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2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part XI

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Architecture has the power to transform a space. In Part XI of the 2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase, we put a spotlight on revitalized spaces. These projects take their pre-existing sites and create new spaces that promote sustainability, community connection, accessibility, and resiliency. The transformed sites include naval bases, power plants, industrial sites, local landmarks, abandoned city centers, underserved neighborhoods, and more. Each project incorporates design, construction, policy, and infrastructure to reimagine new spaces that serve their communities. 

Take a closer look below!

The Greenest Building, The One That is Already Built by Audrey Barnhart, M.Arch ’25
Roger Williams University | Advisor: Rubén Alcolea

This thesis explores adaptive reuse and sustainability by transforming a retired coal-fired power plant into a conservation center. With over 300 decommissioned coal plants across the U.S., the project asks: Should these monumental industrial relics be demolished, or reimagined to serve communities once again? The selected site is located on Mare Island, California, a former naval base now undergoing revitalization. Positioned near polluted waters and existing conservation efforts, the site becomes a strategic place for ecological restoration.

The design preserves the historic brick and concrete shell of the power plant, inserting a self-supporting mass timber structure within. This new framework uses sustainably sourced CLT panels and glulam beams, forming a light-filled, naturally ventilated interior that supports vegetation between the old and new structures. Only at vertical circulation points do the two structures physically meet, symbolizing a transition between past and future.

Programmatically, the conservation center includes public education spaces, research labs, and residential units. A rewilded landscape replaces paved surfaces, reducing the urban heat island effect and encouraging biodiversity. A narrow water channel brings Bay water into the site for ecological engagement, while a nearby storage hangar is converted into a ferry terminal to enhance sustainable transportation.

Passive design strategies guide the intervention, with large open-air windows providing daylight and ventilation. Prefabricated timber elements reduce site impact. Overall, the project demonstrates how industrial heritage can support ecological recovery, creating a dialogue between decay and renewal, nature and structure, and the old and the new.

This project won the Thesis Honor Award.

Instagram: @rwu_cummingsarch, @alcoleatarrago

Turning Tides: Holistic Remediation by Hannah Moore, B.Arch ‘25
Academy of Art University | Advisors: Simon McKenzie, Philip Ra & Ricardo Solar

Through identifying areas of neglect, the revitalization of Harris Shipyards can emerge as a place of social inclusion, environmental sustainability, and urban renewal.

The repurposing of materials and structure found on the site accommodates transitional housing, job-training, and programs for public reconnection for those in our community who are experiencing homelessness. In addition, the project restores the surrounding beaches in order to protect at-risk species.

These parallel stories, of once-thriving characters who have since fallen into dereliction, can be provided remediation through this intervention, reigniting their significance and resilience within their contexts.

This project won the B.Arch Thesis Award. 

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @hannah.3, @smckenzie23, @ricardo_solar_architecture

Rebuild From Decay: An Industrial Solution for A Post-Industrial Age by Kyle Sylvester, M.Arch ’25
Wentworth Institute of Technology | Advisors: Lauren McQuistion & Tom Chung

Mass timber presents an opportunity to redefine the future of abandoned industrial sites through the introduction of a new industry. While many of these sites have been repurposed as cultural and landscape parks, this approach often reduces their industrial identity to just a facade for new programs, disconnecting them from their manufacturing past. By integrating mass timber manufacturing and education within the fabric of an industrial wasteland, this model preserves the site’s historical significance while also creating a hub for sustainable industry, ensuring its continued use in the 21st century. 

This thesis revitalizes Machine Shop No. 2 at Bethlehem Steel Mill by maintaining and reinterpreting its industrial legacy. Typically, industrial wastelands are repurposed as landscape parks or cultural centers, stripping away the site’s industrial memory and using its infrastructure as a facade. By integrating sustainable mass timber construction, this proposal offers a forward-thinking approach to revitalizing post-industrial spaces through the use of mass timber construction. The existing machine shop has been transformed into a mass timber manufacturing facility and educational center for renewable materials, blending production and education through layered programming. This approach preserves the site’s identity while addressing the need for sustainable construction practices.

This project won the Wentworth School of Architecture and Design: Design Excellence Award. 

Instagram: @ksly5, @mc.quistion

From Wrecks to Wonders: Reclaiming Shorelines, Enriching Communities by Karunia Ayu, Hongxiang Wang & Tianqi Zhao (Enoch), MSAUD (Master of Science in Architecture and Urban Design) ’25
Columbia University | Advisors: Kate Orff, Geeta Mehta, Emanuel Admassu, Sebastian Delpino, Gabriel Vergara, Lucas Coelho Netto & Shrey Patel

WHAT IF THE WATERWAY IS REOPENED, BROUGHT COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES TO ITS SHORES, AND REIMAGINED THE ECONOMY AND INDUSTRY ALONG THE BANKS?

In the past, the island of Ilha da Conceição was composed of three separate islets located within Guanabara Bay. The construction of Niterói’s port and the later Rio–Niterói Bridge, which was driven by the expanding oil industry, filled in the channels that separated the two islands. This effectively annexes the islands to the city while also obstructing the natural flow of water. In addition to the accumulation of derelict ships, this land reclamation has resulted in the accumulation of wastewater and industrial runoff, which has resulted in the transformation of once-clean currents into polluted pools that are stagnant.

The shoreline is now dominated by industrial activity, which has cut off communities from the water and undermined both the quality of the catch and traditional ways of making a living. Local fishermen used to thrive in this area previously.

The ‘what if’ scenario that we have envisioned involves reestablishing water circulation without displacing any industry. By relocating factories to nearby locations and innovatively repurposing vessels that have been abandoned, we could bring back a canal that is cleaner and flows more freely. Residents of Ilha da Conceição and Niterói would be brought together through the creation of new public spaces along its banks. These spaces would serve as natural filtration zones and social connectors.

What is the end result? improved water quality, revitalized community fishing, and parks along the water’s edge that are very inviting. The demonstration that industry, ecology, and community can coexist in harmony would be [highlighted] by the fact that improved access to the bay would stimulate the creation of jobs, broaden access to goods and services, and ignite local economic growth.

Click here to learn more. 

Instagram: @runikarunia, @enoxizi, @mehtageeta999 @eadmassu, @sdelpino_arq, @gabrielvergarag, @lucascoelhonetto, @cauecapille, @shrey_patel1999

City Within a Shell, Reclaiming underutilized buildings for living learning and belonging. by Kush Choganwala, M.Arch ’25
Boston Architectural College | Advisors: Ralph Jackson &  Ian F. Taberner

In a city defined by knowledge and ambition, where students arrive with dreams larger than their square footage, a quieter truth rises between the lines of the skyline: vacancy. Beneath the towers of Back Bay, amid the noise of commerce and culture, stand buildings built for another time empty, waiting, still. “City Within a Shell” is a thesis rooted in this urban contradiction. It asks: What if the city’s forgotten rooms could be reimagined for those still finding their place within it? What if architecture, instead of beginning with demolition, began with listening to the structures that remain, and the lives that need them?

This project proposes the adaptive reuse of the Sheraton Boston Hotel’s South Wing, transforming a vacated hospitality structure into a vertical co-living environment for students. Located in the academic epicenter of Boston, surrounded by institutions like Northeastern, Berklee, and the Boston Architectural College, the site holds the potential to serve the very population it has long overlooked. 

The design strategy centers on a modular four-story stacking system that integrates living units with shared kitchens, study lounges, wellness pods, and green terraces. These clusters spiral around a central spine, a vertical social core that weaves moments of interaction into the daily rhythm of living. The new facade becomes a living skin: softened with balconies, filtered with light, wrapped in green, inviting the city to witness a transformation not just of form, but of purpose. Methodologically, the thesis draws from precedent case studies in New York, Philadelphia, and Berlin, where adaptive reuse and cooperative housing models have reshaped the residential landscape. Site analysis, zoning and policy review, economic feasibility studies, and environmental performance simulations ground the proposal in practical viability while guiding its architectural expression. But beyond numbers and plans, this work is a meditation on belonging. It acknowledges that housing is not just a commodity, but a condition for well-being. It positions design as a tool not only for efficiency, but for empathy. And it offers a replicable framework—both spatial and strategic for cities grappling with similar imbalances between abundance and need.

City Within a Shell challenges the idea that buildings expire when their original function fades. Instead, it proposes that architecture can evolve layered, resilient, and generous. It suggests that within the walls we inherit, there is room to imagine something better: a city where vacancy is not a failure, but a beginning. Through this thesis, architecture becomes an act of reclamation of space, of purpose, and of the right to belong.

This project won the Edwin T. Steffian Award, Best of M.Arch Thesis. 

the informal Formal: a third way out by Yamen al Mohtar, B.Arch ’25
American University of Beirut | Advisor: Makram Al Kadi

In today’s world, where architecture is designed down to every small detail, spontaneity has been cast aside in favor of control. However, while being true in certain cities, this reality is in no way universal. That is because in most countries and cities, designed architecture is only a fraction of what is built. Most buildings are built without architects, without engineers or professionals, sometimes even without builders. This language of architecture is embodied in various informalities, ranging from informal neighborhoods and slums to temporary structures and “spontaneous” buildings built out of necessity.

This thesis exploration delves into questions regarding this untapped space, asking questions like: What if informality emerges not as a product of circumstance, but as a personalized method of design? What if different classes of society can be brought together through the incorporation of the informal into formal design? How can we use informality as a design method that could be applied universally, providing unique spatial qualities that would otherwise be exclusive to a few? What if there’s a new design process? One which is neither formal nor informal, but one which has the virtues of both and the downsides of none?

The Corridor, Neighborhood Center by Alejandro Rodríguez Torres, B.Arch ’25
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Guillermo Márquez, Patricia Cutiño & Jorge Javier

The goal of the project is to meet the need for a dignified central space that honors the history and cultural legacy of the San Francisquito neighborhood. It seeks to strengthen community unity through a specialized program that will position the project as a local and regional landmark. This space will integrate areas dedicated to recreation, culture, gastronomy and coexistence, key aspects to revitalize and strengthen the social fabric of the community.

Located in front of the Divina Pastora parish church, ‘El Corredor’ will become the main square of the neighborhood, housing a food market, culinary workshops and a multi-purpose esplanade. This space will host sporting, cultural, religious and recreational events, consolidating, together with the parish church, as the main cultural and social centre of the San Francisquito neighborhood.

The architectural approach focuses on creating a vibrant and cohesive neighborhood centre that not only revitalizes a neglected environment, but also becomes the beating heart of the community. Designed to bring residents together, our space promotes coexistence and collaboration, while driving local economic development and celebrating the rich cultural diversity of the neighborhood. By integrating recreational, commercial and cultural zones, we have conceived a place where every corner invites interaction, learning and creativity. This project will not only transform the urban landscape but also strengthen community ties, providing an environment where everyone feels included and valued.

Instagram: @atorres025, @arquitectura_anahuac

The Urban Ecology Center by Sydney Tucker, M.Arch ’25
Kansas State University | Advisor: Chad Schwartz

Situated along the dry Salt River corridor near Tempe Town Lake Dam, this Urban Ecology Center serves as a restorative retreat, not only for the urban community, but for the native ecologies that once sustained the riverbed. Grounded in historical research and indigenous knowledge, particularly the Hohokam’s advanced canal systems, the design reclaims the site’s legacy of environmental ingenuity. The project frames architecture as a medium for ecological education, offering spaces that reveal the riverbed’s hydrological function and potential for regeneration. The center looks to reconnect the public to the origins of Tempe and Phoenix, inviting reflection on how design can reconcile disruptions of urbanization and foster a more resilient future in Tempe.

Instagram: @sydneytucker1, @cjs_arch

Eco-corridor by Tinarith Tann, B.Arch ’25
New York Institute of Technology | Advisor: Jeannette Sordi

Far Rockaway, located at the eastern end of the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens, New York, is a coastal community uniquely situated between two bodies of water: Jamaica Bay to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south. Despite offering natural beauty, its geographical setting is vulnerable to flooding, especially during extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes, nor’easters, and intense coastal storms.

This thesis project designs eco-corridors—living pathways that transform unused urban spaces into a continuous green network stretching from downtown Far Rockaway to the water. These connections will revive neglected areas while addressing multiple challenges at once: managing stormwater and providing people with beautiful, functional natural and indoor spaces.

Click here to learn more.

This project was featured in the NYC Design Week, NYIT Exhibition.

Instagram:  @narith___, @jeannettesordi

BARN REIMAGINED: Adaptive Reuse as Environmental Stewardship by Kevin Johnson & Leanne Vera, M.Arch ’25
University of Notre Dame | Advisor: Ming Hu

This design aims to propose a barn complex that addresses LEEF’s mission of “Science Serving Society”, creating a functional complex that meets the need for public and private uses, enhances user views towards the Eagle’s Nest, and responds sensitively to the climatic conditions of the site while integrating into the landscape with minimal interventions to appear as if it were always there. At the core of the project, we sought to integrate sustainable design strategies as a link between LEEF’s mission and the architect’s duty to the environment.

We decided to orient the barn’s front facade, which contains the large triangular window, directly towards the existing Eagle’s Nest, which is a mainstay of the existing LEEF site. This orients the building roughly SE and maximizes the barn’s solar capabilities. The Solarium takes the orientation of the existing pavilion in order to maximize solar gain.

By keeping the building footprints small and separating the massings, we were able to reduce excessive heating, cooling and energy expenses. We also emphasized the importance of the natural prairie habitat as the predominant landscape and tried to minimize additional landscaping. Additionally, we propose utilizing local materials and adding a rainwater collection system for reuse in the LEEF facilities.

Our project embodies a holistic approach to adaptive reuse by thoughtfully preserving the historic Gothic arch barn and integrating it within a sustainably designed complex that supports LEEF’s mission of “Science Serving Society.” By achieving net-zero energy usage, implementing rainwater harvesting, restoring prairie ecosystems, and utilizing locally sourced materials, our proposal not only preserves the historic barn but also sets a precedent for future environmentally conscious adaptive reuse projects. 

La Factoría del Pueblo, Artist’s temporary internship by Estefania Vizcaya, B.Arch ’25
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Guillermo Márquez, Patricia Cutiño & Jorge Javier

The project “La Factoría del Pueblo” is about La Santa Cruz, and [was] created to provide temporary housing for artists seeking support to grow in the creative sector of the visual arts (painting and sculpture), in addition to creating a community among people who are interested in this subject and want to learn and soak up this art.

The design is sectioned to create different buildings and between them, small niches that help creativity and environment, all of them are united by a central square that has different ways of use, all with the purpose of uniting people who live there or visit the space to create a community. 

The materiality was chosen to minimize maintenance requirements for the space, as it is social. Therefore, we also created modules with frosted glass brick featuring thermal insulation to provide privacy and comfort to the space. We also have the steel rusted so that the spaces have more color; on the other hand, the materiality of slabs and walls is of apparent concrete. But also with the exteriors, the circulation is of paving stone, which is used locally for the different spaces.

Finally, the construction system is very important; the concrete was fused with steel, which led to having columns of HSS beams that are poured with concrete and perimeter beams covered with CPS profiles. In this way, it is possible to make a union with the apparent ribbed slab that has a support for the concrete retaining wall.

Instagram: @fannyvizcaya, @arquitectura_anahuac, @arqwave

VARIANT MINDS: DESIGNING FOR NEURODIVERSITY IN OFFICES by Maya Schiltz, B.Arch ’25
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: Robin Puttock

As society progresses, the stigma around neurodiversity is gradually fading, yet full acceptance and accommodation remain a work in progress. While programs exist for low- and medium-functioning neurodiverse individuals, high-functioning adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder often find themselves struggling to navigate environments designed for neurotypical minds. This thesis explores how workplace design can better accommodate the needs of neurodiverse employees, enhancing productivity, well-being, and inclusion.

Neurodiversity refers to the natural diversity in human cognition, encompassing the wide range of how people think, learn, and process the world around them, including conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and more. Estimates suggest that 15-20% of the population may have a neurodivergent condition. The conditions this thesis will be focusing on are ADHD, which involves challenges with attention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity, as well as autism, which involves difficulties in social communication and repetitive behaviors. These conditions were chosen due to how frequently they overlap, both in diagnostic criteria and social diagnosis. There are many benefits to embracing neurodiverse individuals, such as unique perspectives, innovative thinking, and heightened attention to detail. Research shows that neurodiverse teams can even outperform neurotypical ones. For example, Hewlett Packard Enterprise found that

their neurodiverse teams were 30% more productive than neurotypical ones when given the resources to succeed. Despite their potential, neurodiverse individuals face significant barriers to employment. In the United States, the unemployment rate for individuals on the autism spectrum exceeds 90% and 30% for ADHD, compared to the 4.2% national average.

This thesis proposes a framework to achieve inclusive office design with three key zones: individual workspaces with reduced distractions, collaboration areas supporting varied communication styles, and restoration spaces for stress management and sensory recovery. To find the optimal layout of these zones, precedents were chosen based on their positive performance in post-occupancy surveys and analyzed for their programmatic spatial ratios and sequence, then synthesized with existing neurodiverse design research. Redesigning oces to support neurodiversity comes with challenges, including costs, space constraints, and cultural resistance. However, prioritizing inclusivity in workplace design is not only a matter of fairness but also a practical strategy to enhance creativity, innovation, and organizational performance for neurodiverse and neurotypical employees alike.

This project was recognized as a Thesis Finalist (Top 5 of 90+).

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @mayaschiltz, @robinzputtock

Urban Poverty: The Villas in Argentina by Lizbeth M. Padilla-González, B.Arch ’25
Pontifical Catholica University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Jesús O. García-Beauchamp & Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

Urban poverty has emerged as a complex challenge affecting millions globally, profoundly impacting residents of informal settlements and marginalized neighborhoods. This multifaceted issue extends beyond economic deprivation to encompass inadequate access to essential services, substandard housing, food insecurity, limited educational opportunities, and systemic social exclusion. These challenges are intrinsically linked to economic inequality, spatial segregation, and evolving urban structures.

This architectural proposal addresses these challenges within Villa 21-24 (Villa Zavaleta) in Argentina through a comprehensive urban master plan that reimagines the existing urban fabric. Drawing inspiration from the consolidated city’s formal grid system, the design introduces strategic reorganization that enhances spatial articulation, improves connectivity, and establishes a foundation for transformative architectural interventions.

The project’s cornerstone is a major linear park traversing the settlement from north to south, serving as both an organizing spine and vital public space for community cohesion. Three strategically positioned mixed-use buildings line this central corridor, creating a dynamic interface between public and private realms. The ground and second levels house essential community programs, including dining facilities, technology education centers, libraries, vocational workshops, gymnasiums, children’s recreation areas, and flexible rental spaces for local entrepreneurs. These elements were selected through comprehensive community needs assessments to strengthen social networks, enhance quality of life, and foster comprehensive development pathways.

The upper levels accommodate diverse residential typologies, from studio units to three-bedroom apartments, serving varied family structures within the community. Each dwelling incorporates terraces and balconies strategically oriented toward recreational areas, fostering visual connections with green infrastructure and reinforcing the relationship between private living spaces and communal areas. The buildings employ a brick façade system providing effective solar protection and thermal regulation while maintaining authentic integration with the existing urban landscape, where brick represents one of the most prevalent and culturally significant building materials in the region. This material choice exemplifies the project’s commitment to environmental responsiveness and contextual sensitivity.

