_{This award recognizes faculty at CAPLA who has strongly supported women's students in the college during the past school years through academic support guidance in serving as a positive role model.}

Anna Liisa Cheshire - M.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.}

^{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.} 

Ssensable Environments – Paige Daniels

Metaphysics of Light – Elian Moreno

Adaptive Futures – Alexander Bonham

Community Design & Action – All of the Class (see below)

Ricky Arriaga

David Ater

Laurel Auer

Dayton Bay

Jeremiah Beltran

Chelsie Bernal

Ryan Blake

Haleigh Cawthorn

Norah Evans

Darvell Fatt

Grace Golden

Isabella Kyriakopoulos

Ainslie Mellenger

Shadi Rabadi

Kumi Rose

Catie Schneider

Merle Weisshaupt

^{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.} 

_{This award is given to the graduating M.Arch student(s) whose final design project best exemplifies critical practice to meet social and environmental justice, performance, collaboration, research and risk. This award is given by vote of the faculty.}

M.Arch History Stream Award: Anna Liisa Cheshire

B.Arch Practice Stream Award: Merle Weisshaupt

M.Arch Practice Stream Award: Kaitlin Mouisset

B.Arch Technology Stream Award: Brett Lewis

M.Arch Technology Stream Award: Aiko Timmons

B.Arch D.Comm Stream Award: Gabe Garcia

M.Arch D.Comm Stream Award: Anna Liisa Cheshire

^{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.} 

Lecturer

CAPLA Lectures and Events Committee

Lectures and Events Committee Chair

Brendan Shea

Assistant Professor of Practice

Committee Members

Jayani Natarjan, Ella Parsons, Miles Peña, Wilson Peterson AIA, Ashley Simone

School of Architecture Director

Ryan Smith

^{As a Managing Principal in HDR’s Phoenix, Arizona, architecture studio, Tara leverages her network, reputation and experience to establish and maintain long-term relationships with new and existing healthcare clients. As a mentor, Tara encourages designers to engage in imaginative thinking to develop design solutions that meet and exceed the needs of various hospital stakeholders.}

^{An active member of the local design community, Tara is a member of NOMA’s Phoenix chapter, founding chair of the AIA Academy of Architecture for Health Committee, and a member of the Urban Land Institute.}

_{Omar is an associate principal with Shepley Bulfinch. He has a background across a wide spectrum of project types, including K–12 education, higher education, non-profit community spaces, and large-scale urban developments. His career has taken him through dynamic design communities in San Francisco and Chicago, and he now practices out of Shepley Bulfinch’s Phoenix studio. Most recently, Omar completed two transformative multi-family high-rise projects in downtown Phoenix, totaling more than 1 million square feet and 715 market-rate units.}

_{A passionate advocate for equity and representation in the built environment, Omar serves as the immediate past president of NOMA Arizona. He is passionate about mentorship programs such as the Student Career Fair and Project Pipeline. A program that introduces middle school students to architecture and design.Omar is also deeply engaged with AIA Arizona and sits on the board as the representative on equity. His work is grounded in a belief in the power of community engagement and the importance of diversity in design.}

_{Outside the studio, Omar enjoys mountain biking, swimming, and hiking in the Arizona mountains.}

Coordinator: Eduardo Guerrero
Instructors: Cari Alcombright, Michael Kothke, Morgan Oster, Wilson Peterson

Aqua Umbra
Tucson, AZ
Fall 2025
Coordinator: Michael Kothke
Instructors: Laura Carr, Morgan Oster, Myles Peña, Teresa Rosano

Fall 2025
Instructor: Sheehan Wachter

Fall 2025

Instructor: Eduardo Guerrero

Fall 2025

Instructor: Siri Beidler

Fall 2025

Instructor: Eric Weber

Fall 2025
Instructor: Wilson Peterson

Instructor: Jonathan Bean

Spring 2026

Instructor: Brendan Shea

Tuba City, AZ
Spring 2026
Instructor: Laura Carr

Spring 2026
Instructor: Cari Alcombright

From this exhibit, an Awards Chair selected by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Southern Arizona assembles a diverse jury made up of local and non-local professionals to select student projects to receive AIA monetary awards and recognition for Design Excellence.

This years' Design Awards Chair is Miguel Camacho, AIA, NOMA of GLHN Architects in Phoenix.

