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Richard Kennedy Architects
CAPLA West Building Renovation
The award for architecture of distinction is determined by the graduating seniors and given to an architect and/or owner of a structure in the Tucson area, in honor of Roy P. Drachman.

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Laura Hollengreen
This award goes to a faculty or staff member that has strongly supported women students in the college through academic support, guidance, and serving as a positive role model within the past academic school year.

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Oscar Lopez
For his tireless work on chairing the lecture series, events and awards committee that led to this night.

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Dr. Clare Robinson
Service excellence award selected by Director. This award goes to the person that served as Chair of two committees that led to increased organization and success of faculty affairs and curriculum.

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Dr. Altaf Engineer
Research excellence award selected by Director and Associate Dean for Research Bo Yang. This year the award goes to a faculty member that demonstrates excellence in health and wellbeing research in the built environment and has made bridges to faculty in medicine. He also fosters research in his role as the MS.Arch Chair.

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Jesus Robles
Teaching excellence award nominated and voted by students.

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Gregory Veitch, M.Arch
Kaya Orona, B.Arch
The AIA has provided a medal of excellence to the top graduating students in NAAB accredidted degree program including the B.Arch and M.Arch. The award began in 1914 and more than 100 schools annually submit the name of one graduate of a B.Arch and M.Arch program that displays “general excellence” throughout their academic career.

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Kaya Orona
This award is given to the graduating student whose Capstone project best exemplifies those architectural values that Ronald Gourley represented:  simplicity, clarity, honesty, integrity, and naturalness.   The student’s project must illustrate an architecture that respects the earth and integrates positively with its local environment. This award is nominated and voted by faculty.

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Nhan Vo
This award is given to the work that best exemplifies what the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset called a project for life: life as self-invention. Intrinsic to this notion is research and experimentation, the free and ordered play of the imagination, and a methodology that advances theoretical thinking as well as empirical demonstration. A necessary condition of the award is a clear hypothesis that tests the work for verification of fundamental aspects of the human activities of building, dwelling, and thinking. This award is nominated and voted by faculty.

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Felipe Florentino
This award is given to the graduating full-time student project that exemplifies excellence in architectural research and inquiry. This award is nominated and voted by MS.Arch faculty.

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Chumei Rui
This award is given to the MS.Arch student with the highest GPA and demonstrates scholastic performance by confirmation of the MS.Arch Chair.

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Felipe Florentino
This award is given to the graduating full-time student who best demonstrates leadership, positive contribution to the School of Architecture, and scholastic performance by nomination and vote of Faculty teaching in the MS.Arch program.

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Erika Schmidt
This award is given to the graduating full-time student who best demonstrates leadership, positive contribution to the School of Architecture, and scholastic performance by nomination and vote of Faculty teaching in the M.Arch graduate program.

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Kathy Le
This award is for the graduate teaching assistant who has demonstrated an outstanding performance in that role. This award is nominated and voted by M.Arch and MS.Arch faculty.

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B.Arch History Stream Award: Fatima Alsulaiman

M.Arch History Stream Award: Erika Schmidt

B.Arch Studio Stream Award: Abigail Denninghoff
B.Arch Studio Stream Award: Nickolas Witt

B.Arch Practice Stream Award: Alex Provine

M.Arch Practice Stream Award: Rista Vasiljevic

B.Arch Technology Stream Award: Maggie Collopy

M.Arch Technology Stream Award: Gregory Veitch

B.Arch D.Comm Stream Award: Jonah Cummins-Mikkalson

M.Arch D.Comm Stream Award: Clarissa Becerril
This award is for one student per stream that demonstrates excellence in that knowledge domain. To present the stream awards, I invite the stream coordinators to come up to congratulate the awardees. This award is nominated and voted by stream faculty.

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Erica Pilotin
This award is given to one student per ARCC member college, school, institute, or unit. Selection of recipients is at the discretion of the individual member institutions, but is based upon criteria that acknowledge innovation, integrity, and scholarship in architectural and/or environmental design research. This award is nominated and voted by faculty.

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David Zuniga
This award is for the undergraduate teaching assistant who has demonstrated an outstanding performance in that role. This award is nominated and voted by faculty.