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @Lizbethmarie_1

Quintero Bay: A Breakthrough by Georgia Fernandes, Maïssa Eid, Patricio Munoz & Dutt Patel, M.S.AUD (Masters of Science in Architecture and Urban Design) ’25
Columbia University | Advisors: Kate Orff, Geeta Mehta, Gabriel Vergara, Sebastian Delpino, Emanuel Admassu & Lucas Coelho

Quintero Bay, once a thriving coastal ecosystem in Chile, has become one of the country’s most heavily polluted sacrifice zones. Years of industrial activity have contaminated the air, land, and sea, deeply impacting the health and livelihoods of its residents. The region powers 7% of Chile’s energy, yet the communities living here have received only environmental harm in return.

Our project, inspired by the work of local feminist collective MUZOSARE, envisions a future rooted in healing and co-existence. Rather than erase the industrial past, we aim to repurpose it. The phased closure of the Codelco copper smelter offers a unique opportunity to restore wetlands, uncover buried sand dunes, and adapt former factories into community hubs for housing, research, culture, and ecological stewardship.

Guided by the principles of revitalizing, repurposing, and community development, the design introduces green corridors, nature-based ports, and SLAG LABS to transform industrial waste into public infrastructure. Residents can participate in restoration through income or social credit-based programs, reactivating the local economy while building environmental resilience.

This is not just a vision for Quintero Bay—it’s a model for all sacrifice zones. By integrating policy, ecology, and community leadership, the project offers a blueprint for transforming places of harm into living territories of shared futures.

This project won the Lucille Smyser Lownfish Memorial Prize.

Instagram: @g__fernandes, @misssoouuuu, @pamb.070, @duttpatel108, @mehtageeta999, @sdelpino_arq, @gabrielvergarag, @lucascoelhonetto, @eadmassu

Rhythmic Ribbons by Tadhg McDonald, M.Arch ’25
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Masataka Yoshikawa

The goal of this design was to highlight the site’s seclusion from the rest of Belle Isle and how it is reinforced by the relationship between the existing built and natural environments. This relationship influenced the formal design elements through the utilization of both orthogonal and curved walls. The orthogonal walls represent the built environment, while the curved walls represent the natural [environment.] The main generator for the site’s seclusion was the journey that any site visitors have to travel in order to reach the secluded core of the site. From the parking lot, the visitor can partially see all of the stunning views of the site, but they do not get the full experience until they have passed through the lines of trees and the Kresge Pavilion. This idea of Path vs. Goal was heavily influential for the interior design of this new construction. Overall, the site’s inherent seclusion, journey, and built and natural confines create a uniquely private experience for all visitors.

Instagram: @ta.dhg, @masataka.yoshikawa

Urban Apex Hub – Sustainable Tourism: A Path to the Reconstruction of Urban Spaces by Louis Y. Sepúlveda-Homs, B.Arch ’25
Pontifical Catholica University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Jesús O. García-Beauchamp, Pilarín Ferrer-Viscasillas & Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

Urban decay is a persistent condition in many contemporary cities, leading to the deterioration of physical infrastructure, the disappearance of cultural identity, and the disconnection between communities and their environments. This capstone investigates the potential of sustainable tourism as a catalyst for the reconstruction of such spaces, proposing an architectural and urban intervention that integrates ecological, cultural, and economic dimensions. Titled “Urban Apex Hub – Sustainable Tourism: A Path to the Reconstruction of Urban Spaces,” the project is located in the deteriorated historic center of Río Grande, Puerto Rico, a site marked by abandonment, weak pedestrian infrastructure, and lack of public activation.

This research explores the intersection between landscape urbanism, urban obsolescence, and ecotourism as strategic tools to regenerate neglected urban cores. Drawing from the theories of Charles Waldheim on landscape as a framework for urbanization, Kevin Lynch’s concept of urban obsolescence, and Richard Butler’s tourism area lifecycle model, the proposal envisions a hybrid public space that merges architecture and nature. The program includes an eco-conscious hotel, a cultural center for local expression and education, and a public market that supports local entrepreneurship and food sustainability.

The methodology combines site analysis, ecological mapping, and community engagement to develop a masterplan focused on walkability, stormwater management, cultural preservation, and green infrastructure. Key spatial strategies include the use of interior gardens, green roofs, permeable surfaces, and open-air courtyards that enhance microclimates and support social interaction. The project also addresses tourism from a critical lens, proposing a model that attracts ecotourists to under-visited urban areas while empowering local communities.

Urban Apex Hub reimagines tourism as more than a temporary activity; it becomes a long-term drive for environmental stewardship, cultural resilience, and economic regeneration. By rooting the architectural proposal in the specific ecological and social context of Río Grande, the project demonstrates how sustainable tourism can actively participate in reconfiguring urban identity and restoring meaning to forgotten spaces. Ultimately, this research advocates for an architecture that is not only responsive to climate and place, but also capable of reshaping the narrative of urban decline into one of collective renewal.

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @arch.louis_yarell

Ecologies of Extraction: Reclaiming Industrial Landscapes for Ecological and Social Renewal by Anna MacDonald, B.Arch ’25
Wentworth Institute of Technology | Advisor: Lauren McQuistion

The remediation of declining industrial landscapes in cities can serve as a catalyst for reimagining the urban fabric through the establishment of resilient infrastructure and renewed community connections. Newark’s industrial zone exemplifies the tensions and possibilities of this transformation, revealing how design, policy, and environmental strategies can converge to reshape industrial spaces. Industrial landscapes have long been shaped by economic shifts, ecological negligence, and urban expansion. As industries shrink or relocate, their physical remnants—factories, warehouses, rail lines, and contaminated land—present both challenges and opportunities for urban and ecological transformation. 

The transition to sustainable, post-industrial cities requires strategies that integrate environmental remediation, adaptive reuse, and equitable redevelopment. Newark, NJ, serves as just one extreme example of the contaminated, underutilized industrial landscapes that permeate U.S. cities, and regulatory agencies must implement a framework for transforming modern industrial zones through sustainable infrastructure, ecological restoration, and social equity. Strategic interventions explored in this study establish a model for cities to move beyond extractive histories toward climate-conscious and socially inclusive futures, demonstrating how industrial spaces can evolve into regenerative landscapes.

This project won the ARCC King Award, Wentworth School of Architecture and Design: Design Excellence Award.

Instagram:@annarmacdonald, @mc.quistion

WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE by Madisyn Hunter, M.Arch ’25
Florida A&M University | Advisors: George Epolito, Andrew Chin & Ronald B. Lumpkin

WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: THE IMPACT OF HURRICANE KATRINA ON THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF MUSICIANS AND THE EVALUATION OF ARCHITECTURAL LANDSCAPES

This thesis examines the intersection of architectural innovation and cultural resilience in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, focusing specifically on its impact on the creative processes of young musicians in New Orleans. The project investigates how architectural design can serve as both a physical and emotional safeguard against future natural disasters, while simultaneously nurturing cultural expression and healing.

Following Katrina’s devastation, rebuilding efforts largely favored traditional architecture over progressive design solutions—often reinforcing systemic inequities and overlooking the creative lifeblood of the city’s youth. Yet, in the face of limited resources and widespread destruction, many musicians returned to their craft, channeling trauma into vibrant, transformative art. This thesis argues that their resilience and creativity were not merely responses to adversity but vital threads in New Orleans’ cultural recovery.

The research combines case studies, archival data, and design analysis to explore how architecture can support post-disaster recovery by integrating cultural spaces within resilient infrastructure. The proposed design envisions floating structures that act as creative havens—spaces for performance, collaboration, and remembrance. These architectural interventions respond not only to storm surge patterns and environmental threats but also to the need for safe, inclusive places that honor the city’s musical heritage and provide psychological support.

Ultimately, “When the Levees Broke” presents a vision for architecture that does more than mitigate disaster—it becomes a catalyst for cultural preservation, artistic growth, and long-term community healing. The thesis underscores that in a city where music is a lifeline, architecture must rise to meet both environmental and emotional needs with equal care.

Instagram: @famusaet, @famu_masterofarch

Lazo by Rafael Martínez Marín, B.Arch ’25
Tecnológico de Monterrey | Advisor: Claudia Berenice Muciño García

The abandonment of Puebla’s Historic Center stems from urban, economic, and social transformations that, since the city’s founding, have triggered segregation and displacement, altering its residential character. In the 20th century, urban sprawl and the creation of new housing zones pushed residents out of the center. This trend was deepened by economic crises, weak public policy, and a lack of housing incentives, leaving many buildings in disrepair and community life fractured.

In recent decades, the city’s designation as a World Heritage Site and the growth of tourism have transformed the center into a commercial hub, further reinforcing residential abandonment and neglecting the development of its original neighborhoods.

This study focuses on the Analco neighborhood, a place deeply affected by these dynamics. It now faces advanced deterioration and insecurity. Through documentary research, interviews, comparative analysis, and analogous case studies, the project identifies patterns, challenges, and opportunities that have shaped Analco’s transformation.

As a response, the architectural project “Lazo” proposes a strategy to reconnect the neighborhood with its people. Situated on two plots separated by a street, the design links them through a habitable bridge that becomes both a symbolic and functional connector. This elevated structure hosts cultural, educational, and social programs that strengthen community bonds.

More than a finished object, the project is conceived as an open and adaptable system, shaped through community involvement. Public space is the core of the proposal, with plazas, open workshops, and shared courtyards designed to encourage interaction and daily use. The program includes classrooms, artisan workshops, a communal kitchen, and exhibition areas—spaces that promote learning, creativity, and the transmission of local knowledge.

The bridge redefines the street not as a boundary but as a space of encounter, promoting pedestrian movement and intergenerational exchange. “Lazo” becomes not just a building, but an infrastructure of care, identity, and continuity—an active agent in the regeneration of one of Puebla’s most historic yet neglected neighborhoods.

The capstone was recognized as Best Generation Project by Tecnológico de Monterrey.

Instagram: @rafamtz._, @arq.pue.tec

Empowering Communities by Carlos Victor Coelho, M.Arch ’25
Boston Architectural College | Advisors: Ralph Jackson & Ian F. Taberner

SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE’S IMPACT ON URBAN BARRIERS IN INFORMAL SETTLEMENTS

This thesis proposal focuses on the tension between formal and informal settlements in Latin American countries, particularly in Brazil, where urban barriers contribute to sociocultural inequality. These barriers, including spatial, economic, and political exclusions, create challenges for informal settlements, such as infrastructure disadvantages and limited access to opportunities. By asking the following questions, this proposal suggests establishing a social hub in a low-income community within informal settlements, emphasizing the importance of considering its unique conditions and challenges in planning urban interventions. 

The Social Hub aims to break down social and cultural barriers through social architectural intervention. This intervention will act as a powerful tool to provide equal access to essential resources and services, such as food and water. The initiative also aims to promote social equality and inclusion. This proposal suggests establishing the social hub in an informal settlement in Vitoria, ES, Brazil. To achieve its goal, the proposed site, approximately 1.8 acres, is situated in a sloped informal neighborhood within the heart of the city and the Historical center, rich in cultural and historical relevance.

Methods of Inquiry:

– How can social architecture in informal settlements increase the quality of life and social equality?

– What challenges and barriers do urban barriers within low-income communities bring to them?

– How can deconstructing urban barriers through architecture help guarantee needy community residents’ right to the city and ensure integration and equality?

Term of Criticism:

– Does the proposal project help overcome challenges such as the urban barrier within the community?

– Does the proposal present a structure that fulfills the community’s significant needs, such as food access, education, and public space?

– Does the project offer a structure that encourages the community’s involvement and inspires pride and opportunities

This project received Commends for Thesis.

Power In Displacement by Raneen Alaani, M.Arch ’25
Boston Architectural College | Advisors: Lorraine Kung & Ian F. Taberner

Planting roots in extended exile – Disintegrating refugee camp boundaries.

This research investigates establishing a sense of security, resilience, and preservation of cultural identity for Palestinian refugee communities in the Middle East. These communities have been struggling with instability and feeling that they have been uprooted from their homes for many decades. The political status of most of these refugees complicates the issue even further. Palestinian refugees in many Middle Eastern countries fall under the status of “stateless”. This dilemma is not only affecting their social and economic lives, but it is detrimental to their psychological and emotional wellbeing as they continue to feel imprisoned within the intangible boundaries of their refugee camps.

  • Creation of a safe haven to exhibit communal memory that reminisces the homeland
  • A place of attachment that empowers the culture, religion and heritage
  • The use of natural light to invoke healing – peace – tranquility

Methods of Inquiry:

  • Sense of security and stability is restored
  • Refugee community’s youth have aspirations for their future
  • Self-esteem and self worth is restored

Terms of Criticism:

Alzarqaa refugee camp is only a few kilometers outside of Amman, Jordan. It is one of the oldest refugee camps in the region (UNRWA Jordan). Alzarqaa camp struggles with density and lack of job opportunities in addition to water scarcity, lack of resources, and lack of natural light. This thesis proposes a resilience center of approximately 9000 SF just outside the bounds of the camp that acts as a continuation of the community extending just beyond the boundaries of the camp.”

This project received Commends for Thesis.

Stay tuned for Part XII!

2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part X

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Architecture tells a story. The capstones and theses highlighted in Part X of the 2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase use texture, material, and spatial configuration as visual narratives. From short films to renderings, each project uses a unique medium of storytelling. The displayed work ranges from memorials inspired by speculative fiction and design interventions using augmented reality to exhibitions on womanhood and visualizations of poetry.
Scroll down for a closer look!

Thread by Thread by Emily Dross, B.Arch ’25
Ball State University | Advisor: James F. Kerestes

“Thread by Thread” is a short film, created as part of the course Cinematic Environments: Uncanny AI, explores hybridized architectural conditions through a speculative and surreal lens. Set in a richly imagined built environment, the narrative unfolds through the movements and interactions of fluffy, stuffed animal-like creatures—anthropomorphic figures that serve as both inhabitants and interpreters of the space. These soft-bodied protagonists navigate a world that oscillates between the familiar and the uncanny, offering a playful yet critical reflection on contemporary architectural and environmental issues.

The project operates within the “fuzzy space” between realism and speculation, where exaggerated materials, textures, and spatial configurations provoke questions about the future of the built environment. By merging whimsical imagery with architectural inquiry, the film engages themes of technological transformation and post-Anthropocene speculation. The soft, plush inhabitants stand in stark contrast to the often rigid, industrial aesthetic of traditional architectural spaces—suggesting alternative, more empathetic ways of occupying and designing environments.

Through visual storytelling, “Thread by Thread” reflects a critical position on how architecture might respond to pressing global concerns while embracing unconventional narratives and mediums. Ultimately, the film is a provocative gesture—one that reimagines the role of architecture in shaping not only physical space but also cultural and emotional landscapes. It invites viewers to question the boundaries of architectural representation and consider the value of softness, fantasy, and hybridity in the discourse of design.

Instagram: @em.dross, @jameskerestes

Echoes of the Land: A Pilgrimage of Wilderness and Spirit by Andrea Frank, M.Arch ‘25
North Dakota State University | Advisor: Stephen Wischer

This thesis explores how architecture can bridge humanity and the natural world, restoring a connection eroded by technology, overconsumption, and distraction. While cities offer curated encounters with nature, they cannot replace the deep peace found in wilderness. This connection is essential to humanity’s survival. If humanity fails to understand its relationship with the environment and engage with it responsibly, it jeopardizes the ecological balance of the world and humanity’s own existence.

Architecture, once in dialogue with nature, now often serves function, spectacle, or profit. This work reimagines architecture as a mediator that fosters kinship with the earth through a threefold approach: a pilgrimage across city, edge, and wilderness; poetic uncovering of ancient site stories; and sensory engagement with the four classical elements. In doing so, architecture becomes a vessel for atmosphere, memory, and meaning, guiding individuals to a deeper awareness of themselves and their world.

This project received an AIA Medal for Academic Excellence.

Instagram: @andrea.frank10

A Place for Pilgrimage by Andy Packwood, B.S. in Architecture ’25
University of Virginia | Advisor: Peter Waldman

The project synthesizes two years of fascination for and research into the climate-threatened coastal community of Tangier, speculating as to what will ultimately happen to rural, low-income American communities in the wake of inevitable sea level rise. My interest lay not in the proposal of any sort of savior infrastructural solution, not in the proposal of a managed retreat plan, nor in the design of a mainland relocation for displaced refugee residents. I chose to develop a memorialized destination that could still exist on the island long after its ridges have turned to marsh, its homes have been barged away, and normally perceived connotations of inhabitability have all but vanished. I chose to create “A Place for Pilgrimage”, inspired by my own pilgrimage of El Camino de Santiago this past March.

Simply put, the proposal is an adaptive reuse of the tallest structure on Tangier: its water tower. Adding a spiraling staircase and pushing the structure fifty years into the unknown, the design creates a single space in the sky through the removal of half of the tower’s upper dome. The approach is incredibly important; much of the final pin-up focused on rendering this pilgrimage step by step. Starting from the dock of the mainland resettlement, looking out into the Chesapeake Bay, a line of buoys trails towards the horizon. A bird soars toward the tower in the distance, the vestiges of marsh poking out of the water. Cameron Evans, current vice mayor and young watermen of the Island, embarks as this future pilgrim by skiff. He carries with him a gravestone; many cemeteries on the Island are often inundated by tidal flooding, and residents must move these tombs to higher ground, again and again.

What I have proposed is a final resting place, safe from the heights of sea level rise. A place for generations to visit, to bring tokens of remembrance, to occupy overnight, or to even continue their trade as watermen. Up within the dome of the water tower is a cenotaph for the people, memories, culture, history, and beauty of Tangier. We will need one.

This project was awarded High Honors for Thesis.

Ephemeral Spaces — Presence and Absence by Robin Xiao, B.S. in Architecture ’25
University of Virginia | Advisor: Peter Waldman

This thesis explores how architecture can emerge from the debris of the everyday to construct a space of ritual and transition—between life and death, presence and absence, memory and forgetting. 

Situated in the post-industrial landscape of Skaramangas, Athens, the project transforms three abandoned military interchange tunnels into a procession of ephemeral architecture: a crematorium, a columbarium, and spaces for reflection, and spaces of pause/entry/exit. 

Through a series of five conceptual models, material fragments—broken light bulbs, candles, metal tubing, computer chips, wood scraps—become instruments of spatial inquiry, offering alternative ways to think about temporality, transformation, and the sacred. Each model gives rise to a set of sectional drawings, collaged with elemental forces—earth, fire, air, water—revealing a layered architecture of transition. 

The resulting proposal is not a fixed structure, but a choreography of spaces that invite the living to move with the dead, through tunnels repurposed as thresholds. This work situates ephemerality not as loss, but as an architectural condition of becoming—an act of spatial murmuration shaped by light, material residue, and memory in motion.

This project received High Honors for Undergraduate Thesis.