Spring 2026

Instructor: Christopher Tucker

Tucson, AZ

Fall 2025

Coordinator: Christopher Domin
Instructors: Siri Beidler, Oscar Lopez, Grace McEniry, Stefan Mostert, Brendan Shea

Jury Comments: The jury selected this project for a number of reasons. The shadow caster – section light study is very strong. Being a desert dweller, seeing how shade is provided throughout the year, very thoughtful and well studied, especially for 2nd year. Design was the only one to clearly preserve the existing structure, and the structural expression evoked Rietveldt, as in the Rietveldt-Schroder house.

Jury Notes: The jury felt this entry was simply stunning. The toughtful design and its innovative use of the diagonal wall as a shading device, created an intriguing section. It also created experientially alive spaces in the place between the diagonal wall and building wall. The integration of passive strategies are well done.

Coordinator: Cari Alcombright
Instructors: Zak Bouchetta, Eduardo Guerrero, Jesus Robles, Jack Rodat

Phoenix, AZ

Fall 2025

Instructor: Craig Nealy

Design + Build

Jury Notes: The jury appreciated the ambition of the design-build process and the amount of real-world problem solving required to move the project from concept through fabrication and installation. The work demonstrated a thoughtful understanding of craft, material efficiency, and constructability while maintaining a strong design identity throughout. We especially valued how the students engaged practical constraints without losing the spatial and formal clarity of the proposal. The project successfully bridged design thinking with making in a way that felt authentic and rigorous. This project is simply lovely. It shows a sophistication of complex problem-solving in a beautiful and appropriate solution - feels perfectly Tucson.

The Evolving Plazas

UPGRADING WITHOUT DISPLACEMENT

Amphibious Urbanism in East Boston

SEED WIND WATER EARTH TIME

INFRASTRUCTURE FOR REGENERATION

Group project submission

Jury Comments: The jury appreciated the tectonics and use of materials. Simple forms paid particular attention to wind and sun. The jury also appreciated the toughtful use of rammed earth as both a textural and insulative material.

Jury Notes: The jury felt the design thoughtfully addresses the site by maximizing the linear north–south axis and carving courtyards that respond to the solar studies. The angled walls create spatial and visual interets. The graphics are well executed, and the exhibits are clear, readable, and easy to understand.

Jury Notes: The jury noted that the driving force of the structure is earth and erosion. The structure effectively follows the terrain and carves into the site. The page with the axon views is particularly strong, presenting the program axon alongside the floor plan axon. This approach clearly communicates the spaces and circulation, making it easy to understand the design.

Jury Notes: The jury said the most challenging part of this studio is not just resolving the technical integration of building systems, sustainability, etc. but doing it beautifully and making the project have a sense of resolve. This project explores the exploration of how building systems and art come together to create beautiful spaces. The expression of structure not just as a solution but as an aesthetic is commendable.

The form created by this project was very inviting and the graphics were well executed. The bamboo frame structure was well thought out for an exposed structure in the multi-story open spac

Design + Build

Jury Notes: Quadplex Housing: The jury was very impressed by the overall graphic quality and consistency of the presentation. The axonometric drawings were particularly strong and communicated the project clearly while reinforcing the architectural concept. For a group project, the work felt remarkably cohesive, with a unified visual language and strong attention to detail across scales. The proposal balanced atmosphere, technical thinking, and presentation craft in a compelling way.

Old Main Intervention

The jury appreciated the poetic quality of the project and the way it explored light as a primary architectural experience. There was a compelling contrast between the heavy, grounded base and the light-filled upper structure, creating moments that recalled the atmosphere of inhabiting the rafters of an old building or cathedral. The proposal balanced structural expression and spatial emotion in a sophisticated way. We especially admired how the project transformed an iconic historic building into something experiential and immersive rather than simply preservationist.

Loved the study of different varieties of light – not in only words, in images that illustrated the topic. Especially strong was the interplay of building and water as shown in the Tidal Light series of vignettes. The Glimpse 1 – framed horizon was particularly captivating, the illustration of how reflected light plays off of the water’s surface and combines with sunlight to create a unique, and ever changing, experience of light. I can imagine the dance of the reflected light on the smooth surfaces, and an aliveness being added to the experience of inhabitation.

This project felt like I was looking at a Tadao Ando project. The way the spaces were designed to bounce the light within the structure made me feel like I wanted to experience the space.

I really appreciated how this project addressed a project type that is becoming extinct in our communities: The enclosed mall. I like how they repurposed the space and carved the exterior to allow light in and developed new uses for the space. I can see this concept being applied in many cities across the country.

Lovely solution that feels appropriate and considered. We loved the model and the play of light that results from the layering of spaces.