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Kaya Orona
This medal is awarded to the graduating professional degree student who has shown an outstanding ability for leadership, performed willing service to the public and the school and who shows promise of true professional merit determined by nomination and vote of the faculty.

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Outstanding Senior Award for a Bachelor of Architecture Student

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Outstanding Senior Award for a Bachelor of Architecture Student

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Hallie Letsinger
This award is made to the graduating senior who has demonstrated outstanding qualities of academic and personal achievement. The award is nominated and voted by faculty.

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Studio Rick Joy Prize Honorable Mention Projects

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Studio Rick Joy Prize Honorable Mention Projects

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Melack Albargash - ARC410f

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Nickolas Witt - ARC498
Jed Perea - ARC301

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CAPLA SoA Design Excellence Honorable Mention Projects

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CAPLA SoA Design Excellence Honorable Mention Projects

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Gabriel Garcia - ARC201
Abdullah Alobaid - ARC301
Brandon Willmon - ARC401
Solar Decathlon Studio - ARC410f
Nhan Vo - ARC410f
Matthew Dulon - ARC498
Serena Wahl - ARC498
Nicolas Montano - ARC510c

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CAPLA SoA Design Excellence Winning Projects

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CAPLA SoA Design Excellence Winning Projects

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Merle Weisshaupt - ARC202
Jed Perea - ARC301
Alexis Campion - ARC401
Melack Albargash - ARC410f
Hallie Letsinger - ARC410f
Nickolas Witt - ARC498
Studio MOYO - ARC498
Christian Walker - ARC510d

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Prof. Teresa Rosano | ARC410f Spring 2023

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Selected Honorable Mention Project Melack Albargash

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Selected Honorable Mention Project Melack Albargash

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The Identifying Mind – Keen Observations and Translation of Identity of Place

Juror’s Gleanings
This studio asked students to translate abstract concepts and ideas into architecture that creates and facilitates powerful emotional experiences.

In an ever-dramatic news cycle of crises from environmental disasters, climate, health, and socio-political implications, we want to acknowledge the thoughtful approach with ‘taking on’ such complex and far-reaching topics of war, migration, displacement, and future settlement and integration.

The Refugee Community Center identifies complexities of conflict and its consequences. It successfully shows how architecture with a purpose can help create spaces of memory and belonging. The proposal counters initial displacement with a new identity of place. This is achieved through cultural inspiration and the integration of familiar traditional patterns to an otherwise open desert shade structure for community gatherings.

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Prof. Eduardo Guerrero | ARC301 Fall 2022

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The Architectural Mind – Materiality, Program and Detail support conceptual thinking as it relates to experience.

Juror’s Gleanings
This Studio focuses on People and Place – synthesizing themes of Integrations of Place and Universal Design. The Project Brief is the design of a Performance + Art Center to engage the Bisbee community, art culture and local economy.

This project addresses the issues of shifting identities within a rural community and puts into question what the contributions of architecture and economic opportunity could be.

We commend not only the graphic development of the project, halfway into the 5-year education, but also the intuitive and thoughtful proposal with a clear architectural intent. This is articulated within the structural expression, implied material choice, spatial considerations in layout, and the progression over the three levels -- with respectful response to the steep infill site of a historic mining town.

This sensitivity is further expressed through the tactile quality of the rendered perspectives and sections. The active thinking of the architectural mind is well presented from concept to plan.

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Prof. Christopher Domin | ARC498 (Meta)Physics of Light Capstone

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The Generous Mind – Being Conceptually Insightful and Giving

Juror’s Gleanings
Stated within the Capstone Studio Pedagogy, a research cluster with Light at its core, the final capstone project encourages students to apply the gained understanding of Light – scientifically, technically, and culturally, and beyond the ‘masterly, correct, and magnificent play of masses’; and the physiological, psychological, and affective impacts of operating within a dynamic environment and economy of atmosphere and energy.

The sensual graphic representation of this project, the site and specific place is sensed through the minute detail of the drawings and rendered perspectives, all at once activating abandoned fields and vacant areas into a dreamlike image of the ‘what if’, and ‘if, what could be’. This questioning resonates with Studio Rick Joy’s approach of staging life, thinking in scenarios and atmospheres, grounding experiences, and in making place.