Instagram: @robinxiaostudio

MOVING FUTURES VERTICAL SCHOOL by Alex Hoover & Zach Izzo, M.Arch ’25
University at Buffalo | Advisor: Jin Young Song

Located in Songdo, Seoul, our project reimagines the typical Korean private educational institutions, known as Hagwon, by prioritizing spatial flexibility and community engagement. Traditional Hagwons often feature cramped, efficiency-driven classrooms. However, research shows that children learn better in environments with diverse spatial qualities—high ceilings, minimal partitions, vibrant colors, and flexible layouts. To address this, we designed a highly adaptable building with movable interior and exterior components. Each main floor features partition walls on ceiling-mounted tracks, allowing spaces to transform easily—from small study rooms to large lecture halls or art galleries. This system ensures both spatial diversity for students and long-term adaptability for future tenants or programs. 

The facade similarly emphasizes flexibility, offering a reinterpretation of Korea’s dense, intrusive urban signage. The three-layer facade system integrates architecture, community identity, and student expression. The outer layer consists of LED media panels and sun-shading devices, configurable to display student artwork or community visuals, establishing the building as a neighborhood landmark. The second layer features sliding perforated metal signage panels, subtly blending information with the architecture rather than overwhelming it. The innermost layer wraps the social stair, visible from both adjacent streets, inviting public interaction and showcasing movement within the building. Smaller panels provide localized signage, such as floor numbers and bulletin boards. Together, the dynamic facade and transformable interior create a learning environment that fosters both community visibility and spatial flexibility, promoting a more engaging, human-centered educational experience.

The project was selected for the Cram Urbanism and Vertical Learning Space International symposium

Instagram: @_alex_hoover, @jinyoung___song  

The Market of Joy by Shefa Quazi, M.ArchD ’25
Oxford Brookes University | Advisors: Toby Smith, Alexandra Lacatusu, Toby Shew, Charles Parrack

In a world dominated by seamless digital consumption, where screens dictate desires and algorithms predict movement, The Covered Market in Oxford becomes a site of rebellion—a place where reality is glitched, distorted, and reclaimed from commercial control. Instead of a polished, hyper-commercial spectacle designed to guide users into predictable behaviors, the proposed series of interventions hijack the mechanics of digital consumerism and turns them against themselves to exaggerate them into a physical, pseudo-reality. Attempting to readminister the loss currency of joy.

The market transforms into a disruptive, anti-brand arcade—a physical and augmented experience that interrupts, unsettles, and reawakens users to the absurdity of algorithm-driven life. Augmented Reality, typically a tool for corporate control (filters, tracking, gamified shopping), is instead repurposed to create moments of détournement, where the commercial is undermined, and participation leads not to consumption, but to adding weight to reality and human interaction. Overall revaluing the High Street as a whole. 

Instead of guiding users toward consumption, the market becomes a disobedient space, forcing engagement away from passive scrolling and toward critical awareness of spectacle itself. The interactions don’t feed an algorithm—they break it. The market is no longer a relic of pre-digital commerce but a living, evolving site of resistance against digital saturation and corporate control.

This project received the Oxford Brookes University Reginald W. Cave Award.

Instagram: @sheevz_q, @oxarch

The Inner Mechanism by Jared Roberts, M.Arch ’25
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Masataka Yoshikawa

This project sees the physical model and 2D illustration of the hypothetical device abstracted to create architectural forms and spaces. The form derives itself from the concepts dealt with in the inner mechanisms and particularly information storage. The “nested” nature of digital information storage (i.e., nested file folders on a computer) translates to nested architectural forms that sometimes exist within or even overlap other parts of the model. Another concept was that of information’s changes and persistence over time. The form is constructed like a timeline that exists in all three dimensions, inspired by the flow map of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, which charts various different variables including location, population, time, events and more about Napoleon’s Russian campaign. In the same way, the timeline is a two-dimensional visual representation of information gathered about events in history; this model is a three-dimensional representation of the information gathered and stored by the hypothetical device. 

Instagram: @masataka.yoshikawa

Echoes of Home by Zuha Arab Sabbagh & Rana Abdelhadi, B.Arch ’25
American University of Sharjah | Advisor: Gregory Thomas Spaw

‘Echoes of Home’ responds broadly to displacement in our globalised world. Specifically, on the generational displacement of Syrians. Centralised on the intimate and underappreciated labour of homemaking, the project acts as a recognition and celebration of Womanhood as a discipline. It is designed to mark the story of displacement – building and rebuilding – into an inconstant world. The project tentatively approaches the need to capture the complicated ephemerality in our modern understanding of what ‘home’ is.

In designing a secondary residence-exhibition, the studio deployed the renaissance phenomenon of the cabinet of curiosities to challenge us to create spatially charged architecture focused on the exhibition of artifacts. We selected fictitious clients, curated a selection of curiosities to display, picked a suitable site, and decided the extent of distinction between the residence and the exhibition.

Designing a residence required an examination of the notion of ‘home’. Historically, ‘home’ has been explored as a vehicle for living and, with the rise of modernism, critiqued as performative. The programs selected recognise the labour of homemaking and extend to capture the performance of hosting and the pleasure of gathering. ‘Home’ has consistently been placed in women’s domain. The practice of homemaking falls under the discipline of Womanhood. The project adheres to the practice and rejects criticism, accommodating for it spatially. The kitchen, game room, bathing space, bedrooms, bathrooms, and guest room all double as exhibition spaces. The integrated spaces create opportunities for gathering and hakawayti (storytelling). Homes tell a story of past, present and future, and the project acts as a natural extension.

Encouraged to design spaces from the inside out, the client and narrative guided design decisions. The Characters: a mother, daughter and grandmother, based on Syrian women in our vicinity, emphasise the generational distinctions in modes of displacement: immigrant, diaspora and refugee. The clients’ stories resemble those of many diasporas. 

Instagram: @gregoryspaw

An Anchor in Time: A Dwelling Reflecting the Interplay of Time and Space by Salma Hani Mubarak Ali, B.Arch ’25
American University of Sharjah | Advisor: Gregory Thomas Spaw

In the vast stillness of the desert, this residence becomes a compass of time—a place where shifting sands echo the dance of the stars, grounding life within the endless drift of the cosmos. The design emerges from the client’s collection of astrological instruments, shaping spatial arrangements that enhance functionality and interaction. Objects inform the layout, with dedicated areas that invite exploration and observation. Strategic openings frame views of the night sky and desert, enriching the experience of celestial observation. This residence serves as both a home and an observatory, fostering a profound connection to the cosmos while celebrating the beauty of time and change. (Text: Salma Hani Mubarak Ali)

Cabinet of Curiosities: Exploring the Ensemble (aka, house of the collector) is an option studio utilizing the 16th-century-18th-century phenomenon of the Cabinet of Curiosities or Wunderkammers (wonder-rooms) as a point of departure to explore the exhibition of ensembles of artifacts with the goal of creating spatially charged architecture.

Working as individuals or in pairs, students had the opportunity to curate their own collection of curiosities and develop a novel architectural language to facilitate the display of the exquisite objects. Associated with the collection was a real or imagined client that served to further drive a generated domestic program. With the scale of the overall proposals being purposely manageable, students had the opportunity to focus on developing architectural assemblies that directly engage with issues of materiality, connections, and details. As such, physical and digital models were heavily employed as tools to study the interplay of elements at a series of scales

This project won the RIBA Gulf: Future Architects 2024 Overall Best Model Award.

Click here to learn more.

 Instagram: @salma.hani.ali, @gregoryspaw

Evermore: A Cemetery For The City by Mo Karnes, B.Arch ’25
Mississippi State University | Advisors: Jassen Callender, David Buege, Aaron White, Mark Vaughan & David Perkes

My uncle died less than two years before I was born. I never met him, but his death is only an obstacle in my ability to know him. Chris was an artist and poet who left behind many things for me to know him by, including a poem entitled Evermore, written during his struggle with AIDS. The meditation is: 

I will walk unlonely,

Holding me up

As I begin to fall,

You Lead the way

And sometimes follow.

Our passage now is

Evermore.

(To be repeated, Unending).

To be ‘unlonely’ is a profound response to the impending, seeming loneliness that is death. Loneliness for those dying and those left behind. Chris’s poem is not just a meditation for himself, but for those struggling with loss. As a dying man, Chris places himself shoulder to shoulder with the reader; their journey is one and the same.

“Evermore: A Cemetery For The City” is a small cemetery complex adjacent to the Cathedral of St. Peter the Apostle in Downtown Jackson, Mississippi. The complex comprises a crematorium, vertical columbarium, and chapel. The site is rectangular, bound on all sides by concrete walls with only one threshold for entry. Two masses seemingly float behind the concrete boundary walls that veil them, the smaller chapel and the larger columbarium. Both stoic in form, they disguise the intricacies hidden in the interiors of their masses.  

The ambition of this project is to integrate the awareness of mortality into the city, while supplying architectural means to confront it. This awareness is not a means of oppression, but an attempt to convey the gift that is life. This cemetery is intended to be a public space where inhabitants can experience the city with citizens who came before them, inducing a relationship with the past, generating an appreciation of those who came before, and propelling the city forward with the intent to befriend and mentor the future.  

This project received the CDFL Capstone Studio Travel Award. 

Instagram: @mo.karnes, @jassencallender

IMAGINATIVE REALITY: INVENTION OF SYNERGISTIC NARRATIVES by Chey Isiguzo, M.Arch ’25
Toronto Metropolitan University | Advisor: Lisa Landrum

Imagination is both an act and a familiar, safe space, evoking nostalgic feelings rooted in our reality. 

This space can become unfamiliar when cultural expressions changes, leading to multifaceted identities and undeveloped narratives. This dynamic contributes to cultural conflict and highlights the juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary African architectural narratives. As a space, imagination can generate narrative 

characters and elements by creating synergistic stories that incorporate traditional craftsmanship into contemporary African architecture. The imaginative process consists of three components. Imagining while thinking is an act that uses mental images from memories, dreams, fantasies, or visions to create one’s reality. Imagining while making is the act of craftsmanship used to speculate the distinction between traditional and contemporary architectural narratives through the lens of cultural expressions. Imagining while drawing is an act of translation by utilizing narrative characters—building elements like windows and doors—to dissect fragments of both traditional and contemporary architecture to find new narratives. 

These narrative characters work alongside structural elements, such as walls, roofs, layouts, courtyards, and compounds, to convey new stories that showcase materials and design techniques rooted in Igbo craftsmanship. To develop synergistic narratives, one can explore the evolution of traditional African craftsmanship, particularly within Igbo culture, across ancestral, post-colonial, and contemporary contexts. This exploration reveals how the architectural narratives of traditional and contemporary styles are increasingly distinct. Consequently, this imaginative space becomes a reality that examines the relationship between what is real and what is envisioned through architectural craftsmanship.

Instagram: @sumisi000, @ucisi_studios, @tmu_archgrad

When I’m Sixty-Four: Flourishing at Falkland by George Mannix, M.ArchD ’25
Oxford Brookes School of Architecture | Advisors: Melissa Kinnear & Alex Towler

This project proposes a “therapeutic cooperative” that reimagines later life as a time for purpose, legacy, and connection. Designed for people aged 64 and over, the initiative creates a living environment where older adults can flourish by sharing life experiences with younger visitors while contributing to environmental and social regeneration. 

Central to the concept is the cohabitation of residents with Tamworth pigs, which serve both symbolic and ecological roles—facilitating intergenerational dialogue and promoting biodiversity through trophic rewilding.

Located at Kilgour, a Victorian farm steading on Scotland’s Falkland estate, the site carries historical significance and a past tied to pig-rearing and the celebration of endings. 

Accommodation includes accessible apartments, communal gardens, and a biodiversity-rich courtyard. Pigs will live in creatively built “Ad-Hog” styes using reclaimed materials. A chapel-like “Memory Archive” will hold personal stories of residents’ lives, offering a space for reflection and remembrance.

The project unfolds in three phases: first, clearing and revitalising the site with community involvement; second, welcoming the first residents and establishing the Memory Archive; and third, expanding the model across Scotland to transform abandoned steadings and boost natural regeneration.

Younger visitors, whom we have dubbed “biodiversity-backpackers,” can stay in on-site hostel lodgings, with the hope of fostering meaningful interaction between generations. Funding comes from elderly participants downsizing their homes, combined with national grants, giving them control over their later years.

Ultimately, this initiative responds to the growing issue of isolation among the elderly in Scotland. By embedding legacy, memory, and biocentric living into the design, it aims to help people see out their days with dignity whilst living with renewed purpose.

This project received the Ackroyd Lowrie Prize.

Instagram: @georgemannix, @ds3_obu

POLISH PAVILION – RIYADH EXPO 2030 by Oskar Karos, B.Sc. in Architecture ’25
University of the District of Columbia | Advisor: Golnar Ahmadi

Set in Riyadh for Expo 2030, the Polish Pavilion reinterprets the nation’s geography and ecological identity through architecture. Designed as a living map of Poland, the pavilion invites visitors to journey from the southern Tatra Mountains to the northern Baltic Sea, experiencing the country’s topography, climate, and innovation within one continuous landscape. The project explores how architecture can embody an entire nation’s ecosystem, transforming exhibition space into a self-sustaining organism.

Poland’s diverse terrain—from its rugged mountains to fertile plains and coastal winds—inspired a spatial narrative divided into eight regions. Each represents two neighboring voivodeships, blending their natural and technological identities: wind power in Pomorskie, hydropower in Warmińsko-Mazurskie, sustainable farming in Podlaskie, and smart urbanism in Mazowieckie, among others. 

Visitors move northward along a symbolic Vistula River, linking interactive installations that demonstrate Poland’s leadership in renewable energy, circular economy, and ecological stewardship. Constructed with steel, wood, stone, and glass, the pavilion merges material authenticity with sustainability. A closed water cycle system replicates natural evaporation and rainfall, powering greenery and regulating humidity. The accessible green roof offers shaded paths and aerial views of Poland’s “living topography,” blending innovation with environmental harmony.

Beyond a national exhibition, the pavilion is a statement of coexistence—between people and nature, culture and technology. It celebrates Poland not through static displays, but as a breathing ecosystem where every element, from water to wind, participates in a cycle of renewal.

Instagram: @Golnarahmadi

Stay tuned for Part XI!

2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part IX

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Today’s installment of the 2025 Study Architecture Student Showcases includes exceptional capstone and thesis projects centered on public spaces. Part IX features a variety of public spaces, including marketplaces, museums, mixed-use buildings, music venues, recreation centers, and more. Each design creates an opportunity for connection and growth by promoting inclusivity, accessibility, and sustainable practices. Read more about these outstanding projects below!

Sprouting Market by Ryn Blackburn, B.S. in Architecture ’25
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign | Advisor: Wei Zhao

“Sprouting Market” offers the local community access to a vibrant market space set on the waters of the Tam Giang Lagoon, where many residents live on boats. Utilizing a steel space-frame structure with tensile fabric for shading, the design minimizes contact with the terrain to preserve the region’s delicate aquaculture. Fully open to its surroundings, the market allows boats and people to pass through freely or gather beneath an organically shaped roof where commercial activities and social exchanges unfold. Inspired by the traditional floating markets of the lagoon’s coast, the design reinterprets this tradition while introducing programmed and programmable spaces for both locals and visitors. 

At the heart of one leaf-like cluster is a community garden that supports food security; the opposing cluster accommodates flexible spaces for social gatherings and cultural performances. A smaller canopy structure marks the dock along the shoreline, creating both a visual and functional link between the new market and the existing onshore one. The structure is thoughtfully designed to accommodate the lagoon’s fluctuating water levels throughout the day. While portions of the central circular platform may be partially submerged, the docks are built to float, adapting seamlessly to the changing tides. More than just a marketplace, Sprouting Market is a place of connection, community, and collective growth.

The Museum of Water and Sustainability in Querétaro by Fabricio Guerra Hernández, B.Arch ‘25
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Guillermo Márquez, Patricia Cutiño & Jorge Javier

The museum is an educational and cultural initiative aimed at raising awareness about the importance of water and sustainable practices in a region increasingly impacted by water scarcity. Located in the Historic Center of Querétaro, the museum serves as a dynamic space where community members can engage with environmental issues through interactive exhibits, educational programs, and sustainable architectural design.

The mission of the museum is to promote knowledge, reflection, and active participation in water conservation and sustainable living. It integrates the historical narrative of water management in Querétaro with current global and local strategies for sustainability, creating a powerful bridge between past practices and future solutions. Through immersive experiences, the museum seeks to foster a culture of environmental responsibility, particularly among younger generations.

The design of the museum emphasizes green building principles, using renewable energy systems, rainwater harvesting, and eco-efficient materials, positioning it as a model of sustainable urban regeneration. It also functions as a research and innovation center for water-related issues, collaborating with local institutions, scientists, and environmentalists.

By addressing the complex challenges of water management and climate change, the Museum of Water and Sustainability aims to become a reference point for other regions facing similar issues. It offers not only an informative journey but also a call to action—highlighting the urgent need for collective awareness and efforts toward environmental stewardship. Ultimately, the museum stands as a beacon of hope, education, and community empowerment, contributing to the long-term resilience and sustainability of Querétaro and beyond.

Instagram: @fabriciog17, @arquitectura_anahuac, @arqwave

Folding Seoul: Reframing the Capital’s Central Station by Jungbin Sheen, B.Arch ’25
Myongji University | Advisor: Junsuk Lee

The Seoul Station is the central station of the national capital, including public buildings and plazas that are essential urban elements, and is close to several national symbols such as Sungnyemun Gate and Seoul Plaza in the former Hanyang Fortress, and serves as a node that is easily accessible from various directions using various transportation systems such as taxis, buses, and pedestrian traffic. The integrated history of Seoul Station has not fulfilled its status as the central station of the national capital, with large commercial facilities occupying most of the area, a pedestrian plaza narrowed by the horizontal expansion of the transportation system, and a lack of frontality due to the logic of civilian development. The spatial experience of the existing Seoul Station, and its circulation system, provides a sense of passing through large commercial facilities or wandering through the corridor space of the exterior staircase plaza, which we considered as a lack of symbolism in the experience of the capital’s central station. What kind of symbolism could represent ‘Seoul Station’?

The project begins with the discovery of a linear piece of land on the southeast side of Seoul Station with an odd shape. The site is privately owned and is lined with a narrow row of dilapidated neighborhood facilities, making it a place with dull development potential and a challenge in securing the symbolism and frontage of Seoul Station. Recognizing the development potential of the site, the project considers the place of ‘Seoul Station’ as a central station and proposes symbolic exterior materials and structures that encompass the spatial experience of rail passengers in the space of Seoul Station. [It also considers] the need for an urban open space where citizens who do not come to Seoul Station for the purpose of using the railroad can come and rest and spend time, through a method of expansion that demolishes only a small part of the existing structure. The Seoul Station pedestrian plaza, which was expanded by the relocation of the taxi stand, and the urban lounge, which is open to anyone regardless of their purpose of use, are separated by a curved louvered curtain derived from the form of the existing Seoul Station. It presents a white backdrop that juxtaposes the existing marginalized cultural station, Seoul 284, and the behavior of rail passengers using the interior space becomes transparent through the thin vertical structure. Depending on the inflection point of the curve and the position of the visitor, the frontality of the plaza and Seoul Station is received by the viewer as a coexistence of the white folding screen with the exterior reflection of the urban lounge.

Click here to learn more. 

