more resilient to disease and are then passed down to our next generations, thereby providing the blueprint for how our children’s cells will operate.

This thesis argues that design and health are inextricably linked to bioethical questions that require deeper exploration and ought to compel designers to reframe their role and responsibility in community health. A new theoretical framework is developed that aligns design elements at multiple scales with evidence-based principles, which elicit positive health outcomes through increased physical activity prevalence. Informed by the framework, a network of design interventions for Sudbury, Ontario demonstrates how the built environment can foster healthy lifestyle change. The broad accessibility to – and significant impact of – physical activity galvanizes its centrality in the picture for comprehensive public health. When we nurture our physical health, improvements to mood, cognitive function, relationships, sex life, professional life, and longevity follow, bringing positive changes to community mental health, economic strength, and environmental sustainability.

This project received the Thesis Commendation Architectural Research Centre Consortium (ARCC) King Medal for Excellence in Architectural & Environmental Design Research, the TD Bank Graduate Scholarship in Architecture: Design for Human Habitat and the RAIC Foundation Vince Catalli Scholarship for Sustainable Architectural Innovation

Instagram: @brettwltr, @aliki.economides

Kits Pool Redux by Dylan Treleven, M. Arch ‘23
The University of Texas at Austin | Advisor: Kevin Alter

Kitsilano Pool is a popular outdoor swimming facility in the Kitsilano neighborhood of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Situated along the shores of English Bay, the beach and surrounding park were formerly the site of a Squamish first nations settlement before white homesteaders claimed the land in the late 19th century. The pool was built in 1931 and remains one of the largest saltwater swimming pools in North America, measuring 137 meters in length. It is open for swimming during the summer season and provides space for sunbathing, lounging, and picnicking with expansive views of the bay and surrounding mountains.

Rising king tides and increasingly violent storm surges have caused extensive damage to the pool in recent years. In response, the local community is reassessing the viability of its design. Kits Pool Redux proposes a resilient and sustainable reimagining of the pool and park to address the growing challenges posed by climate change while maintaining the recreational functionality and iconic aesthetic presence of the current structures. The project begins with a fundamental acknowledgment that the shoreline is always in flux. Consequently, the old concrete sea wall and swimming basin are to be demolished and reincorporated into a permeable riprap breakwater that lines the beach.

Atop this curving, protective mound of boulders sits a raised boardwalk that connects the high ground at the northeastern and southwestern corners of the park. Like strangely precious flotsam deposited along the shore, the boardwalk is dotted with small attractions such as a camera obscura, a carousel, and a pair of sound mirrors that allow friends to whisper to one another across the bay. At the southwestern tip of the park is perched a distinctive event hall with a café and gathering spaces that greet the urban edge at the highest elevation on the site. At the foot of the hall, the riprap and boardwalk wind outward to form a jetty that further protects the beach waters. It houses restrooms, showers, and saunas while providing moorage for a floating pool-shaped swimming dock that deftly rises and falls with the tides.

This project was nominated for the Design Excellence, Advanced Studio, Spring 2023 Award

Instagram: @dttreleven, @alterstudio

See you in the next installment of the Student Showcase!

2023 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part XIX

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Welcome to Part XIX of the Study Architecture Student Showcase! As Urbanism continues to shape the study of architecture, today’s student showcase highlights projects that impact Urban Life. 

The featured designs seek to optimize the use of the available space while creating cohesive and functional built environments that meet the needs of all city dwellers. They also confront issues that impact urban spaces by addressing the increasing carbon footprint of the DFW Metropolitan Area and predicting a future where a massive electric vehicle charging car park replaces the greenspace of NYC’s Central Park.

Shifting Super Block by Yenifer Diaz, B.Arch ‘23
The New York Institute of Technology | Advisor: Prof. Michelle Cianfaglione

This research aims to answer the reasons for vacancies and how to solve the problem, especially in a city like New York. To create a shifting superblock with a seamless

Live | Work | Play, a “city within a city,” where neighborhoods are not disconnected from the empty lots and abandoned buildings, and where services are available to anyone.  

How do we build a neighborhood through the integration of Live | Work | Play?

The aim is to create a superblock-type concept where neighborhoods are not disconnected. It began with research on zoning and its limits on building laws and regulations, to “What is a superblock?” and expanded to “What is a 15-minute city and how can it be integrated into a city like New York?”