This project applies a pragmatic and systematic architectural move across three distinctly different experiences and zones, grounding a lofty idea, leaving us with evocative images and allowing us to dream of a better tomorrow.

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Lesly Acosta, Amanda Attakai, Itzel Fimbres, Trentin Gala, Bradyn Hashiro, Dara Le, Waverly Mellies, Valerir Rauh, Alan Romo, Johnathan Szymanowski, Dongting Xi, Srutarshi Adhikari, Clarissa Becerril, Kevin McQuaid, Amanda Petr, Erika Schmidt, Sepideh Sharaifi, Risat Vasiljevic

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Option Studio

COMPOSITE ARCHITECTURES

Spring 2023

Prof. Michael Silver

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Capstone (P3) + ARC909
(TEAM PROJECT)

Critical Practice Laboratory
Studio MOYO

Spring 2023

Prof. Christopher Trumble
Prof. Altaf Engineer

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Prof. Christopher Trumble + Altaf Engineer

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Jury Comments
The response felt inevitable and reflected the cultural identity of the site. The jury appreciated the thorough amount of research and documentation from research through design.

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Liam G. Leonard, AIA
Liam Leonard, AIA has been working in the field since 2009. Liam has a bachelors of Architecture from the UofA College of Architecture in 2017. He is a licensed Architect in the state of Arizona. He was a member of the Arizona AIA Associates Committee, is now a member of the Arizona AIA 10 Committee, and has been a member of the Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce since 2017.

Liam has worked on a variety of different project types including custom Homes, general Office, Medical Office, Industrial, and Flex Office projects. At CAPLA Liam helped work on the Sentinel House, a Drachman Design-Build Coalition design studio project. The Sentinel House received an AIA Design Excellence Award.

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Liz Farkas, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB
Originally from the Midwest, Liz received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Design and a Master of Architecture from the University of Houston. During her time at UH she was able to study in Saintes, France for a semester and intern with EMBT in Barcelona for several months.

Upon completion of school and travels, Liz worked for a firm in her hometown, finding her way to Arizona in 2004. She’s worked with several Tucson architecture practices including Rob Paulus and Lizard Rock Designs, joining Poster Mirto McDonald in 2016 with a focus on housing and historic preservation.

Liz enjoys employing a collaborative team approach to developing solutions that respond to the specific demands of each project, with a particular interest in the environmental responsibility of those solutions. Liz has been a registered architect in the state of Arizona since 2008, is a LEED Accredited Professional, and has served as a director on the board of the local AIA chapter and as an editor of AIA Arizona’s professional journal.

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Selected Honorable Mention Project Nicolas Montano

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Selected Honorable Mention Project Nicolas Montano

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Jury Comments
Environmentally appropriate response, massing and material selection is thoughtful. The jury felt the success of the project lies in its siting in proximity to the density of ASU and Downtown, as well as its response to the arid environment. The special attention to the private vs. public processions is commended.

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M.Arch lll

Urban Land Ethic

Garfield Housing
Phoenix, AZ

Spring 2023

Prof. Christopher Domin

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Oscar Lopez, Assoc. AIA
Senior Lecturer

CAPLA Academic Events Committee

Events Committee Chair
Oscar Lopez, Assoc. AIA
Senior Lecturer

Committee Members
Beth Weinstein, Bob Perkins, Eric Weber, Hallie Letsinger, Alfredo Quezada

School of Architecture Director
Ryan Smith

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Julie Stewart, AIA

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Rick Joy FAIA, Int. FRIBA
Rick Joy is the founder of Studio Rick Joy, an award-winning architecture, interiors, and planning firm based in Tucson, Arizona. Originally from Maine, Rick studied music and was a classical percussionist and rock/blues drummer until the age of 28 when he moved to Tucson to study Architecture at the University of Arizona. Upon graduation in 1990, Rick began a 3-year appointment as part of the design team for the 280,000sf Phoenix Central Library with William Bruder Architects in Phoenix.