Instagram: @bin__cong, @myongji_univ

Place-Reclaiming Chinatown: Repairing the Urban Landscape of Manhattan Chinatown by Katherine Shi, B.S. in Architecture ’25
University of Virginia | Advisor: Mona El Khafif

Chinatowns exist worldwide, and in nearly every major American city. Historically formed as ethnic enclaves of Chinese immigrants facing persecution from legislation such as the Chinese Exclusion Act, they have evolved into important socio-economic centers of activity and community hubs within their respective cities. New York City is home to nine Chinatowns, making it the largest center of Chinese Americans in the Western Hemisphere. However, many Chinatowns are shrinking due to urban development and gentrification, and Manhattan’s Chinatown, one of the first Chinatowns established in the US, is no exception. Asian residents and local businesses have been pushed out, resulting in closed storefronts, land loss, and displaced community members, especially following COVID-19. More significantly, there is the risk of cultural erasure as a result of these changes.

An important part of local identity, for example, is Chinatown’s distinctive use of public space, as seen in its culture of street vending and sidewalk appropriation. Columbus Park and Sara D. Roosevelt Park are some of the most important public spaces in the district. This is where residents socialize, play mahjong, exercise, and greet each other in their native tongue. However, large roadway infrastructure creates a significant and dangerous disconnect at the heart of Chinatown.

This thesis, therefore, proposes an urban design approach for Manhattan Chinatown that seeks to reconnect green spaces in a traffic-torn cultural district, provide needed social infrastructure support, and reclaim the identity of the Manhattan Bridge Plaza as a Chinatown gateway. The intention is to bring vibrancy to underutilized sites at the heart of the community, not only by preserving and celebrating Chinatown culture and history, but also by supporting residents’ way of life within a transforming district. 

Instagram: @pro_kat_stinator, @monaelkhafif

2-in-1, CULINARY CENTER AND RESEARCH HOSTEL by Julius Lin, M.Arch ’25
University of California, Berkeley | Advisor: Rene Davids

Madrid’s Plaza de España, where a culinary center and residential hostel are planned, reveals a confluence of “dry” and “wet” areas; the former is associated with buildings, while the latter is linked to a network of green spaces that connect several key areas including the Sabatini Gardens and Plaza de Oriente to the south, Casa de Campo, Campo del Moro, and Madrid Río to the west, as well as Parque del Oeste to the north. As a result, Plaza de España can be envisioned as a green gateway to a transversal network that extends from the Manzanares River into the heart of the city.

The project translated these observations into an architectural form consisting of twin towers: one transparent (wet) and the other solid (dry). The transparent building was designed for growing food and hosting public programs. In contrast, the more opaque and solid tower was intended to house a more private and enclosed hostel.

Each tower features a unique structural system. The transparent tower employs a core-based structure that maximizes openness, utilizing lightweight materials such as metal grating for the floors and an exposed I-beam grid to enhance transparency. Planters are integrated into the grid system, allowing users to harvest ingredients for educational or culinary purposes. When looking up, the ceiling reveals that these plants extend to the upper floors. Inspired by the subtle flavor of rice pudding, one of Spain’s favorite desserts —a dish with a subtle profile that features layers of flavor —the façade of the transparent tower evolved into a delicate glass curtain wall with a gradual gradient rhythm, influenced by the varying root depth that houses the rich, sensuous interior.  The opaque tower, by contrast, utilizes a regular column grid with a secondary system inspired by tree trunks that organizes the space inside, combining concrete structure, wooden partitions, and a brick façade to create a grounded and inviting atmosphere.

The pair of renderings illustrates the visual connections between the two towers. Despite their differing materials and structures, there is an intentional ambiguity at the threshold, providing glimpses, overlaps, and shared experiences between the two. 

This project was a finalist for the UC Berkeley Design Excellence Awards. 

Instagram: @julius___007, @r.davids

Vessel of Light: A Spiritual Descent into Earth by Aarsh Dipak Nandani, M.Arch ’25
New York Institute of Technology | Advisors: Marcella Del Signore & Evan Shieh

Located in São Cristóvão, a culturally diverse neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, “Vessel of Light” is a thesis project that reimagines sacred space as an inclusive, contemplative landscape rooted in the elemental and experiential. The proposal responds to the city’s layered history of religion, culture, and infrastructure, revealed through analytical mappings of population density, cultural institutions, open spaces, public services, and mobility networks.

The design expresses spirituality not through religious symbolism, but through sensory experience, shaped by the four fundamental elements: earth, air, water, and light. The entire building is embedded below ground, allowing the site’s surface to function as a fully public park, accessible to all regardless of intent to enter the space. Above ground, only skylight turrets punctuate the landscape, sculptural forms that channel daylight and natural ventilation into the interior, while symbolizing moments of vertical spiritual connection.

The single-floor subterranean structure includes spaces for prayer, meditation, ritual ceremonies, and collective gatherings. A cultural zone features classrooms, a library, workshops, an exhibition gallery, and an amphitheater, programs that serve both children and adults throughout the day. The spatial arrangement varies in scale, lighting quality, and degree of openness, allowing the building to support both individual reflection and collective activity.

The sequencing of spaces is informed by principles of centrality, progression, and spatial hierarchy, guiding visitors from more public, active areas toward increasingly quiet, inward, and sacred spaces. A matrix of geometric explorations, rooted in historical forms associated with spirituality, led to a language of hybridized shapes generated through addition and subtraction.

Materiality reinforces the elemental narrative: terracotta surfaces evoke earth; open skylights bring air and light into the heart of the structure; and two stepwells, one publicly accessible in the park, and one interior, honor water as both sacred and shared.

“Vessel of Light: A Spiritual Descent into Earth” offers a space of reflection, communion, and return, embedding sacred experience directly into the everyday life of the city.

Instagram: @aarsh_nandani, @marcelladelsi, @ev07

THE INTERLACE: CREATING SUBURBAN CONNECTIONS by Annikka Fairfield, B.Arch ’25
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: Robin Puttock

Many cities in the United States are designed based on suburban sprawl, which contributes to excessive automobile-dependency and unwelcoming streets for pedestrians, and metro Atlanta is no exception. Alpharetta, Georgia, is a growing city with the potential to become a more walkable suburban city. Alpharetta can be invigorated along specific corridors at the human scale to increase both walkability and connectivity by focusing on pedestrian wellbeing. Research shows that Biophilia’s various facets have the power to improve human wellbeing. Prospect, refuge, and presence of water were selected to guide the thesis design. Urban-scale precedents like the Beltline in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Emerald Necklace in Boston, Massachusetts, inspired The Interlace, a 17.5-mile pedestrian loop that expands upon the existing Greenway Trail and connects multiple nodes across the city. 

“The Interlace” is designed along specific corridors to significantly improve pedestrian access along roads that are currently car-oriented. Research suggested that improved pedestrian access alone will not increase walkability; destinations must also be created to encourage walking. Inspired by the Parc de la Villette in Paris, France, twenty different proposed architectural installations, also called nodes, are strategically designed along The Interlace to create destinations. Different combinations of programs are implemented in each node to support each surrounding community. The nodes are all designed with a similar materiality, inspired by Alpharetta’s history, which ties the architecture together and facilitates placemaking by creating a new identity. Five of the twenty nodes are more fully developed, featuring how prospect, refuge, and presence of water can be implemented at the architectural scale to improve pedestrian wellbeing and thus increase walkability and connectivity at the broader urban scale.

Click here to learn more.

This project was a finalist for the ​​ARCC King Student Medal.

Instagram: @annikkafairfield, @robinzputtock 

Wellness Activity Center by Angel Niemczyk, AA in Architecture ’25
Community College of Philadelphia | Advisor: Elizabeth Master

The project site was selected in central Oregon, at 45°N latitude, and within the 6a climate zone, which influences key factors such as wind directions and local flora.

The design draws inspiration from the turkey tail mushroom, featuring organic, curving shapes that promote a calming atmosphere. This architecture integrates ample natural light through large windows and skylights, enhancing well-being and reducing energy costs.

To foster a strong connection with nature, the design incorporates mushroom-inspired forms and features abundant live vegetation throughout the building and in the surrounding gardens. A park has been added to the adjacent parking lot, featuring a pathway that leads to a nearby forested trail.

Other enhancements include:

– A café with fair trade coffee and healthy snacks.

– Separate mechanical and electrical rooms on each floor for improved energy management.

– Four additional restrooms for increased capacity.

– A fire escape near the north entrance.

– A “Heritage Pavilion” inspired by Native American architecture.

– An organic produce garden and a pollinator garden to support biodiversity and collaborate with the kitchen.

The pollinator garden attracts bees and butterflies, enriching the local environment and enhancing visitors’ experiences, while the produce garden fosters growth through natural cycles, utilizing kitchen waste as fertilizer.

This project won the second-place CCCAP 2025 Student Award. 

Instagram: @ADC_CCP 

Valley Sports Complex: Sports, Recreation, and Fitness Opportunities for Every Season by Blake Douglas, M.Arch ’25
Academy of Art University | Advisor: Aurgho Jyoti

The community of Flathead County, Montana, requires an indoor recreation space. Long winters with short daylight hours significantly impact the community’s ability to be active and recreate through winter months and shoulder seasons. Snow is on the ground for up to eight months of the year, limiting available outdoor recreation opportunities. The winter climate also has an impact on mental wellness, as seasonal depression due to a lack of sunlight is common. Combined with a lack of recreation opportunities, the community would be well served to have a place to commune and interact throughout the winter season. Montana is known for its rugged and beautiful landscape; the built environment should respect and respond to that. The structure of the building will be locally sourced mass timber, and the overall form will be respectful to the context in which it sits. A sports center that will respect the landscape, enhance a sense of community, and provide recreation.

This project received the M.Arch Thesis Award. 

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @b_doug_arch, @aur.architecture

The Capitol Collective: A Community Centered Creator’s Hub that Enhances the Pedestrian Experience by Ashley Miller, M.Arch ’25
Virginia Tech | Advisors: Andrew Linn, Susan Piedmont-Palladino, Paul Kelsch

“The Capitol Collective” is a community-centered creator’s hub that anchors the proposed Capitol Hill Art Trail – an alley network programmed to enhance local beauty and promote community pride. Located in one of the most walkable cities in the United States, Washington, D.C., this thesis explores pedestrian environments that are deemed ‘the best’ according to the District’s Pedestrian Friendliness Index (PFI), with a focus on the Capitol Hill neighborhood. While dozens of blocks in the area are ranked within the top 1,000 of the District, several others are deemed less desirable. This begs the question: what constitutes an ideal pedestrian environment, and how can we as designers contribute to creating architecture that thoughtfully integrates with, and improves upon, the pedestrian experience? 

Observing and documenting street conditions of both higher and lower-ranked blocks demonstrated that blocks with higher rankings embraced the walker’s experience by incorporating programs such as sidewalk cafes and restaurants, inviting transit plazas, playgrounds, outdoor markets, and more. Through this initial research, a scope of roughly twenty-seven blocks was identified as an area that could be improved upon. The existing area has the foundation for a flourishing, walkable hub for the community, but it currently lacks the inviting qualities that its neighboring blocks have. This thesis proposes to fill these gaps through the built environment by creating a programmed art trail that is anchored through a community workshop and residence. 

The Capitol Collective’s mission is to build community through creation. At the heart of the project are the wood shop and metal fabrication lab, which are open to all community members. There are also classrooms where individuals can learn from one another, a tool library where locals can rent out items, and studio spaces for local recurring artists. The ground floor of the newly constructed building also boasts a cafe and warehouse-like spaces for local artists to set up and sell their goods. Levels two through three of the new construction building are programmed with affordable housing that prioritizes individuals who are committed to improving and supporting the local community.

This project received the WAAC Thesis Award. 

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @ashley.miller15, @VT_WAAC

The Voids of the Forgotten: Stories Layered in Unmaking by Sophie Hutton, BFA in Architecture’25
James Madison University | Advisor: Dylan Krueger

This thesis begins not with the act of making, but with the act of unmaking—a journey into the forgotten, the overlooked, and the lost.

Architecture is often thought of as something permanent—something that stands tall against time. But what if the first gesture in design was not to assert, but to dissolve? What if architecture could listen, rather than impose? What if the act of unmaking could be the beginning of creation?

Unmaking is a meditation on impermanence. It is about architecture that dissolves instead of dominates, about creating spaces that listen to the land rather than claim it. To unmake is not destruction. It is revelation. It is peeling back the layers of time to expose what has been buried. To make visible the hidden histories, the suppressed memories, and the erasures that still resonate beneath the soil. Architecture, in this sense, is not a monument to permanence but a vessel for memory, decay, and regeneration.

This exploration centers on a forgotten history, one hidden beneath the surface of Central Park, New York, where Seneca Village once stood—a thriving minority community in the 19th century, full of life, resilience, and faith. But it was erased, displaced under the guise of progress. Beneath the park’s manicured lawns lies a history that has yet to be remembered.

The design is centered around three areas in the park, each a meditation on memory, erasure, and reclamation. These speculative site plans visualize futures shaped by absence: nature overtaking roads, forgotten street grids returning, memory lines resisting imposed order. Each is an act of unmaking—a gesture toward revealing what has been hidden and allowing the land to speak again.

Unmaking is not failure, but resistance and revelation. It asks us to design with the rhythm of life. To unmake is to remember.

This project won the James Madison University Thesis Prize.  

Instagram: @sopharcd, @dylan.things

DESIGNING FOR THE SENSES: HARNESSING LIGHT, TRANSPARENCY, AND VISUAL CONNECTIVITY TO CREATE RESPONSIVE ARCHITECTURE FOR THE DEAF COMMUNITY by Jennifer Pennington, M.Arch ’25
Florida A&M University | Advisors: George Epolito, Andrew Chin

This thesis explores how architectural design can be thoughtfully informed by Deaf space principles to create environments that enhance navigation, communication, and inclusivity for the Deaf community. Centered on the strategic application of light, transparency, and visual porosity, the project seeks to dismantle spatial and sensory barriers that often leave Deaf individuals navigating spaces that fail to support their lived experiences.

The research focuses on designing a community hub in Tallahassee, Florida—an inclusive space that promotes visibility, intuitive movement, and social connection. Current architectural practices frequently neglect Deaf users, resulting in spaces that are visually fragmented or lack necessary cues for spatial awareness. This study responds by investigating design strategies that prioritize visual access, clear sightlines, and unobstructed circulation.

Using Deaf space design theory as a foundation, the project integrates spatial transparency and natural light to support non-verbal communication, while employing visual rhythm and layered spatial relationships to guide users organically through the environment. Through case studies, spatial analysis, and architectural modeling, the research establishes a set of principles for creating spaces that do not merely accommodate but actively empower Deaf individuals.

The resulting design envisions a community hub that is both functionally accessible and emotionally enriching—encouraging interaction within the Deaf community while also inviting greater engagement with the broader public. In doing so, the thesis advocates for a more holistic and humane architectural practice, one that values sensory diversity as a driver for innovation and social equity.

 Instagram: @famu_masterofarch, @famusaet

The Last Lookout by Keaton Bruce, M.Arch ’25
Temple University | Advisors: Sally Harrison, Jeffrey Nesbit & Kate Wingert-Playdon

Our forest has been completely designed.

The production of artificial boundaries, unassuming objects, and pervasive cultural imaginaries, the United States Forest Service constructs American forests in the image of a naturalized occupying state. Contemporary architecture, in its reliance on this manufactured forest, sustains violent neoliberal fantasies of displacements disguised as world-saving visions of productivity and progress.

So how might we imagine the future of architecture, of our forest, of resistance? If the National Forest Service is a tool of an occupying state, a new vision of the forest is delayed until the current system of commodification and nationalization is dismantled. The project speculates on a final form – the last lookout – and asks how this end can be just as valuable as a beginning in realizing a new future – an architecture after the Forest Service.

Based on the Multi-Use Sustained-Yield Act of 1960, which set forth five productivity mandates for USFS-managed lands (watershed, logging, recreation, range, and wildlife), the project satirizes five architectural endings of the forest: the MAUSOLEUM, the PENITENTARY, the MUSEUM, the COMMONS, and the AFTERLIFE. Each forest rendered in plan, perspective, and physical model investigates the symbiotic relationship between forest imaginary, architectural vessel, urban form, and political agency in an acontextual superimposition on the Oregon State Capitol Complex.

The forest we inherit need not be the forest we leave behind, but the forest we ultimately construct must be the forest we imagine.

Concourse on 5th by Maverick Santos & Luke Slay, M.Arch ’25
University of Texas at Austin | Advisor: Matt Fajkus

“Concourse on 5th” is a bold reimagining of downtown Austin’s civic landscape, designed to facilitate the city’s cultural vibrancy and active urban lifestyle. Strategically placed at the intersection of 5th Street and Guadalupe, the project redefines the role of circulation by transforming it into an “activated concourse” — a connective public platform that links a performance theater, community recreation spaces, and residences within a single cohesive building. By layering programs that operate on varied cycles, the building sustains continuous activity, becoming a dynamic place that serves diverse users throughout the day and night.

Located adjacent to Republic Square, the site capitalizes on its proximity to green space to prioritize the pedestrian experience. The theater’s monumental entry sequence, directly facing the park, establishes a strong civic presence and a sense of arrival. Along Guadalupe Street, the entrance to the community center is activated by an exterior stair that ascends to the elevated podium, where a running track and green spaces extend the square, promoting public engagement and visual transparency. The lightly articulated facade along this edge offers curated glimpses into the building’s interior, where warm wood finishes and the vertical ascent of a rock-climbing wall become visible markers of internal activity. On the 6th Street edge, the residential tower entrance is discreetly integrated alongside a highly visible sports court, reinforcing the project’s active interface with the city.

Internally, the theater is defined by sweeping, sculptural wood forms that foster a close and immersive relationship between audience and performance. The contrast between the refined urban exterior and the expressive, tactile interior enhances the experience within the project. The recreation program complements the performance spaces through its strategic integration, featuring moments where the climbing wall ascends along the theater’s edge, connecting multiple floors and drawing visual continuity between arts and athletics. 

The project challenges conventional typologies of event venues, which often remain unoccupied outside of peak hours. Instead, Concourse on 5th activates its circulation zones as multifunctional social spaces. Vertical and horizontal circulation paths double as areas for spontaneous interaction, bridging programs and communities. In the atrium, patrons exiting a performance might encounter climbers in motion or glimpse a yoga class underway; a choreography of simultaneous experience. This overlap fosters moments of connection and shared occupation, elevating the concourse from mere infrastructure to an essential part of the building’s public life.

Ultimately, Concourse on 5th functions as a hybrid space, serving as a platform for art, recreation, and everyday life. It reclaims space in downtown Austin for collective use through a design rooted in transparency, spatial porosity, and programmatic overlap. The project reimagines how architecture can enable continuous activation, creating a vibrant and inclusive environment that adapts to the city it serves.

This project was a finalist for the UT Design Excellence Award.

Instagram: @mikhail.maverick, @luke_slay01, @mf.architecture

The Natatorium and the Wall by Grace Kotomi Owens, B.Arch ’25
Mississippi State University | Advisors: Jassen Callender, David Buege, Mark Vaughan, Aaron White & David Perkes

Pools are about floating and swimming; they are about feeling the water, feeling its temperature, its resistance to our movements, its weight, and our weightlessness. They are undoubtedly experiential destinations. In our increasingly digital world, I began this project hoping a natatorium in downtown Jackson, MS, would simultaneously bring people together and provide a place for people to be present, a place of focus and sanctuary. 