Instagram: @michellecianfaglione, @nyitarch, @exdarchitecture

“A City Within a City”: Culturally Sensitive Architecture Adaptation in San Francisco by Zijie Zhou, M.Arch ‘23
University of Utah, School of Architecture | Advisor: Valerie Greer, AIA, LEEP AP, NOMA

My site, located at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco, is positioned between the towering skyscraper side of the city and the low-rise Chinatown side. Throughout its rich history, Portsmouth Square has functioned as a significant community plaza for local Chinese immigrants, providing opportunities for entertainment and socialization for over 100 years. However, with the rapid influx of tourism and urban development, Portsmouth Square has become a point of conflict for the local Chinese residents and tourists, deterring both parties. This dissonance, reflected in the lack of connection between culture and architecture, has effectively created a divide — a cultural gap — between San Francisco and Chinatown, which is now referred to as “a city within a city.”

The tension and disconnect that exist between the two facets of this location can only be met with a considerate and nuanced approach. With sustainability and longevity in mind, I aimed to design beyond noteworthy architecture; instead, I aim to establish a structure for something more intangible – a community gathering space that embodies the values of rich culture and a diverse community. This conscientious design was intended to protect and enhance the quality of life for the local Chinese community, preserving their cultural heritage and identity while also encouraging community cohesion with those who are visiting or don’t explicitly belong to the Chinatown community. To achieve my goal, I aspire to cultivate a new cultural identity that resonates with the locals’ sense of belonging and loyalty.

The symbolic architectural design serves as a beacon of light that resonates within the hearts of every community member, illuminating the entire community living space. Through this architectural platform, I hope to foster social connectivity and strengthen the ties between people, communities, and cultures. This culturally sensitive approach will not only establish a landmark structure for visitors from all over the world but also establish a solid foundation for a vibrant community hub for local residents.

Welcome to the Carmart by Maggie McMickle, M.Arch ‘23
University of California, Berkeley | Advisors: Rene Davids and Greig Crysler

In the blocks surrounding Douglass Park in Chicago, over 80% of households are led by single mothers. In addition to performing paid labor to financially support their families, these mothers also perform thirty hours of unpaid domestic labor for their families per week, leaving little time for rest, play, or personal development. This project proposes a monolithic housing collective that spans three city blocks, sitting on the viaduct of an unused rail line. Domestic labor is outsourced to dedicated programs that stretch into the surrounding neighborhood. Collective meals are hosted in the shared kitchen and dining facility, and an on-site cafe is open to both residents and the public. A laundry service takes dirty clothes and returns them washed and folded. Children are cared for at different ages in different facilities, with a nursery and daycare for young children, an after-school program for the nearby elementary and middle school, and a recreation center for older children. By freeing overburdened mothers from this domestic labor, they are able to rest, play, and nurture themselves and their children.

Since the inception of the automobile, the urban fabric of modern American cities has been altered. With the emergence of electric vehicles, there is the potential for a new way we can design our cities around the automobile; now, the car has the potential to leave an impact on buildings. This thesis, entitled, Welcome to the Carmart explores the idea of creating an auto-centric megastructure in Central Park in New York City – the least car-dependent city in the States, to provide a critique of the car. The narrative of the Carmart provokes what may be considered a dystopian future for urbanists, the greenscape of Central Park is bulldozed and replaced with a massive EV charging car park. Through a narrative that imagines a dystopian future, the project embodies themes of consumerism, capitalism, the American dream, and the social and urban implications of creating spaces for cars that take away from the character of cities. 

This project won the Chester Miller Award.

Instagram: @magg_zzz, @r.davids, @carmart.usa

Prospect Offices in New Orleans by Leah N. Bohatch, B.Arch ‘23
Tulane University | Advisor: Ruben Garcia-Rubio

The site is in the Business District of New Orleans in-between Uptown and Downtown, near many places of communal gathering and public interaction. Camp St. and Andrew Higgins Blvd. mark the intersection of visitors and locals, highlighting the site as a corner of importance and an area for improvement in how the community can interact and be showcased. This will be accomplished through an inversion of the typical interior plaza wrapped by a program. 