His first major solo project, the Catalina House, was designed shortly after he graduated, and in 1993 Studio Rick Joy (SRJ) was established with Rick as founding/managing principal. Rick is also the co-founder/owner of CLL Concept Lighting Lab with his wife Claudia Kappl Joy. CLL provides full-service Lighting Design for all SRJ projects in addition to outside firms.

Rick periodically serves as visiting professor at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, Rice University, M.I.T. and the University of Arizona, and for years has led the Immersion Vermont Masterclass, an annual week-long program for mid-career architects that he founded. Rick has lectured internationally and is considered an important contributor to the ongoing global discourse on conceptual and sustainable architecture. His work expresses innovation and exactitude in modernism and reflects a unique sense of place.

Most significantly, Rick received the 2002 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Architecture and in 2004 won the prestigious National Design Award from the Smithsonian Institute/Cooper-Hewitt Museum (White House Ceremony). In 2015 Rick was vested into the American Institute of Architects’ College of Fellows and the Royal Institute of British Architects’ RIBA International College of Fellows. In winter of 2019 he was inducted into the Design Hall of Fame.

Professional affiliations include The College of Fellows of The American Institute of Architects, The American Academy of Arts and Letters, Tucson MOCA Advisory Board Member.

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M.Arch ll

Native American and Indigenous Community Center

Spring 2023

Prof. Laura Carr

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Victor Sidy, AIA, LEED AP
Victor Sidy, AIA LEED AP, is an award-winning architect, educational leader, and advocate for quality in the built environment. He received his architectural training from the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture after receiving the Flinn Foundation Scholarship and Robert C. Byrd Scholarship. He has worked with artists, architects, and planners in Russia, the Netherlands, France, Vietnam, and throughout the United States. Mr. Sidy hosted a television series on architecture for EMG Satellite Television that aired from 1996 to 1998 and was the youngest member of Architecture Magazine's 1999 feature "Young Americans." Mr. Sidy has been managing principal of the architectural firm Victor Sidy Inc./ Victor Sidy Architect since 2000, and is professor of practice for the Master of Real Estate Development program at the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. Mr. Sidy served as Head of School and Dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture in Scottsdale, Arizona and Spring Green, Wisconsin from 2005 to 2015.

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Jury Comments
Beautifully conceived, beautifully executed. The jury appreciated the use of light throughout the project, even in the graphic presentation. The different light qualities of the seasons are on full display, articulating the programmatic elements.

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Selected Winning Project Merle Weisshaupt

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Selected Winning Project Merle Weisshaupt

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Jury Comments
The jury appreciated the way the project transitioned from the open gathering space adjacent to the site, funneling procession participants and visitors through a wide aperture and stairs. Supported by the massing and transparency of the building, the interior procession becomes introspective.

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Maurita Harris, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP
Maurita joined the PHX Architecture team in 2010. She is a licensed Architect in the State of Arizona and has attained her NCARB Certification. She is also a LEED-​Accredited Professional and has completed the Certified Sustainable Building Advisor Program. Maurita is also a founding member and is the current President of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), Arizona Chapter. In the Spring of 2021, she was appointed by the Mayor and City Council to the City of Phoenix Alhambra Village Planning Committee.

Originally from Ohio, Maurita received both her Bachelors of Science in Architecture and Bachelor of Architecture degree from Kent State University. As part of her undergraduate studies, she also participated in the KSU CAED European Program in Florence, Italy and Lugano, Switzerland.

In her role as Senior Architect and Project Manager, she directs many of our restaurant and hospitality projects from design through construction, mentoring junior staff and collaborating with clients, consultants and builders to provide guidance and technical expertise. Maurita’s design inspiration comes from being a family-oriented person and the desire to create “gathering places”. Recent projects include the Historic Arizona Biltmore Resort Adult Pool, Event Lawn and Spire Bar, Paradise Slide, Entry and Cabanas, Saint Marc USA in California, True Spec Golf Studios on the East and West coasts, and Tia Carmen restaurant at the JW Marriott at Desert Ridge.