As the semester progressed, my project became about many things.  

My initial explorations were about void space. I find it insufficient to say that architecture creates space — it instead divides and thereby gives identity to and further defines the “empty” space that is already there.  

There was one question that I consistently asked myself in designing the natatorium: how close do two surfaces have to be for people to feel the space between them?  Voids became a bit of an obsession: the implied void of ribbon of windows wrapping the west and south facades, the unusual entry sequence in the void of the west elevation, the void behind the square window, the unoccupiable spaces of light wells and sculpture pockets seen in plan, the conical void of the south elevation, and of course, the void of the pool… negative space – present tangibly and intangibly throughout.  

This project also led me to explore architecture’s contribution to the city.  Designing a natatorium – a fairly suburban building in its standard form – for an urban context… This became an incredible challenge.  

My desire to meaningfully contribute to the city manifested itself in the design of “The Wall,” which can be seen in my West elevation. The Wall is almost totally detached from the rest of the natatorium, joined only by the cuboidal space protruding from the wall as a square window.  The Wall serves to acknowledge the suburban scale of the program it conceals: locker rooms, restrooms, and small offices.  Without such an acknowledgement, the natatorium would be dwarfed by the surrounding context.

In the end, I designed the natatorium and its wall as a monument to the city of Jackson. 

This project was chosen for display in the McNeel Architecture Gallery. 

Instagram: @grace.kotomi, @jassencallender

Continuum Library by Joyce Lin, Ronny Nowland, Ashlyn Okazaki, Natalie Ou & Ran Shen, D.Arch ’25
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | Advisors: Clark Llewellyn & Ferdinand Johns

In the bustling Chinese city of Shanghai, “Continuum” reimagines a forgotten infrastructural void beneath the historic Nanpu Bridge’s spiraling access ramps as a dynamic art and fashion-focused library and cultural center. Rooted in the city’s identity as a place of contrasts, where historic tradition interweaves with global innovation, Continuum explores the concept of duality through architecture, program, and materiality.

The design embraces Shanghai’s industrial heritage by preserving and exposing the structural steel elements of the site while layering contemporary interventions that reflect the city’s evolving creative identity. A long-span steel canopy nestled under the undulating descending slope of the site’s green park bridges the old and new, creating an iconic gesture that anchors the site and provides shelter for public gatherings, exhibitions, and performances.

Continuum’s program is split between traditional library services and a “+” space dedicated to fashion archives, design workshops, maker labs, and rotating gallery exhibitions. This not only supports education and creative exchange but also activates local industries and emerging designers. Public spaces flow seamlessly from interior to exterior, with open reading terraces, pop-up markets, and interactive art installations drawing pedestrians and cyclists into the space.

The project’s strategy of adaptive reuse reduces environmental impact while celebrating the poetic tension between heavy infrastructure and light cultural use. By stitching together circulation paths, layered programming, and expressive steel structure, Continuum becomes a new node in Shanghai’s civic network, a platform for exchange, creativity, and community resilience.

In a city of constant flux, Continuum offers a space for pause, reflection, and cultural production, anchored in history, yet always looking forward.

Instagram: @as.h_l.and, @joyce.lyx, @artravelersr, @natalie.xy.ou, @archawaii, @global_track_architecture

The Creative Exchange by Bridget Knudtson, Sarah Gurevitch & Jasmin Dickinson, M.Arch ’25
University of Texas at Austin | Advisor: Matt Fajkus

“The Creative Exchange” is an artist collective and performing arts theater in downtown Austin, located across from Republic Square. Designed to unify Austin’s disconnected arts scene, the project provides a hub where both locals and visitors can easily engage with the city’s vibrant cultural offerings. The raised proscenium theater, capable of accommodating a variety of performances, allows the ground level to remain entirely open to the public, ensuring it remains activated even when performances are not occurring. The design incorporates bold, angled geometries that signify the cross-pollination of ideas happening within the building. 

Central to the Creative Exchange is a grand staircase that connects all six floors of the podium, ascending from the ground floor lobby up to the theater. This staircase serves as a visual and physical cue, inviting movement upward and symbolizing the exchange of ideas and collaboration among artists. In the floors between, an artist’s collective provides studio space, a workshop, and other resources to Austin’s creative community. A perforated metal facade shields these interior spaces from direct sunlight, protecting the art inside and enhancing energy efficiency in Austin’s hot climate. 

The top floors of the podium include an asymmetrical theater design, meant to invert the hierarchies created by a traditional auditorium layout. Encasing these floors is a massive steel truss that runs along the building’s perimeter, enabling the front and back of house programs to cantilever on the north and south facades. On the Republic Square side, this cantilever creates a grand, sheltered entry and drop-off zone, while on the 6th Street side, it frames a large garden terrace, adding much-needed green space to the bustling urban context. Similar cutouts in the residential tower above provide views out to the city. 

Altogether, the building’s design effectively and efficiently fills the needs of Austin’s growing artistic community. Its distinctive visual language, innovative structural design, and careful mixing of programs establish the Creative Exchange as a clear cultural hub for the City of Austin. 

This project was nominated for a Design Excellence Award at the UT School of Architecture and was a finalist among award selections.

Instagram: @bridgetthetwin, @sarah_gurevitch, @jazzy_colors, @mf.architecture

(IN) ORDINATIO by Luis Leonardo Flores Hernández, B.Arch ’25
Tecnológico de Monterrey | Advisors: Guillermo Nieto Ross & Jorge Santos Quiroz

“Ordinatio” is an innovative architectural and urban masterplan strategically designed to transform the community of Ocoyucan in Puebla, México, by directly addressing socio-spatial segregation and fostering inclusive community integration. Positioned at the intersection of diverse socio-economic contexts, the project elegantly blends traditional urban patterns from Santa Clara Ocoyucan with the contemporary residential fabric of Lomas de Angelópolis, creating dynamic spaces for equitable interaction and communal growth.

The project’s central feature is a vibrant marketplace comprising agricultural and culinary sectors, complemented by advanced aeroponic greenhouses, significantly reducing resource consumption while directly benefiting approximately 65% of local families dependent on small-scale farming. This strategic economic and cultural hub acts as a catalyst for communal exchange, revitalizing the local economy and nurturing social cohesion.

Architecturally, Ordinatio reinterprets traditional forms through contemporary lenses, utilizing locally sourced materials and visible structural elements to promote a sense of identity and ownership among residents. The community plaza and ephemeral market spaces—framed by elegantly detailed corridors—create essential social nodes that encourage diverse community interactions and cultural activities, reactivating collective memories and traditions.

Integral to the project’s vision is the thoughtful inclusion of a multimodal mobility node, which connects public transport and cycling routes, ensuring everyday urban mobility becomes an enriching communal experience. Additionally, environmental sustainability is woven into the design through ecological restoration along the adjacent Atoyac River, creating essential green corridors and public parks that enhance biodiversity and offer restorative communal spaces.

Ordinatio exemplifies architecture’s potential as a regenerative tool, mitigating socio-economic disparities, avoiding social resentment, and promoting harmonious urban coexistence. This holistic approach not only revitalizes the urban landscape but positions Ocoyucan as a compelling model of equitable, sustainable, and community-driven urban development.

Click here for a closer look.

This project was exhibited at ITESM University’s national architecture festival, “How Space Can?” It was also selected to be presented at EXPO EAAD.

Instagram: @luish_137, @arq.pue.tec

Vortex Theater by Joshua Jolly, M.Arch ’25
Pennsylvania State University | Advisor: Ute Poerschke

The project task was to design a theatre in-the-round as an addition to the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.

“Vortex Theater” — This design places the theatre as the eye of the storm, a tornado’s core. The central ramp becomes the force around which people, spaces, and artifacts spiral. Its continuous motion reinforces the vertical energy, pulling people into the experiences that the theater has to offer. The surrounding spaces (lobbies, rehearsal halls) act as the rotating winds, positioned in a way that reacts to the ramp’s motion. Due to the ramp’s centrality, each level has a visual sight between programs, enhancing the sense of being caught in a swirling motion and thrown out of the winds. The concept is amplified through the structure and surrounding programs. The ramp isn’t just a means of circulation; it’s the driving force of the architectural experience, pulling everything and everyone into its swirling grasp.

This project won the Design Excellence Award. 

 Instagram: @_jollyj

Stay tuned for Part X!

2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part VIII

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A city’s infrastructure has a large impact on its community. Part VIII of the 2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase features projects that reimagine infrastructure in innovative ways. With interconnectedness at the forefront, these designs re-envision highways, commuter routes, and hybrid energy sources. Each project presents a design solution that increases accessibility, promotes connection, and makes a positive difference in its respective community. 

Scroll down for a closer look at these outstanding projects!

ARC HORIZON: Anchoring Humankind’s Future in the Orbital Era by Travis Colton Taylor, B.Arch ’25
Woodbury University | Advisor: Gerard Smulevich

“Arc Horizon” is an architectural redefinition of urban fabric in response to climate change, resource scarcity, and technological evolution. Faced with desertification, migration, and the weaknesses in traditional cities, humanity shifts toward vertical urbanism and orbital expansion. Anchor site mega-structures and orbital cities form a new interconnected system, enabling rewilding on the surface, autonomous mobility, and off-world industry. This three-dimensional urban fabric transcends terrestrial limits, catalyzing a regenerative, symbiotic relationship with the planet. As the orbital economy supplants geopolitics, humanity transitions to an interplanetary species, one that thrives across Earth and orbit, united through innovation and stewardship of the planet.

This project received the Architecture Degree Project Design Excellence Award.

UNRAVEL & REWEAVE: I-794 AS MILWAUKEE’S URBAN GREEN SPINE by Sean Thiel, B.S. in Architecture ‘25
University of Virginia | Advisor: Mona El Khafif

Milwaukee’s downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods have long been divided by the I‑794 freeway spur– an aging band of concrete built in the 1960s and ‘70s that now requires immense repair costs, poses a multitude of safety hazards, and leaves vast amounts of underused land in one of Wisconsin’s most valuable urban districts. Rather than viewing the freeway simply as an obstacle, it can be reimagined as a spine around which an integrated, multi‑modal network of streets, pathways, programs, and parks can emerge and flourish, connecting the North and South on a higher level, and connecting the waterfronts that the site lies between.

Scaling back access for automobiles— removing the “spaghetti” of on‑ and off‑ramps and consolidating access eastward at the Lake Interchange —reveals hundreds of thousands of square feet for housing and commercial development, a central greenway, and pedestrian-centric infrastructure. This new land emerges as the city’s connective tissue, linking important spaces of recreation and forming a new neighborhood to stitch together the central business district of Juneau Town and the Third Ward.   

Rather than a simple removal, a negotiated balance preserves critical commuter routes that aren’t supported by the current transit system while converting a majority of the former freeway footprint into a continuous open space connecting the greenspaces of the Milwaukee Riverfront to the state and county parks on the Shores of Lake Michigan. Housing, shops, cafés, and cultural venues step down to human scale at street level; the space beneath the elevated roadways becomes reclaimed for the city and bridges the gap between the freeway spur and the neighborhoods it divides. These new buildings integrate parking garages that are directly accessible from the I-794 overpass, allowing vehicles to enter and exit without encroaching on street-level activity. This approach helps relegate car traffic away from pedestrian spaces, promoting a vibrant street life and encouraging ‘park-and-walk’ rather than driving directly to one’s destination. Transit stops and bike hubs nestle at key intersections, linking bus and rail lines to pedestrian pathways that flow seamlessly into adjacent neighborhoods.

This symbiosis stitches together the city’s disconnected urban grid, transforming the concrete barriers into green corridors and crafting connectivity between people, place, and nature. Instead of a unimodal freeway, I‑794 becomes an interconnected downtown system where pedestrian mobility, outdoor recreation, and a new community thrive.

Instagram: @sean.thiel, @smt_arch, @monaelkhafif

Energy Networks: Stitching Infrastructure through Land & Water by Neha Mudu & Sarvesh Joshi, M.Arch ’25
New York Institute of Technology | Advisors: Marcella Del Signore & Evan Shieh

[This] proposal envisions a renewable energy power plant designed to act as a resilient backup system for Rio de Janeiro’s industrial zones, addressing the city’s recurring power outages while supporting long-term sustainable urban development. The design responds not only to the functional need for energy resilience but also to the environmental and social challenges faced by rapidly urbanizing coastal cities.

At the heart of the project is a hybrid energy infrastructure that integrates four key renewable sources — hydroelectric, geothermal, solar, and wind. These systems are carefully sited and layered across the landscape, forming a continuous network that blends with both the urban and natural context. The infrastructure is not hidden away, but exposed and celebrated, functioning as both a power-generating engine and a public experience.

A central feature of the project is a spine-like elevated pedestrian walkway. This linear path connects the energy-producing nodes across the site, guiding movement and interaction while educating the public about sustainable energy systems. The walkway is embedded with piezoelectric panels that convert foot traffic into electricity, symbolizing how everyday public activity can contribute to a collective energy future.

Along this spine, key programmatic zones unfold — including educational centres, community spaces, research pods, and waterfront public areas. The project becomes more than a utility; it transforms into a civic landscape where infrastructure, technology, and people converge.

By treating renewable energy infrastructure as a public asset, this proposal aims to blur the boundaries between utility and urban experience. It supports energy independence, encourages public engagement, and creates a resilient framework that can adapt to future environmental and social needs.

This project was featured in the NYC X DESIGN Presentation Showcase.

Instagram: @nehamudu, @sarveshjoshi2697, @ev07, @marcelladelsi

ELEVATE: Rethinking Urban Mobility Infrastructure by  Luke Stefanchik, B.Arch ’25
New York Institute of Technology | Advisor: Farzana Gandhi

Cities around the world are removing or decking over their highways in favor of linear parks and boulevards. Is this enough to repair decades of damage caused by highways and car-centric infrastructure? We need to develop a new typology that weaves public transit with community services and adaptive reuse, and bridges the divide created by highways. New public transit projects in NYC and innovations in architecture and infrastructure provide an opportunity to rethink the city’s existing transit corridors. [This project redevelops] the intersection of the sunken Brooklyn-Queens Expressway with the elevated Hell Gate rail bridge along Astoria Boulevard between Steinway Street and 43rd Street in Queens. This is a densely-populated and diverse area that lacks recreation and community spaces, and was split in half by the highway. 

Right now, two different projects plan to make use of the railway — Metro-North’s Penn Station Access and MTA’s Interborough Express — which is currently only used by Amtrak and freight trains. Merging these projects creates an opportunity to develop this new typology. I am proposing to add two bus rapid transit lanes to the BQE for the M60 bus to LaGuardia Airport. At street level, the expressway will be decked over to create a park with exhibition and performance spaces for local artists. A section of the bridge will be torn down and rebuilt with modern, lightweight materials to support a new train station for the Metro-North, Amtrak, and Interborough Express. The space under the bridge will house prefabricated, modular workshops for local artisans to create and sell their work. Sustainable aspects incorporated into the project include hanging vegetation, solar canopies, and retrofitted shipping containers in the park. This hub will bridge the divide created by the expressway and serve as a catalyst for future transit design.

Click here to learn more. 

This project received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Architecture and was featured during the 2025 NYIT Symposium of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE) and the 2025 NYCxDesign Festival.

Instagram: @luke.js, @fg_architecture

The SVX Pavilion: EL Salvador At Expo 2030 by Elaine Bonilla-Villatoro, B.Sc. in Architecture ’25
University of the District of Columbia | Advisor: Golnar Ahmadi

The SVX Pavilion, designed for Expo 2030 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, symbolizes El Salvador’s bold leap into a digital and sustainable future. Rooted in an expressive steel structure, the pavilion expresses a national identity through architectural elements, merging cultural roots with the country’s adoption of Bitcoin as a legal tender, which makes it the first nation to do so.

Inspired by the Ceiba tree, the pavilion features branching rolled steel columns that rise continuously from the ground floor to the roof and support a canopy and the glazed roof, which allows the spaces to be filtered with desert light. These structural columns shape the main circulation spaces and frame key exhibition zones while representing strength and interconnectedness, a metaphor for El Salvador’s digital network. A golden perforated panel facade references blockchain technology’s traditional craft and digital mesh, creating a visual connection between the past and future.

At its core, the SVX Pavilion includes the Bitcoin Lounge and Innovation Hub, with holographic displays representing El Salvador’s digital economy. These spaces offer a platform for education, interaction, and diplomacy while inviting global visitors to reflect on how emerging technologies shape sovereign futures and redefine national narratives.

Surrounding the pavilion, the “Digital Forest Garden” combines native Salvadoran plants that can adapt to Riyadh’s desert climate. This makes the futuristic structure belong in nature and promotes ecological resilience. The landscape is a metaphor for sustainable adaptation and a thermal buffer that enhances passive climate control.

Steel is not only the structural core of the SVX Pavilion but also a symbol of strength, modularity, and meaningful possibilities. Its use enables rapid fabrication and bold sculptural identity, which supports the project’s narrative of innovation and transformation. The SVX Pavilion is more than a national exhibition. It is a statement of El Salvador’s emerging role in the global dialogue on technology and sovereignty.

Instagram: @golnarahmadi

Stay tuned for Part IX!

2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part VI

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Today’s installment of the 2025 Student Showcase highlights projects with a focus on landscape and agriculture. Part VI features student work that takes place in diverse settings, including New Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Alaska, and more. Each project utilizes architecture as a tool to promote sustainability, social equity, and community resilience. 

Scroll down for a closer look at these outstanding student projects!

The Agrarian City by Aneesha Muthuraj & Rajni Kathiriya, M.Arch ‘25
New York Institute of Technology | Advisors: Marcella del Signore & Evan Shieh

In a time when urban centers face growing food insecurity and rural traditions risk being forgotten, architecture has the potential to bridge the gap between cultural heritage and contemporary urban challenges. 

This project began with two key questions: 

  • How can architecture reconnect Brazil’s deep agrarian identity with its current urban food insecurity?
  • And how can we transform abandoned structures into systems that grow food, share knowledge, and empower local communities?

 From these questions, “The Agrarian City” was born, a design framework that proposes scaffolding systems and modular toolkit insertions to retrofit unused buildings into vertical teaching farms. These structures not only produce food but also serve as platforms for education, skill-building, and community gathering. 

Our pilot site in São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro, is rooted in the principles of adaptive reuse, seasonal crop planning, and integrated spatial systems that blur the lines between agriculture, learning, and public life. By treating architecture as an evolving, regenerative system rather than a static form, the project aims to demonstrate how the built environment can support ecological restoration, food justice, and social empowerment. At its core, The Agrarian City is about growing, reusing, and educating, rethinking the role of architecture as a living system that cultivates resilience and belonging within the urban fabric.

Instagram: @aneesha_muthuraj, @ev07, @marcelladelsi

Nuclear Landscapes of New Mexico by Amanda Champion, Master of Landscape Architecture (MLA)’25
University of New Mexico | Advisors: Catherine Page Harris, Chris Wilson, Nora Wendl & Dr. Myrriah Gomez

Champion (MLA 2025) investigated Acid Canyon, Los Alamos, NM, through her master’s project, making visible water moving plutonium through public recreational landscapes into the Rio Grande. Champion wrote, “The landscapes of nuclear sites, both historic and contemporary, are designed spaces that tell specific stories about the societies we live in. Whether highly visible industrial infrastructure or naturalistic spaces touched by the invisible yet toxic hand of radiation, these landscapes are woven into the fabric of the New Mexican landscape … Many of these landscapes are unknown due to the intentional secrecy of the federal government around the nuclear weapons industry.”