This proposal calls to wrap the plaza around the building as a programmatically independent staircase that relates the pedestrian to the surrounding views and displays the inhabitant to the city. This strategy is accomplished by creating an object building to allow circulation around the building. The programmatic strategy includes a system of concrete slabs and columns along a 20’ x 20’ grid that becomes the frame of the project and is related to the city scale. Within this larger frame, human-scale polycarbonate boxes plug into the structure and create smaller-scale unique interactions at each level of the project that relate to New Orleans vernacular architecture such as porch-style, semi-communal office spaces, and balcony-mezzanine offices and walkways. 

The plaza wraps around the building as it is folded along the grid of columns. This allows for a program to be placed at each stair ranging from work areas to outdoor stages. Also, terraces are used as extensions of the offices to allow for a seamless interaction between an interior work environment and a shaded exterior office space. The destination of the continuous exterior plaza is a community roof garden that allows for 360 views of the city and a plaza on the roof plane. The stormwater runoff from the roof garden and the terraces is drained through an attachment to the building’s columns.

Instagram: @rubgarrub

Revitalization of an Automotive Industrial Area by Joshua Díaz-Arroyo, B.Arch ‘23
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico| Advisors: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres, Luis V. Badillo-Lozano & Manuel De Lemos-Zuazaga

This research is about breathing new life into deserted automotive factories scattered across the globe, with a particular emphasis on those that occupy sizeable plots in urban areas, impeding the growth of cities. The project strives to tap into the latent resources that these empty lots offer, leveraging the pre-existing infrastructure, structures, road access, and location to uncover their full potential.

Located in the Northwestern United States, specifically in Detroit, Michigan, is the Central Square. This area has been deemed part of the “Rust Belt” due to the numerous deserted automotive factories there. The project’s objective is to infuse life back into the area by reviving social and cultural activities, improving the economy, and increasing accessibility to surrounding communities. To achieve these goals, spatial programs and a central square are implemented, connecting the communities and integrating the programs seamlessly. 

The proposal entails the integration of a Car Museum, an office tower, and commercial areas. The existing structure, formerly intended for vehicle assembly, spans four levels in a horizontal layout. As part of the proposal, the existing building is divided to create a spacious longitudinal plaza that spans the entire site. This plaza serves as a versatile exterior space, connecting the various programs and facilitating seamless movement between them. The proposed design seeks to optimize the use of the available space while creating a cohesive and functional site that meets the needs of all stakeholders. Furthermore, it was the designer’s deliberate choice to erect a tower in order to produce a striking visual contrast to the project’s predominantly horizontal design. To achieve this, a diagrid is employed, which is reminiscent of the exoskeletons of factories, wherein the structural framework of the building is left bare and visible. The existing structure houses the automobile museum and offices, while the commercial district comprises four other new buildings.

The ambitious project seeks to delve into the vast expanse of space and express its distinctive characteristics, while simultaneously discovering the promising possibilities that abandoned automotive factories may offer. The proposal also aims to motivate and encourage others to unite with available resources and foster innovative ideas.

BEHAVIORAL EFFECTS OF PLACEMAKING ON FARM CHICKENS by Chidera Ndubueze, BSAED (Bachelor of Science in Architecture and Environmental Design) ‘23
Morgan State University | Advisor: Samia Kirchner

Placemaking is an approach used when designing and planning public spaces to promote urban vitality, health and well-being, and social interaction. This principle has been used to design and revitalize public spaces and urban plazas to become sociable and capable of achieving a multiplicity of activities. Placemaking principles should be incorporated when designing chicken habitats because they will positively affect the behavior of chickens and the production of eggs. The behavioral setting for this research will be the Plantation Park Heights Urban Farm in Baltimore, MD. The farm was established to combat food deserts and provide food on the plates of Park Heights residents. It maintains a principle of bringing Cleaner Greener Foods to less fortunate communities in Baltimore. The priority group is the chickens on the farm. The common chicken breed at Plantation Park Heights is the ISA Brown. This is a crossbreed of chicken with sex-linked coloration. They are docile and provide optimum egg production. This study will focus on the question: “Can principles of placemaking be incorporated into chicken habitats, and how does it affect the behavior of chickens?” This research will be conducted through interviews and storytelling (via the Facing Project), surveys, and questionnaires. The process for this research involves a comprehensive literature review on the study of the behavior of chickens from birth. The design project involves designing a chicken coop/ conservatory that is sufficient for the number of chickens on the farm. The coop design will provide spaces for feeding, nesting, and social activities.

This project received the Outstanding Research Poster Award at the 28th Annual Undergraduate and Graduate Research Symposium, Morgan State University.