Past projects include SumoMaya Mexican Asian Kitchen, the Scottsdale Area Association of Realtors Headquarters, Assumption Greek Orthodox Fellowship Hall, Serenity Hospice, Burger Theory Restaurant in Phoenix and the Historic Wigwam Resort. She also has experience in aviation, higher education, financial and retail projects.

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Laura Vertes, AIA
Laura Vertes, AIA has been with Swaim Associates since 2007 working from associate to registered architect to principal. She is a licensed Architect in the State of Arizona, as well as an NCARB certificate holder and LEED Accredited Professional. Laura currently holds the position of Secretary on the AIA Southern Arizona Board.

Throughout her career, Laura has accrued experience across a wide range of project types and scales, including commercial, education, health care, and university health centers. Laura’s ability to recall critical details makes her adept at translating a program into a functional design. She is committed to bringing the client’s vision to fruition through a collaborative design process. Her contagious enthusiasm and emotional intelligence inspire client trust and foster innovative solutions. Laura has been integral to the success of several large-scale projects in Tucson, including the UniSource tower downtown, the Health Sciences Innovation Building (HSIB) on the UA Health Sciences campus, the TEP Irvington Modernization project, and the Tucson Medical Center Rincon hospital (construction to be completed this year). She is currently working with SmithGroup and DPR on the new AZPM facility to be located at the Bridges.

Laura’s proudest achievement and most complex project remains raising two intelligent and feisty daughters. As a proud University of Arizona CAPLA alumni, she enjoys cheering on the Wildcats and working on University projects whenever she can.

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Design + Build
(TEAM PROJECT)

Design Development and
Construction of Stadium Rowhouses
Tucson, AZ

Fall 2022

Prof. Eric Weber

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Selected Honorable Mention Project Matthew Dulong & Serena Wahl

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Selected Honorable Mention Project Matthew Dulong & Serena Wahl

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Jury Comments
Aspirational yet realistic. The jury appreciated the way the project tackled the policy issues that are hindering infill development in the City of Tucson.

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MS. Arch

Climate Change + Design

Fall 2022

Prof. Susannah Dickinson

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Selected Winning Project Christian Walker

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Selected Winning Project Christian Walker

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Jury Comments
The apertures and angles of the shade structure create moments along the path for activity and reflection. The jury appreciated the way the shade structure morphed into inhabited space. The project is a place that we wanted to be, welcoming and peaceful for the entire community.

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Selected Winning Project Melack Albargash

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Selected Winning Project Melack Albargash

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Jury Comments
Evocative and immersive video that drew us into the project as participants, discovering the concept experientially. The jury appreciated the attention to representation and inclusion that permeated the design.

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Option Studio

Mindfulness + Social Justice
Tucson, AZ

Spring 2023

Prof. Teresa Rosano

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Prof. David Brubaker w/ Alyssa Fink, Seunghu Kim, Michelle Munguia, Kedar Sitapati

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Selected Honorable Mention Project CASA VERDE Solar Decathlon Design Challenge

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Selected Honorable Mention Project CASA VERDE Solar Decathlon Design Challenge

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Jury Comments
Contextually appropriate design that cultivates community. The jury felt that the design fit the context and the design team gave specific attention to the way that residents would live and socialize in the spaces. The extensive environmental analysis and research was appreciated.

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Solar Decathlon
(TEAM PROJECT)

Spring 2023

Prof. David Brubaker

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Prof. Craig Nealy w/ Studio Coordinator, Michael Kothke

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Selected Honorable Mention Project Brandon Willmon

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Selected Honorable Mention Project Brandon Willmon

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Jury Comments
A cohesive campus design utilizing distinct geometries to clearly express the programmatic elements. The jury appreciated the project scale and campus organization of the site.  Beautifully illustrated to express the sustainable concepts.

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Prof. Brian Farling + Shawn Swisher w/ Studio Coordinator, Michael Kothke

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Jury Comments
A soaring celebration of water, anchored to the earth through the massing and programmatic functions. The jury appreciated the way the roof element funnels the water to an active circulation space, with the intent to evaporatively cool the central gathering spaces.

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Prof. Laura Carr w/ Studio Coordinator, Michael Kothke

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Prof. Michael Becherer w/ Studio Coordinator, Michael Kothke