This project received a master’s distinction.

Instagram: @a_man_dog, @cph_landart

Roots and Rails by Alyssa Ascani, Naomi Metzger & Siraphat Sukarom, M.Arch ’25
New York Institute of Technology | Advisors: Marcella Del Signore & Evan Shieh

“Roots and Rails” is a design thesis focused on reimagining food distribution infrastructure in Brazil at a micro scale, specifically in the São Cristóvão neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro. The project addresses issues of food insecurity, infrastructure inequality, and community disconnection, proposing a local food network.

Brazil is a major exporter of agricultural goods, but simultaneously imports rising amounts of processed food. In neighborhoods like São Cristóvão, this results in food deserts and traffic congestion from export-driven transport. Mapping studies revealed that large portions of the population live beyond walkable distances to grocery stores, especially in dense areas like favelas.    

Our solution transforms underutilized land and divides urban infrastructure, specifically the railway corridor, into a linear public food system. We identified three vacant or unproductive sites along the railway and connected them with a continuous “spine” built above the tracks. This elevated path hosts production, consumption, exchange, and celebration programs, forming the core of a new community-based food network.

The spine includes community gardens, open markets, dining areas, and public spaces. It is accessible via existing pedestrian bridges and integrates with surrounding neighborhoods, connecting local businesses, bars, restaurants, and homes. The spine’s design allows programs to “bleed” into adjacent areas, transitioning from large-scale infrastructure to neighborhood-scale interventions.

Gardens are divided into private, communal, and market plots, with varied sizes to serve individuals, families, and elders. These plots supply fresh produce to local vendors and cafes located along the spine, and excess goods can be distributed via the adjacent railway. Additional elements include amphitheaters, educational classrooms, seed exchange hubs, and compost stations.

A management team oversees garden plot rentals, market operations, and waste management. Organic waste is collected, composted, and returned as fertilizer, creating a sustainable loop that reduces pollution and supports local agriculture.

Roots and Rails reclaim neglected infrastructure to serve the local community, transforming a divisive element of the city into a unifying, productive space. The project not only tackles food insecurity but also fosters local economies, environmental sustainability, and community resilience through thoughtful urban design

Instagram: @ascaniarchitecture, @naomilewinter, @pattapsp, @ev07, @marcelladelsi

Reimagining Concon Estuary: Reclaiming Concon With Community-Led Catalysts by Mutita (Maeve) Ouk, Vicky Sindac Gomez, Daisy Castro & Qingyi (Eva) Gan, M.S. Architecture and Urban Design (MSAUD) ’25
Columbia University | Advisors: Kate Orff, Geeta Mehta, Sebastian Delpino, Gabriel Vergara, Emanuel Admassu & Lucas Coelho Netto

What if the Concon Estuary and the surrounding wetland ecosystem were restored to enhance the well-being of local flora, fauna, and community?

The Concon Estuary, located in the coastal region of Valparaiso, Chile, is a vital transitional zone between the Aconcagua River and the Pacific Ocean. It boasts rich biodiversity and a dynamic landscape that constantly changes throughout the days, seasons, and years– where river meanders, ocean tides fluctuate, sediment flows, and birds are free to come and go. However, human activities, including urban development, pollution from the ENAP oil refinery, the Asfalcom cement factory, sand mining, waste dumping, and unregulated recreational activities, have placed significant pressure on the ecosystem. This constant resource extraction and exploitation has led to more frequent and intense storm surges, increased flood risks due to rising sea levels, habitat loss, saltwater intrusion, shifting river course, and unregulated activities. 

ENAP, the primary polluter, contributes little to the local economy. Locals rely on small businesses along the beach that are poorly constructed and are exposed to flood risks due to the abrupt transition between the coastline and the urban area. Given Chile’s policy goals of replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and the risk of sea level rise, we envision a future where ENAP is gradually phased out, paving the way for sustainable energy sources. Throughout this transition, the existing industrial structures and operations will be integrated into the design process to mitigate pollution and environmental impacts. Additionally, sand mining will be banned to facilitate the regeneration of the wetland ecosystem and restore its natural space. This will also create new job opportunities, supporting a more resilient and sustainable way of life for the community.

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @mutita.ouk.arch, @vsg.arch, @dyc_urbdesign, @gsapp_aud, @mehtageeta999, @gabrielvergarag, @sdelpino_arq, @eadmassu, @lucascoelhonetto

Mount Baker Urban Farm [CLT Cannibalism Studio] by David Oluwamayowa Asokeji, M.Arch ’25
University of Washington | Advisor: Susan Jones

“Mount Baker’s Urban Farm” is a transformative community-based project that confronts food insecurity and economic disinvestment in Seattle’s Black and African American neighborhoods. Designed as a local response to systemic inequities in food access, the project reimagines urban agriculture as both a cultural anchor and a platform for environmental resilience.

At its heart is the Cassava plant—an essential staple crop widely used across West Africa, Southeast Asia, and South America. Known for its versatility and low-waste processing, cassava becomes both the functional and symbolic backbone of the farm. The crop supports not only flour-based food production but also textile, paper, and material research initiatives, making it a dynamic resource for community-building and circular design.

This urban farm integrates a greenhouse, processing plant, teaching kitchen, community food bank, textile fabrication studio, and a public-facing retail space. Together, these programs create a closed-loop system of cultivation, education, and empowerment. The design fosters hands-on learning through cooking classes and sustainable farming workshops, while simultaneously supporting food relief through onsite distribution.

An open-air courtyard anchors the project, acting as a communal gathering space and visible nexus of exchange. Here, architecture supports transparency, wellness, and social cohesion—inviting the public into the often-hidden processes of food production and collective stewardship.

More than just a farm, Mount Baker’s Urban Farm positions architecture as a tool for social equity, ecological intelligence, and economic resilience. It exemplifies how built environments can honor cultural heritage, activate underutilized spaces, and nourish both people and place.

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @davidasokeji_0, @dbaarchitecture, @atelierjones

Equinox House: Contextual Materiality of a Residence by Austin Small, B.S. in Architecture ’25
University of Virginia | Advisor: Peter Waldman

Rabbit Lake, southeast of Anchorage, Alaska, is a peacefully calm, yet brutally intense landscape tucked into a corner of the Chugach Mountains. Reaching the lake involves a two-mile hike from the nearest road access point after driving 10 miles out of the city. Sitting higher than the alpine line, roughly 3200ft above sea level, the lake and its surrounding mountains are void of trees; the shores instead are dotted with shrubs and littered with rocks that have been shed in avalanches over the years. 

One half of the project sits atop a bluff on the western bank, bridging a creek fed by the lake: this is the summer house. Across the lake, directly to its east and braced into the mountain behind, lies the opposing winter house. The two dwellings are connected by their compass alignment and the journey made between them; one that the project proposes is initiated by the solar path on both the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. With one window in both structures directly facing the other, the sunrise and sunset on the equinoxes act as a seasonal sundial, initiating the changeover journey between winter and summer. 

A more immediate indication of movement, the long covered bridge of the summer dwelling is a kinetic structure proposing a blend of interior and exterior. The glass walls on each side of the bridge are designed to rotate and open upward, transforming the span into a livable breezeway. While the Western dwelling is light, breathable, and tectonic, the Eastern house is a burly cave in contrast. Made from the stone found on site, [its] thick walls and a centrally located hearth offer protection and comfort from the sub-zero temperatures of the winter months. The protective western wall guards the structure from harsh winds coming off the lake, while the clerestories of the saw-toothed roof take in as much of the minimal daylight as possible and offer views of the “Aurora Borealis” in the northern night sky.

In an attempt to design a house precisely unique to its setting, this project proposes a response both to the seasonally extreme nature of Rabbit Lake and to the traditional Alaskan lifestyle, a way of living that is intrinsically exterior. The proposal imagines a cast of characters: a nomadic countryman with a possible family, living off the land and lake as much as possible, and maintaining the dwellings in a simple and slow lifestyle by returning to nature. As a result of the drastic seasonal differences in both light and temperature, the project splits the home into two respective dwellings, living not only on the site but with the site; allowing the landscape, and interaction thereof, to complete the proposed design.

This project received the Highest Honors for the 2025 Fourth Year Thesis at the UVA School of Architecture.

Stay tuned for Part VII!

2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part V

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In Part V of the 2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase, we take a look at projects centered on equity. From natural highways to aid centers, the featured student work includes design solutions catered toward migrants, widows, and other historically marginalized groups. By providing culturally sensitive architectural interventions, each project fosters resilience, equity, and empowerment. 

Scroll down to learn more!

BARRA DA TIJUCA MARITIME TERMINAL by Justyn D. Grant, M.Arch ‘25
Florida A&M University | Advisors: George Epolito, Andrew Chin & Ronald B. Lumpkin

Barra da Tijuca Maritime Highway Terminal responds to a long-standing pattern of neglect toward disenfranchised communities impacted by large-scale global events like the Olympics. This thesis focuses on Rio das Pedras, a self-built favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, that, despite being in proximity to the 2016 Olympic sites, remains disconnected from the infrastructural and economic benefits promised during the event’s planning and execution.

The project proposes a bold intervention: a maritime terminal located at Athlete’s Park that connects Rio das Pedras with the broader Barra da Tijuca area via the lagoon system. This “natural highway” avoids disruption within the favela while offering a culturally sensitive, environmentally harmonious transit solution. The terminal is envisioned as more than a transportation node—it will be a space for economic empowerment, community gathering, and cultural exchange, serving both residents and tourists.

Architecturally, the design draws from the spatial and material logic of Rio das Pedras to promote familiarity, dignity, and inclusivity. By integrating construction practices and vernacular forms found in the favela, the terminal becomes a home away from home—bridging class divides and reshaping perceptions of informal urbanism.

This thesis critiques the post-Olympic urban landscape and interrogates the broken promises of legacy investments. It reframes infrastructure as a tool for equity, proposing design strategies that center the needs and aspirations of historically marginalized communities. In doing so, it advocates for a model of development that honors cultural identity, fosters connection, and plants the seeds for long-term resilience and economic vitality.

Instagram: @famusaet, @famu_masterofarch

Centro Mariposa: The Refuge of Wings, Women’s Shelter, Querétaro by  Leslie Bocanegra Valdivia, B.Arch ’25
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Guillermo Márquez, Patricia Cutiño & Jorge Javier

At the heart of the indigenous neighborhood of San Francisquito, Querétaro — a city affected by gender violence and inequality — [is] CENTRO MARIPOSA, inspired by the butterfly’s journey of rebirth, emerges as an architectural space for transformation. In response to the lack of safe spaces for women, the project offers more than refuge; it provides a place to heal, rebuild identity, and begin anew, surrounded by physical, symbolic, and collective protection.

A pavilion marks the entrance — a civic gesture that transforms a neglected corner into a new community anchor. More than a threshold, this space invites gathering and recreation, intervened with messages of resistance. It is here — where the intimate and the public intertwine — that the transition from pain to rebirth begins.

The proposal integrates a network of spaces that respond to women’s needs: medical, legal, psychological, and physical support combine with workshops on crafts, art, recreation, connection, entrepreneurship, and empowerment — all within an atmosphere of mutual care and healing. A temporary shelter area offers safety, professional support, and dignity to those in urgent need, the architecture draws inspiration from metamorphosis: Organic paths, contemplative patios, and warm materials create a nurturing environment. Every architectural gesture is an act of care. The design respects the neighborhood’s heritage and connects with the land and its people.

The impact of CENTRO MARIPOSA extends beyond its walls. It seeks to heal a community, rekindle hope in forgotten spaces, and offer Querétaro a model of architecture grounded in social justice and gender equality.

Like a butterfly, each woman who finds strength here takes flight — lighting the way for others to rise, transform, and soar.

Instagram: @leslie_bocanegra, @bocle.architecture, @arquitectura_anahuac, @arqwave

UMBRE Comprehensive Aid Center for Migrants by Natalia Pérez Pereyra, B.Arch ’25
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Guillermo Márquez, Patricia Cutiño & Jorge Javier

The project offers a temporary stay of up to six months, intended as a preparation and support period so that people on the move can decide their next step: settling in Querétaro or continuing their journey. During this time, workshops, talks, and training sessions are held focused on their labor and social integration. In addition, the center provides outpatient services for those not temporarily housed there. This includes food, sanitation, medical and psychological care, legal assistance and support, training workshops in various sectors, and support in finding employment.

These services do not have a strict time limit, allowing them to be adapted to the migrants’ different trajectories and needs. In coordination with volunteers and specialists, support is also offered in finding housing and managing legal documentation, such as a humanitarian visa, which can be completed in approximately 20 days. The goal is to offer a safe, dignified, and connected environment to the city, strengthening users’ autonomy and integrating them into the social fabric of Querétaro.

Instagram: @nataliaprzp, @perezparch, @arquitectura_anahuac, @arqwave

URBAN FRAGMENTATION AND SOCIAL ISOLATION: The Impact of High-Speed Expressways and the Reconnection of the Luis Lloréns Torres Public Housing Complex with Its Surrounding Communities by Lara S. Pérez-Fuentes, M.Arch ’25
University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Omayra Rivera Crespo, José R. Coleman-Davis & María Helena Luengo

In the Luis Lloréns Torres Public Housing Development and its neighboring communities, such as Shanghai and Villa Palmeras, physical and symbolic barriers, resulting from its architectural design and the Baldorioty de Castro Expressway, have generated urban fragmentation and social isolation. This isolation has limited mobility, access to essential services, and economic opportunities, while perpetuating the social stigma associated with public housing. Based on this context, the study proposes designing an integrative public space as a strategy to mitigate barriers, foster social cohesion, and improve residents’ quality of life.

The research combines qualitative and quantitative approaches, including interviews and surveys, which highlight the challenges of mobility, community disconnection, and lack of adequate infrastructure. Key elements of identity and belonging are also identified, guiding the proposed interventions. The design program includes a pedestrian corridor, a Community Connection Center, and a Cultural Center, along with strategies to revitalize informal commercial spaces and promote social interaction. 

This integrative approach not only responds to the functional needs of accessibility and connectivity, but also seeks to transform the perception of residents and neighboring communities, fostering a sense of unity and active participation. The research underscores the importance of inclusive and collaborative urban planning as a means to overcome exclusion and build resilient, cohesive, and equitable communities.

Click here to learn more.

Instagram: @larita0013, @uprarchitecture

Jackson Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired by Anna Kate Horn, B.Arch ’25
Mississippi State University | Advisors: Jassen Callender, Mark Vaughan, Aaron White, David Perkes & David Buege

“Jackson’s Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired” is a training facility that empowers individuals with vision loss to gain greater independence. This project explores the understanding that design solutions addressing the needs of the blind and low-vision communities are universally beneficial—enhancing the spatial experience for all users by deepening the sensory richness of the environment. Located at one of the most prominent and sensory-rich intersections in Jackson, Mississippi, the training center creates a space for its user group within the city that celebrates the acceptance of diverse perspectives in urban environments.

Across the street once stood the first location of the Institute for the Blind in Jackson. The geometry of this original building has become the base of the façade, which is intentionally disrupted with boxed bronze window openings that pierce through the underlying rhythm, contradicting the established grid to create moments of tension. Sculpted from green glazed brick with medium gray mortar, the materiality speaks to the context and historic structure without attempting to replicate the past, while celebrating the primary user group’s history within the community. The green glazed mass levitating above the ground reveals a district condition of light and sound from the street at the entry to indicate arrival.

Transforming a visual gesture of the façade becomes a spatial and sensory one by folding the façade into the atrium. This fold generates a dynamic threshold, one that informs circulation and invites engagement. Brick-cladded ribs, consistent in their cadence, wrap the atrium like a metronome marking time in built form. Each cardinal direction of the atrium is delineated by the program that borders the path in a distinct manner – designed to communicate wayfinding and the presence of others.

This project received the CDFL Capstone Studio Travel Award. 

Instagram: @designs_by_akhorn, @jassencallender

ReOCCUPY Your City – The Co-operative Squatting Society by Nour Kaddoura, M.AARS City Design + Housing (CDH) ’25
University of Southern California | Advisor: Sascha Delz

For many marginalized individuals and communities, informal practices are an essential means of gaining access to services and spaces that are otherwise unavailable or unaffordable. This is especially true for shelter and housing, where squatting often serves as a last resort. While property owners have broad legal means to evict squatters, squatters also hold limited rights, leading to often adversarial and protracted legal battles.”ReOCCUPY Your City” offers an alternative approach to squatting. By combining a supportive legal framework, a Pro-use Housing Policy, and formalized Co-operative Squatting Societies, it empowers squatters to take control of vacant industrial properties, transforming them into collaborative spaces that provide affordable housing for Los Angeles. 

Under the Pro-use Housing Policy, a group of dwellers can form a Co-operative Squatting Society, claim collective ownership of an abandoned building, and gradually inhabit and manage it democratically over time. As residents join, their involvement in the co-operative can evolve from emergency occupancy to transitional and ultimately permanent residency. ReOCCUPY Your City thus enables a community-driven, democratic reuse of vacant buildings, empowering squatters to not only claim and improve these structures but also to contribute to the city’s housing stock. The project also allows the city’s housing administration to make underutilized spaces progressively productive, offering affordable, self-governed housing solutions.

Instagram: @coop_urbanism

B.lab Community-Based Design by Lowai Ghaly, Mazen Ghaly, Mohamed Meawad, Andrew Hart, Kim Ebueng, Kenny Soriano, Edgar Castillo, Peter Peritos, Shadi Vakilian, Amanda Estrada, Giewel David, B.Arch ’25
Academy of Art University | Advisor: Sameena Sitabkhan

The B.lab program at the Academy of Art University was founded in 2018. Through robust partnerships with our neighbors and local nonprofit organizations, the program has implemented several projects in the Bay Area. At its core, the B.lab program is a community-based design program promoting spatial justice and advocacy for future designers. Through radical listening and co-creation, we empower communities and bring positive change to the built environment.

This project received the B.Arch Community Building Award.

Instagram: @studio.sideproject

Empowerment Center by Devangi Patel, M.Arch ’25
Boston Architectural College | Advisors: Emeline Gaujac, AIA. & Ian F. Taberner, AIA.

This thesis proposes the design of an Empowerment Center for Women in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, India, as a response to the social, cultural, and economic marginalization of widows and single mothers in the region. Vrindavan, often referred to as the “City of Widows,” is a place of profound spiritual importance. It is home to thousands of women who are abandoned and forced to live in poverty, social isolation, and emotional distress.

The Empowerment Center aims to restore dignity, independence, and resilience to these women by offering a comprehensive, community-based center that integrates education, skill development, emotional healing, and economic empowerment. The architectural vision emphasizes a balance between safety and openness, combining secure, private zones with transparent and inclusive spaces that encourage connection, confidence, and personal growth.