Instagram: @samiarabkirchner

The Critical Application of Metabolic and Mobile Architecture to the Modern Urban Fabric by Peter Hall, Bachelor of Sc. in Architectural Sc. ’23
Western Kentucky University | Advisor: Shahnaz Aly

Urban analysis of architecture has taken multiple and diverse directions that in some way try to create a city that is accessible and walkable. NULU Flats takes on the approach of mobile architecture and metabolic theory to create a functioning microcosm of both ideas applied critically in a growing urban environment. The project, at around 90,000 SF, applies ideas of “megastructure” by creating a building skeleton that can evolve with the needs of the city on the linear path of time. The lower two levels of the structure are incorporated into the megastructure as a static piece of the building that contains necessities such as parking, mercantile space, and workspace. The following six floors are suspended residential modular units. With the flexibility to swap modular units and create new spaces, the project provides a critical application of metabolic and mobile thought.

This project received the Outstanding Senior Capstone Project Award.

Instagram: @petehall01

Reframe: Looking Inward, Gazing Outward by Nadia Calderón & Eliot Sauquet, B.Arch ’23
Southern California Institute of Architecture | Advisor: Peter Testa

Reframe, a proposal for the Museum of the 20th Century located in the Tiergarten District of Berlin, is centered on the superposition of volumetric, urban typologies and domestic thresholds through the construction of multipart views. By reintroducing site-specific architectural tropes related to urban housing, the project promotes an unstable, anticipatory character of architecture that is subject to constant reprogramming and transformations. The proposal focuses on the juxtaposition and overlap of two spatial logics: the arrangement of urban block typologies, and the integration of small-scale, domestic interiors. The objective of the project is to reactivate the immediate built environment of Berlin by inserting instances of domesticity into the expansiveness of a field of monuments.

The proposal for the Museum of the 20th Century expansion draws on the architectural and domestic history of Berlin by referencing the façade and configuration of L-type housing. By over-scaling and continuously aligning L-types, nested, sunken courtyards are generated between the discrete parts of the scheme. In aggregating large-scale urban typologies and domestic interiors, the project generates a series of close-knit gallery spaces that unravel across the site and reconstruct a pattern of circulation that is inveterate to Berlin. The project is focused on the creation of key sightlines and nested courtyards between volumetric components, and it further addresses the configuration of Berlin housing typologies by establishing a perimeter wall that intimately frames unfolding views and spatial processions. The scheme challenges conventional modes of perception by foregrounding the museum as a place of past and present cultural production that is continuously responding to the activities of Berlin. By encouraging the users to inhabit the space of the museum as they would inhabit housing, the experience of viewing art becomes substantially more intimate and imbued in the context of the city.

Instagram: @eliot_sauquet

I can’t BREATHE because I won’t CHANGE by Ryan Playle, M.Arch ’23
University of Texas at Arlington | Advisor: Ursula Emery McClure

“I can’t breathe because I won’t change” deals directly with one of Arlington’s most toxic areas. The interchange zone of I-30 and 360 is not only undergoing a massive highway infrastructure reconstruction but is also one of DFW’s most heavily trafficked areas, and it is surrounded by major industrial sites and power grid distribution networks. 

These factors make it one of the densest carbon production zones in Arlington and an overall unhealthy environment. Ryan, who commutes through this interchange daily, found this area both challenging and screaming for a new future. His project accepts that reducing the carbon producers in this area is presently futile and instead, he must design a new infrastructure that negates the carbon. Working with the diverse scales and conditions that highway interchanges create (above, below, and aside,) Ryan designed carbon collectors that can be attached or embedded into the current TX DOTD highway construction methods. These mushroom-capped collectors act like huge vacuums, sucking up the carbon monoxide emitted by the producers and processing the pollution internally. In conjunction with their technological duties, the S.C.U.M. (Smog Collecting Umbrella Mechanisms) towers signify the east gateway to the city of Arlington.

They create a dramatic and signature infrastructure identifying ARL, similar to the St. Louis Arch or the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. The “I can’t breathe because I won’t change” project may have been initiated from a toxic observation but in its conclusion, generates not only a healthier Arlington but also a more identifiable Arlington. 

This project was featured in a community exhibit for the City of Arlington.

Instagram: @emerymcclurearchitecture, @ryantuckerplayle

See you next week for the next installment of the Student Showcase!