Key features of the design include sustainable green areas such as gardens and courtyards, and also form is Inspired by inspired by local vernacular architecture and supported by research. These spaces foster mindfulness, promote physical and emotional well-being, and create opportunities for community interaction and collective healing. The project incorporates flexible, adaptive spaces for workshops, training, and communal living to support the evolving needs of its users.

Using techniques including demographic analysis, community participation, and contextual site study, this thesis, which is based on collaborative research and cultural sensitivity, informs an inclusive, accessible, and responsive design. The Empowerment Center seeks to establish a standard for gender-sensitive, socially conscious architecture that not only meets immediate needs but also sparks long-term structural change.

In conclusion, this thesis demonstrates how architecture can serve as a cause for social transformation by addressing the needs of marginalized women in Vrindavan. The Empowerment Center offers a dignified, inclusive, and healing environment that fosters education, independence, and community. By integrating cultural sensitivity with sustainable design, the project aims to empower women and inspire broader change toward gender equality and social resilience.

This project received “Commends for Thesis.”

The right to the city by Cindy Caitong Duan, M.Arch II ’25
Yale University | Advisors: Andrei Harwell & Alan Plattus

The cities in China have a long tradition of planning based on the gated unit – a collective residential form strictly controlled by entrances, walls, and different levels of thresholds. People live within walls, which define the space of a gated unit; and in the wall that is the building itself. Walls gather us but also limit us, until their imprints are etched into our minds and build obedience and indifference to life. These spaces are both the metaphor and the embodiment of power in Chinese society. 

In this way, I feel it is necessary to ask: What is a city? What should the balance be between governance and defending people’s rights to the city? 

This thesis addresses these questions through a close study of the gated unit where my grandaunt lives in Shanghai, China. The project comprises two parts: first, research analyzing the formation of collectivism and the gated unit; second, a design proposal exploring how gated communities can actively foster local identity and autonomy while mitigating surveillance and urban segmentation. 

The concept of “collectivism” fosters a stronger sense of solidarity but also poses the risk of deindividuation by homogenizing people. As a result, the notion of collective space shifts from being a symbolic space of belonging to a geographically defined common space, diminishing the notion of individual residents’ rights. 

However, I believe a city and its built form should be the second self of the individual, responding to and encouraging open narratives. Gated units and their communities can be transformative, connecting individuals while forming a new entity based on shared agency. More importantly, whenever the collective emerges, it arises from countless “I”s—each independent, each different—reaching a timely commonality through mutual agreement. There is no single form. 

Thus, this project is not the solution but a demonstration of how to regain an individual’s right to the city. It can strike a balance between you and “I”, between us and “I”, and between them and “I”, and the city is its metaphor and site. 

This project received the Yale Drawing Prize.

Instagram: @Cindycaitongd, @andrei__simon

Stay tuned for Part VI!

2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part IV

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Part IV of the 2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase spotlights architecture in public health. These student projects feature architectural responses to topics, including amputee rehabilitation, incarceration reform, sober living homes, and maternity care. By incorporating holistic, biophilic elements and utilizing various building typologies, each project fosters a supportive and healing environment based on a wide range of community needs.

Browse the projects below for more details!

Rehabilitation and Empowerment for Amputees by Bryan Feliciano-Torres, B.Arch ‘25
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Manuel De Lemos-Zuazaga & Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

“R.E.F.A.” is about how architecture can help rehabilitate the lives of limbless people for both upper and lower limb amputations. The research aimed to explore better solutions for prosthetic patients’ recovery, from initial physical therapy until a full recovery. The project expanded on the typical prosthetic clinic program, with three main objectives:

– Prosthetic manufacture and physical rehabilitation for patient care

– Prosthetic research and development for scientific innovations

– Lodging program for traveling patients who seek quality care

Prosthetic patients require a series of training in order to achieve full control over their limb, especially for those who have been amputated for a long time. Not only do they have to go through the process of fitting and adjusting sockets, but they also train their muscle strength, resistance, and balance. This average time spans from one week to three weeks, depending on the patient’s capability and physical condition.

Most prosthetic clinics provide limited space with the essential programs: manufacture, socket fitting, and basic gait training. The patient is then encouraged to train outside on their own terms, only to return later to make changes if needed.

This research sees an opportunity to improve on this by providing all their needs in a single space. These programs are divided into zones:

– Prosthesis: Workshops, storage, and fitting areas

– Physical/Psychological therapy: Aquatic therapy, gym facilities, and therapists’ offices

– Public areas: Gait training, running track, commerce, and restaurant

– Research: Office spaces for rent, laboratories, and conference rooms

– Lodging: Extended stay rooms and lounge

Amputations are becoming more prevalent as time goes on, whether from incidents or diseases. Taking this into account, along with technological improvements, prosthetic clinics have to improve drastically in order to provide everything an amputee needs in order to live independently.

THE TRANSLUCENT FORTRESS by Owen Phillips, B.Arch ’25
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: Robin Puttock

THESIS QUESTION:

How can the architectural typology of women’s shelters be reimagined to more effectively provide support, safety, and healing for domestic violence victims in rural Homerville, Georgia?

DESIGN HYPOTHESIS:

The design of domestic violence shelters in Homerville, GA, can be improved by combining the warmness of a home, the freedom of a meadow, and the strength of a fortress to create comfortable, tranquil, and safe spaces that provide support, safety, and healing for the residents and staff inhabiting them.

SOLUTION:

The building typology of a women’s shelter will be reimagined to better apply to a modern stage using qualitative research from an architect-conducted survey that has been compared to similar existing research. This new typology will be tested on a site in Homerville, Georgia, to address the psychological and spatial needs of victims, the most important of these needs include the feeling of being protected (secure architecture), a sense of community (social spaces), access to medical assistance (operating/examination rooms), and appropriate design to accommodate living spaces for both women and/or their children (Eastman et al, 2007). Construction of this project must be efficient and cost-effective as to not diminish the already limited financial resources available to public services, but still secure enough to provide a safe space for rural victims of domestic violence.

METHODOLOGY:

Research for this thesis will be broken up into multiple different sections. To give the architect a better understanding of the victim’s condition and needs, surveys and interviews were conducted during the summer of 2024 at women’s shelters in rural Georgia with both the residents and shelter staff, and literature reviews were done to compare collected data with similar research. This provided an updated set of data to be used and compared with older information (pre-COVID-19). To determine the site for the project, mapping was used to locate a site in Georgia with the least access to domestic violence crisis centers. Finally, construction methods and building design will be studied through precedents that share the scope of being low-cost, remote, secure, and inhabitant-friendly design for the purpose of applying efficient design methods.

Click here to learn more.

This project was a finalist for the ARCC King Student Medal.

Instagram: @owen_p02, @robinzputtock

REIMAGINING RECOVERY: The Role of Architecture in Sobriety by Teagan Littleton, B.Arch ’25
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: Robin Puttock

This thesis explores the design of a sober living house in Atlanta, focusing on integrating choice architecture and biophilic design to enhance the mental well-being of its residents. Choice architecture, a concept rooted in behavioral economics, aims to influence decision-making by altering the environment (Thaler & Sunstein, 2010). Biophilic design seeks to connect occupants with nature to improve overall health and well-being (Terrapin, 2014). The design of the sober living house incorporates elements such as natural light, green spaces, and views of nature to create a sense of calmness and connection to the environment. Choice architecture is applied through the layout and design of the space to encourage positive behaviors and discourage relapse triggers. Through the integration of these design principles, the sober living house aims to create a supportive and healing environment for individuals in recovery, promoting long-term sobriety and well-being.

Click here for a closer look.

This project was selected as a Thesis Semi-Finalist (Top 20 of 90+).

Instagram: @teagan.littleton02, @robinzputtock

KOSOVO BORDER-BASED MENTAL HEALTH RECOVERY PROGRAM Healing Across Borders: Addressing Trauma and PTSD at Entry Points by Fisnik Kraki, B.Arch ’25
New York Institute of Technology | Advisor: Jonathan Block Friedman

The program leverages landlocked Kosovo’s border crossings as transitional spaces, turning points for individuals struggling with post-war trauma, PTSD, and mental health challenges. Each border will host a Trauma Recovery Hub, blending accessibility, symbolism, and practicality. These hubs will act as the first step toward healing, offering both immediate care and pathways for long-term recovery. Services provided include emergency counseling, psychological evaluations, and individual/group therapy.

The architecture offers a poetic transformation for both individual returnees and the country as a whole. Local materials and cultural elements provide familiarity and safety. A spectrum of enclosures, from narrow passageways to wide open spaces enhance healing gardens, quiet zones, and reflection halls. Tailored programs support displaced individuals, war survivors, PTSD therapy for civilians, and ex-combatants. 

Each mountainous entry portal provides a sequence of three multi-week healing experiences in carefully wrought architectural responses to both the inner needs of the struggling returnees and the power of each succeeding resonant landscape. The progression of section relationships highlights the potential for group and individual personality reintegration.

The new group first finds a shared lodge perched on a cliffside lookout above a rushing mountain stream. Here are paths for private walks, but also shared meals, as well as group therapy sessions.  

Then the group moves to more gently rolling hillsides, where now the cohort breaks into smaller subgroups who share modest “family houses” as they re-learn how to interact together, and with the other “families” in a more dispersed community setting. A spillway and small dam provides a lake for beginning to embrace a return to self-awareness. 

For the third and last month, each person in the group finds their own dwelling for the hard work of private meditation, complete with eating, sleeping, a fireplace, and physical exercise spaces, and a garden for them to contribute to the collective needs for food production. The site is flat, with a small pond of still water at its center as a geographical eco-environmental mirror for the soul as they look beyond healing, seeking purpose, meaning, and new horizons. 

This project received the Chair Design Award, awarded by the department chairs and faculty of the School of Architecture and Design to a graduate who has achieved distinction in architectural design.

How Can Facilities Contribute to the Mental Health of Cancer Patients and Their Families Within Their Treatment in Architecture? by Nelson L. Quirindongo-Rodríguez, B.Arch ’25
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres & Pilarín Ferrer-Viscasillas

Cancer is one of the main public health crises in Puerto Rico, with more than 303,000 people diagnosed in 2020. This disease not only affects the body, but also profoundly alters the emotional and mental health of patients and their families. Emotions such as fear, anxiety, sadness, and uncertainty constantly accompany the oncological process, and often do not receive the necessary treatment or attention.

This work proposes a comprehensive and humane approach to cancer, recognizing the importance of mental health at all stages of treatment. The incorporation of interdisciplinary strategies is key, including therapeutic architecture and connection with nature. In particular, it highlights the value of biophilia, a movement that recognizes the innate link between humans and nature.

The design of spaces that integrate natural elements such as gardens, natural light, and cross ventilation can significantly contribute to reducing stress, improving mood, and fostering resilience in patients. This includes views of the sea, for example, which offer a multisensory experience that calms the mind, relieves tension, and promotes introspection and hope.

In addition to treating cancer clinically, it is necessary to address emotional suffering in a conscious and compassionate manner. The physical environment plays an active role in this process, and by including biophilic elements and visual or direct access to nature, a more complete healing environment can be created.

In conclusion, coping with cancer requires a holistic approach that combines medicine, mental health, and design. In this way, not only is the disease combated, but the person is accompanied in a process of deep, dignified, and hopeful healing.

Instagram: @nlqr.arch

Addressing the Shortage of the Veterinarian Profession in Puerto Rico and Its Effect on Animal Care by Alejandra M. Quiñones-Velázquez, B.Arch ’25
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Jesús O. García-Beauchamp & Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

Veterinarians play a crucial role in taking care of animal health and welfare, public health, environmental protection, food safety, and medical research. However, a global shortage of veterinarians has emerged, exacerbated by increased pet ownership and insufficient capacity to train professionals. Puerto Rico only has 300 veterinarians, facing a shortage outside the metropolitan area, where the center of the island lacks veterinary services. With over 643,000 households owning pets, this scarcity has tangible consequences for animal welfare and public health.

This research proposes an integrated architectural solution: a comprehensive veterinary education and care facility in Mayagüez, strategically located near the former zoo and a natural lake. The site was chosen for its potential for growth, semi-isolated setting, zoning compliance, and opportunity to merge architecture with nature. The proposed facility houses a veterinary school, research laboratories, a clinic for small and large animals, equine stables, and on-site housing for students and faculty. Designed to meet American Veterinary Medical Association accreditation standards, the center will allow students to complete their training locally and expand access to quality veterinary care across Puerto Rico.

Design strategies focus includes segregation of species, articulation of the landscape to foster connection and interaction, connection of spaces with nature, and noise control. Design thinking in the site is organized around a central axis and a lake that forms the heart of the project—creating an articulated space where landscape and built environment interact harmoniously. Outdoor areas will serve as peaceful, shaded environments for interaction and learning, while architectural consistency across buildings ensures a cohesive and professional atmosphere.

By combining education, clinical care, and research in one facility, the veterinarian shortage will be addressed, creating a new generation of professionals and enhancing animal and community well-being in Puerto Rico.

Click here to learn more. 

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

Instagram: @alemar1347

Building Wellness: Integrating Nature and Design to Prevent Diabetes by Daniela M. Ruiz-Rosado, B.Arch ’25
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres & Pilarín Ferrer-Viscasillas

Diabetes is one of the most pressing public health issues in Puerto Rico, where nearly half a million people live with the disease—equivalent to one in every six residents. Type 2 diabetes, in particular, is closely linked to lifestyle factors such as physical inactivity and poor nutrition. This research explores how architecture can become a proactive tool in the prevention of this chronic illness by promoting healthy behaviors in the built environment.

This project proposes the Integral Diabetes Prevention Center, located in Río Piedras, within the grounds of Hospital Auxilio Mutuo and adjacent to the University of Puerto Rico’s Sports Complex. The selected site offers a strategic opportunity to serve two target populations: young adults between the ages of 15 and 28, who are at a key stage for adopting preventative habits, and diabetic patients in need of ongoing care and wellness support.

The architectural strategy is rooted in the promotion of an active lifestyle through design. The program includes student residences, extended-stay units for patients, a wellness center with a gym, medical consultation areas, educational spaces, and health-focused commercial areas. A central plaza connects the hospital and the sports complex, acting not only as a circulation node but as a social and interactive public space that fosters movement and community engagement.

The design encourages physical activity through accessible, walkable, and open layouts while also integrating green areas that support mental and physical well-being. By embedding health education, fitness, and healthcare into the spatial experience, the project aims to create an environment that not only treats but actively prevents illness. This research demonstrates how architecture can serve as a catalyst for healthier communities by shaping behaviors and daily routines through intentional, health-centered design.

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

Instagram: @druizrosado00

Birthplace – proposal for an alongside birthing place in Hackney, UK by Sophie Martin, M.ArchD ’25
Oxford Brookes University | Advisor: Francesco Proto

This project seeks to create spaces to support and celebrate birth as a rite of passage, through the development of a new paradigm in maternity care: a worked example of a design for an alongside birthing place for physiological birth in a fragment of natural setting, with views to natural landscapes of water, sky, and moon. Birthing places surrounded by natural/human-scale materials of reed and brick, in urban surroundings close to a hospital.

Focusing on creating an atmosphere to support physiological birth, a route of pavilions to mark each stage in the rite of passage is proposed, using metaphors from popular culture to drive the design. These pavilions will incorporate references to the cycles of the moon to mark the profound transformation of the birthing woman from maiden to mother, and offer a connection between the woman to her place in the cosmos at this liminal time.

The task is a fundamental one: to investigate the effects of form and space on childbirth, families and caregivers. How can the rite that is giving birth once again play a richer central role in communities with a myriad positive outcomes? The incentives to explore this approach would also lead to cost savings – ditch an outdated focus on infection control – pregnancy is not a disease in and of itself. The rates of Cesarean birth and obstetric interventions could drop, and money would be saved if there were a greater proportion of physiological births. (But not through imposing some vaginal birth doctrine from on high, but as a symptom of women and midwives feeling well supported by the place).  

This is not a panacea – wonderful spaces will not impact directly upon staffing levels, maternity budget, political agenda and outdated non evidence based hospital protocol – but begin to give women and midwives a sense of value in their experience, sense of occasion, sense of the gravity of the greatest physiological event for our species, coming as the finale of the greatest feat of human endurance, is an event worth marking. What a fantastic space this would be. 

Instagram: @studio_malmaison, @oxfordschoolofarchitecture

Shelter for Homeless Children in a Farm in Waimānalo by Jessica Aellen, M.Arch ’25
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa | Advisor: Yasushi Ishida

This project proposes a mixed-use residential and therapeutic shelter for homeless youth ages 14 to 24, located on a farm in Waimānalo, Oʻahu. It supports RYSE, a nonprofit organization serving youth experiencing homelessness in Hawaiʻi, where rates are among the highest in the U.S. Many of these teenagers face mental health challenges, and this project aims to provide not just shelter, but healing, dignity, and connection to nature.

The building is designed for a small community and blends with the surrounding farmland through soft, horizontal forms that echo the nearby mountain landscape. It includes therapy and gathering spaces, private rooms, communal kitchens, and outdoor areas that support reflection and social connection.

Key features include a raised outdoor terrace, curving interior corridors that promote privacy and comfort, and the use of natural materials such as wood-fiber insulation. The structure is made of lightweight metal framing and wood components, chosen to reduce environmental impact and allow flexibility in construction.

The architecture prioritizes openness, safety, and well-being through passive design and biophilic principles. By fostering both physical and emotional healing, this project demonstrates how architecture can play a meaningful role in helping vulnerable youth reconnect with themselves, with others, and with the land.

This project received recognition at the Hawai‘i Architectural Foundation (HAF) Awards. 

Instagram: @yasushi_ishida_arc

Center of Hope by Arushi Singhal, M.Arch ’25
Boston Architectural College | Advisors: Russel Feldman & Ian F. Taberner

“The Center for Hope” explores how architecture can serve as a catalyst for emotional and psychological healing in the context of palliative cancer care. Situated overlooking the Jamaica Pond in Boston, the healing center merges the therapeutic qualities of nature with innovative design to support patients, their families, and caregivers. Unlike traditional hospital environments that prioritize clinical and programmatic efficiency, the project focuses on creating spaces that evoke hope, foster introspection, and build community. The central idea of this thesis is to investigate how architecture transcends physical form to influence emotional resilience. Grounded in phenomenology, the project investigates how spatial layouts, material tactility, light, and biophilic elements contribute to the healing process.

A hybrid program of contemplative spaces, therapy rooms, community courtyards, and meditative gardens, these spaces are designed to accommodate a diversity of needs and emotional states, offering agency to users through choice and comfort. Importantly, the center opens itself to the neighborhood—welcoming local residents to participate in communal activities, wellness events, or moments of pause along their daily routes. This act of inclusion not only normalizes the presence of illness within the city but transforms the Center into a reciprocal civic gesture—an anchor of care that gives back to its urban surroundings. As part of Boston’s Emerald Necklace, the design becomes a threshold between healthcare and everyday life, offering both a contemplative refuge and a socially engaged urban insertion.

This project received “Commends for Thesis.”

Transformative Architecture for Incarceration Reform by Methusela C. Mulenga, M.Arch ’25
Boston Architectural College | Advisors: Ralph Jackson & Ian F. Taberner

This thesis explores the potential of architecture to facilitate transformative reforms within the incarceration system through human-centric design strategies, specifically focusing on youth demographics. It highlights the pressing need for intervention, as many young individuals are often held for non-criminal offenses or are awaiting trial. By examining the unique challenges faced by these youths, the project envisions architectural spaces that promote hope and healing, allowing for improved mental health and a sense of purpose while they transition back to society. To underpin this exploration, the research begins by analyzing statistics regarding youth incarceration. By identifying this specific population, the thesis emphasizes the importance of integrating appropriate resources and technology within the building typology. It argues that providing detained individuals with educational tools and a supportive environment can significantly enhance their mental well-being and self-improvement opportunities, ultimately aiding their reintegration efforts.

The design approach prioritizes essential elements such as natural light, access to nature, privacy, and educational opportunities that contribute to an environment conducive to healing. The thesis outlines architectural interventions that incorporate calming colors, recreational spaces, and vocational training facilities, proposing that these features can prepare youths for successful reintegration while reducing the risk of homelessness. The goal is to create welcoming and inclusive transition spaces that foster community connection and emotional support. 

Lastly, the thesis investigates global prison systems, defining “transition spaces” as environments that improve the experience of those incarcerated. It emphasizes the significance of architectural design reforms that promote rehabilitation and community connections while addressing safety and well-being for both inmates and staff. By proposing a building typology that is accessible and connected to the community, this research aims to demonstrate how thoughtful architectural considerations can reshape the landscape of incarceration into spaces that offer a renewed sense of belonging and purpose for youth in transition.

This project received “Commends for Thesis.”

In Between by Polina Korolkova, M.Arch ’25
Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: Julie Bauer

“In Between” is a holistic housing and education project designed specifically for young mothers and pregnant teens navigating a transitional moment in life—in between adolescence and adulthood, dependency and independence, challenge and potential. The project aims to provide not only shelter, but dignity, stability, and opportunity through architecture that nurtures growth and support.

The program integrates residential units with an educational facility and community services, creating a safe and empowering environment. The school component, located on the ground floor, features multiple accessible entrances to accommodate daily routines with strollers, caregivers, and young children. Classrooms, counseling rooms, and communal kitchens are woven into the educational wing, ensuring support extends beyond academics to life skills and wellness.

Above, modular housing units made from precast Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) offer sustainable, warm, and efficient living. Each unit includes a private balcony, natural daylight, and a small courtyard connection—spaces that support healing, reflection, and parenting. Flexibility in the module layout allows for varying family sizes and future adaptability.

Shared gardens, childcare areas, and lounges are dispersed across the site to create a soft rhythm of private and communal life. These in-between spaces encourage informal connections, peer support, and a sense of belonging—turning a temporary stay into a place of pride and transformation.

Structurally, the project employs a hybrid system: the concrete ground floor provides acoustic isolation and structural strength for the learning and gathering areas, while the lightweight CLT units above minimize embodied carbon and construction disruption. The material palette is intentionally soft, natural, and restorative, echoing the project’s core values.

In Between is not just a building—it is a framework for second chances, built with care, strength, and the belief that architecture can be a partner in healing and growth.

This project received the Book Award.

Instagram: @k.poli.na, @julie.e.bauer

Return to Earth, End of Life Care in Northern St. Louis by Hannah Grau, M.Arch ’25
Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: Julie Bauer

Research in Northern St. Louis reveals a need for palliative and end-of-life care. The project proposes a place [where] those who are at the end stages of life may experience tranquility, celebration, remembrance, spirituality, and a connection with nature. In this program, domestic-scale housing is an active departure from medical room typologies, instead inviting warmth, comfort, rest, respite, and space. Outside of the residential grain of the program, there are spaces to gather, celebrate, commemorate, pray, meditate, nap, bathe, sit in the sun, feel the air, and be surrounded by caregivers and loved ones. The space is accessible, welcoming, and easy to navigate. It is situated along the Mississippi River and looks to bring back communal retreat by creating public garden spaces of memorium, celebration, and gathering. The materiality, textures, nourishment, and outdoor observance will provide connections with nature, connections with memory, and connections with healing. Focusing on the small moments of high-touch, high-interaction, and deep rest, the space will offer permeating peace in both the built and unbuilt environments.

This project received a Book Award.

Instagram: @grauhannah, @julie.e.bauer

RE-ENTRY RE-IMAGINED, Transitional Housing & Support for Previously Incarcerated Young Men by Abigail Fonville, M.Arch ’25
Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: Julie Bauer

“They said it was a revolving door. But I always asked, did anyone ever take the time to figure out why the door kept revolving?” —Ta’janette Sconyers, Former St. Louis Juvenile Detention Center Employee

A transitional housing proposal designed to support young men, ages 12 to 21, as they transition from juvenile detention toward self-sufficient adulthood. The program spans four buildings and offers a campus-like setting that maximizes the site’s potential, encouraging daily movement and fresh air, luxuries absent in the St. Louis Juvenile Detention facility. At its core, the program focuses on housing. Residents live in minimally furnished units that promote a sense of ownership and autonomy over their space. These units are organized into pods of 2 to 4 individuals, each sharing a communal living space that encourages connection and support. Beyond housing, the campus includes a woodshop and a training kitchen where participants gain hands-on experience and develop practical skills for future employment. Located in the Grand Arts neighborhood, a vibrant mix of cultural, commercial, and residential activity, “Re-entry Reimagined” emphasizes the importance of being a part of the community for a successful reintegration. For young men who have served their time and have nowhere else to go, this is a place to call home.

This project won the Widmann Prize. 

Instagram: @bigail_fonville, @julie.e.bauer

Stay tuned for Part V!

2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part III

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Today’s installment of the 2025 Study Architecture Student Showcase highlights innovation in technology and artificial intelligence (AI). In Part III, we look at senior projects that reimagine how technology can transform architectural practices, human experiences, sustainability, and design workflows. You may find yourself asking: What happens when AI is used as a co-designer? 

From smart cities in Puerto Rico to augmented reality, each project will broaden your perspective on the capabilities of technology in design. 

Browse the projects below!

Urban Metamorphosis: Smart Cities Resignifying Spaces by Ramón L. Meléndez-García, B.Arch ‘25
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres & Juan C. Santiago-Colón

This research investigates the urban regeneration of Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, through the strategic implementation of smart city principles adapted to local needs. In response to widespread physical, social, and economic decay—evident in abandoned lots, deteriorated infrastructure, and declining public life—the study proposes a multidimensional framework that reimagines the urban fabric through technological innovation, sustainable development, and architectural intervention.

Departing from mainstream smart city models centered solely on digital efficiency, this study develops a localized smart city theory that combines cultural identity, community participation, and advanced technologies. The proposal includes the integration of smart housing, cultural and educational hubs with augmented reality capabilities, green infrastructure, efficient public transportation, and urban data nodes to improve services and connectivity. Core technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Big Data are utilized to inform urban planning decisions, support sustainability, and foster civic engagement.

Río Piedras is positioned as a prototype for urban acupuncture, where vacant and underused parcels are reactivated as strategic anchors for community life, innovation, and economic growth. The intervention emphasizes not only technological transformation but also the importance of contextual design—bridging the gap between historic architecture and contemporary urban needs.

By transforming obsolete spaces into adaptive smart infrastructures, the project demonstrates how urban regeneration can be achieved through a balance of innovation and local identity. This research presents a replicable smart city model for Latin American contexts, focused on equitable access to services, environmental responsibility, and inclusive urban development.

Ultimately, the study reframes smart cities as people-centered ecosystems, where technology, space, and society coalesce to create resilient, livable, and forward-looking urban environments.

Fold Me a Path: An Experience of Fractured Flow by Farah Swilam, M.ArchD ’25
Oxford Brookes University | Advisors: Adam Holloway, Elliot Krause & Deniz Topcuoglu

Distortion:

This project explores how fractured geometry and pattern-based aggregation can be reimagined through artificial intelligence to generate new kinds of human experiences in architecture. At its core is the idea of distortion—reshaping familiar systems like Islamic pattern growth and crystallographic expansion through AI to produce forms that feel intuitive yet unfamiliar.

Crystallization:

Inspired by how crystals grow—from a single point to complex geometries—the architecture builds on repetition, branching, and fracture. These logics were first tested physically and digitally, then handed over to AI as a co-designer. Trained on sketches, models, and prompts around fragmented patterns and public infrastructure, the AI generated outputs that became provocations, not solutions.

Narrative:

The result is a prefabricated ferry terminal on Istanbul’s Golden Horn waterfront—where infrastructure becomes a spatial narrative. Modular units cluster and grow across a path, shifting in orientation and size to guide a fractured journey from land to water, compression to openness.

Behavior:

AI simulations shaped the plan by mapping how curiosity, comfort, and pressure influence movement. These behavioral zones structured flows for tourists and commuters, varying path widths and densities to create both fast transitions and moments of pause.

Shell:

Externally, the terminal’s form draws from a library of AI-generated crystal geometries—clustered, mirrored, and oriented to respond to light, program, and views. The fragmented skin filters shadow and light, echoing Istanbul’s energy while remaining grounded in geometric order.

Assembly:

Constructed from prefabricated timber shells and CNC-milled panels, the structure sits lightly on steel piers over water. Brass cladding reflects the city’s historic palette. Passive strategies like cross-ventilation and rainwater harvesting are integrated into the system, and prefabrication minimizes urban disruption.

Resonance:

Ultimately, “Fold Me a Path” is a proposal for architecture that listens—guided by AI, rooted in culture, and attuned to human experience.

Instagram: @acciofxra7_, @holloway_arch

Gastro-Genesis by Dana Otoom, B.Arch ’25
American University in Dubai | Advisor: José Antonio Carrillo

Exploring the intersection of architecture, gastronomy, and parametric design through the creation of edible objectiles-geometrically-driven food forms that act as catalysts for designing an entire multisensory dining experience. Drawing from the theories of Bernard Cache, Greg Lynn, and Patrik Schumacher, the project translates infinite variability into spatial and experiential diversity. Each objectile is generated through a parametric algorithm based on flavor perception, sensory attributes, and contextual cues such as temperature, aroma, and emotional response. The edible forms define not only the food but also influence the design of cutlery, furniture, spatial layout, and user journey within a dining environment. Set in the UAE, the project culminates in a metabolically inspired spatial sequence that mirrors digestion, transitioning from urban farming to sensory labs, with the buffer zone acting as a sensory terrain of sweet, rounded objectiles to ease entry and exit.

Click here for a closer look.

Instagram: @danaaotoom, @d.otoom, @j.carrilloandrada

Biosphere by Shrilaxmi Nair, Sharanya Mathrudev & Parth Solanki, M.Arch ’25
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Advisor: Yun Kyu Yi

The landscape of architectural design is rapidly evolving with advances in 3D modeling, rendering software, and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI). While tools like Stable Diffusion, DALL·E, and Midjourney have transformed illustration by allowing users to generate images from text prompts, architecture is now seeing its own set of AI tools tailored for design professionals. These tools can assist in generating building forms, interior styles, façade systems, and code-compliant floor plans, while also supporting layout optimization. As these tools become more powerful and accessible, they are beginning to reshape how architects approach the design process.

This shift is prompting reflection within architectural practice: Should traditional skills like manual representation and code literacy remain central, or should designers explore how to engage critically and creatively with AI? Rather than replacing the designer, AI has the potential to enhance creativity and support more thoughtful, design-driven decision-making.

This project explored the role of AI not simply as a visualization tool, but as an active collaborator in the design process. The work focused on three key phases where AI tools were integrated into schematic design: Concept Development, Concept Actualization, and Objective-Based Form Finding. Through this exploration, the project aimed to understand how AI can shape design workflows, support ideation, and open new directions for architectural thinking and practice.

This project is inspired by Jeju Island, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The design celebrates Earth, Air, and Water through architecture that blends with nature. Earth|Terra, the tower, reflects the volcanic rock found in Jeju and represents it through biomimicry and sustainability. Air|Zephyr, the bridge, flows seamlessly between land and water, evoking balance and calm. Water|Octo, inspired by Jeju’s Haenyo divers, serves as a cultural immersion center and coral observatory, honoring resilience and ecological harmony.

Instagram: @shrilaxmi_nair, @sharanya__2000, @iamparthsolanki, @ral_isoa

Embrace – Performative Connections by  Alejandro Arizpe, Stephanie Balbin, Javier Fano, Emily Guerrero, Erica Herrera, Kevin Linton, Raul Montalvo, Danny Murray, Ricardo Reyes, Sarah Staten, Gustavo Tirado, Jennifer Villarreal & John Zerda, B.Arch ’25
University of Texas at San Antonio | Advisor: Armando Araiza

At its core, architecture is a choreography of connections. In this advanced research studio, students explored assembly not as an afterthought, but as the generative principle for design. Through a semester-long investigation, they studied how different elements, digital, material, and structural, come together to form performative wholes.

The studio began with an in-depth analysis of joints and bonding methods across disciplines and histories, treating the connection itself as both an aesthetic and structural act. From laser-cut prototypes to iterative digital models, each student developed a speculative connection system, refined through hands-on experimentation.

These efforts converged in the fabrication of a full-scale, inhabitable prototype. Built collaboratively and rapidly deployed, the final installation tested how a single connection logic could drive formal, spatial, and assembly decisions. With no hierarchy between part and whole, the project revealed how connection is not just a means of construction, it’s a way of thinking, making, and inhabiting space.

Instagram: @armando_araiza

The Waterscape: UNDERGRADUATE LIBRARY by  Kay Hau, Yogitha Reddi & Taylor Solomon, M.Arch ’25
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Advisor: Yun Kyu Yi

Architectural design is undergoing a major transformation with advancements in 3D modeling, rendering software, and, more recently, artificial intelligence (AI). Tools like Stable Diffusion, DALL·E, and Midjourney have revolutionized illustration by enabling users to generate visuals from text prompts. Now, architecture is seeing the emergence of AI tools specifically developed for design professionals. These tools assist in generating building forms, interior designs, façade systems, and code-compliant floor plans, while also optimizing layouts. As they become increasingly powerful and accessible, AI technologies are redefining how architects approach the design process.

This evolution is sparking important questions within architectural practice: Should traditional skills like hand drawing and code literacy still hold central importance, or should designers embrace new ways to engage critically and creatively with AI? Rather than replacing the designer, AI has the potential to amplify creativity and encourage more thoughtful, design-driven decisions.

This project investigated the role of AI not just as a tool for visualization, but as a true collaborator in the design process. It focused on three key stages where AI was incorporated into schematic design: Concept Development, Concept Actualization, and Objective-Based Form Finding. The goal was to explore how AI can influence design workflows, spark new ideas, and open up innovative directions for architectural thought and practice.

“The Waterscape” reimagines the UIUC Undergraduate Library site through three central ideas: Nexus, Senses, and Encapsulation. Drawing inspiration from the library’s legacy as a communal space, the design emphasizes sensory experiences—sight, sound, and touch—while maintaining the site’s natural environment and uncovering its hidden subterranean layers. Using AI tools such as ComfyUI, Neural Network, and DeepGaze, the design team explored form-making approaches that maximize daylight and collect water efficiently. The result is a passive cooling system that activates and unifies the three-tiered space.

This project received an Honorable Mention for the Ratio Prize, Spring 2025.

Instagram: @kaylhau, @ral_isoa

Sculpted Time by Layla Danelle Neira, B.Arch ’25
New Jersey Institute of Technology | Advisor: Andrzej Zarzycki

Project Description:

“Sculpted Time” is an augmented reality (AR) project designed to deepen community engagement with the large stone sculptures on NJIT’s campus. Despite their scale and presence, I noticed many students and visitors pass by them without knowing their significance. I wanted to create an experience that reintroduces these sculptures in a more dynamic and relatable way—inviting people to reflect on the tension between the permanence of stone and the fleeting nature of the technology these sculptures represent.

The project is ultimately an application where users can scan a sculpture and have immersive AR experiences that engage multiple senses. Through context-aware environments and storytelling, “Sculpted Time” aims to transform how we engage with public art on campus and rethink our role in an age of rapid technological change—especially within the context of NJIT, where many of us are preparing for careers in tech-driven fields.

Methodology:

This was my first time working with AR technology beyond social media filters, so much of the early stages were marked by experimentation and guidance from my studio professor, Andrzej Zarzycki. I developed the project using tools such as Unity for building the immersive AR environments, Kiri Engine for photogrammetry and 3D modeling, and Vuforia for marker-based AR tracking.

Since the final outcome was a functioning app prototype, I also had to learn and apply UI/UX design principles to ensure the experience was both user-friendly and intuitive. Designing the interface and user interactions became just as important as developing the AR content itself. This part of the process felt more familiar to me since my background in architecture helped me approach spatial planning, visual hierarchy, and user flow with confidence.

Click here for a closer look.

This project was recognized at NJIT’s Dana Knox Research Showcase, 2025.

Instagram: @laylan981, @andrzejzarzycki

Tame Your Mushroom by Tova Gold, M.Arch ’25
New York Institute of Technology | Advisor: Sandra Manninger

“How To Train Your Mushroom- Fungal Computation, Toward Sustainable Biocomputing in Architecture”

This research explores fungal bioelectricity as a foundation for sustainable, living computational systems with potential applications in architecture. Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushrooms) exhibit stimulus-responsive electrical activity analogous to neural computation. While traditionally studied for ecological roles, fungal mycelium demonstrates capacities for memory, adaptive behavior, and environmental sensing, positioning it as a viable substrate for biologically embedded computation within architectural systems.

Controlled experiments involved embedding electrodes into living fungal colonies to record voltage fluctuations under mechanical pressure, light exposure, and thermal stimuli. Time-series features from these electrical signals were processed and analyzed using convolutional neural networks to classify stimulus types. Preliminary results indicate distinct waveform patterns associated with different environmental inputs, suggesting that fungal networks encode information through structured bioelectrical signaling.

These findings highlight the potential of mycelium as a living sensor network capable of integration into architectural assemblies. Responsive to light, heat, mechanical stress, or air quality, fungal materials offer a pathway to architectural systems that adapt in real time to their environment. Unlike conventional computing systems, fungal substrates require minimal energy input, operate at ambient temperatures, and are biodegradable—aligning with goals of ecological design and regenerative material practices.

In architecture, fungal biocomputing implies a shift from inert, passive materials toward active, sensing infrastructures. Mycelium may serve not only as a sustainable building component but also as a medium for distributed computation, enabling novel forms of environmental interactivity and feedback. Moreover, fungal information processing—distributed, embodied, and chemically mediated—resonates with emerging paradigms in architecture that reject centralized control in favor of non-linear, rhizomatic systems.

By combining fungal electrophysiology, machine learning, and computational design, this research redefines the role of material intelligence in architecture and proposes a future in which built environments are both materially and computationally alive.

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Stay tuned for Part III!

2024 Student Showcase Call for Projects

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For the last five years, Study Architecture has put out a call to architecture school faculty from around the world to nominate graduating students whose work exemplifies excellence in architectural education. This year, we invite you to submit your student’s most impressive work to be featured in the 2024 Fall Student Showcase on Study Architecture’s website and social media.

Submission deadline: July 1, 2024

Click here to be directed to a Google form where you can nominate your students and submit their work.

We hope by sharing a glimpse into what architecture students create while in school, more students will begin to take an interest in the architecture field and potentially apply to a program that appeals to them. Architecture is a broad field and we are excited to highlight the many unique aspects of design that are submitted.