Newsletter

Welcome back for another academic year! In this newsletter, we welcome back our students, faculty and staff and introduce our new focus for the year: the CM—A student experience. We talk to Jeremy Ficca, Associate Head for Design Fundamentals, about our newly refreshed undergraduate studio curriculum. We also hear from the student recipients of last year's travel awards who have shared images from their trips. Finally, don't miss some updates and save the dates for upcoming events with the school.

In this edition of the newsletter, we congratulate and bid farewell to our 2026 CM—A undergraduate, master's and Ph.D. graduates. We interview our 2026 Architecture Diploma Ceremonies alumni speaker Rachel Zsembery (B.Arch '00) and share memories from the diploma ceremony celebrations. We also share a video of this year's final reviews and thesis show.

In this edition of the newsletter, we take a deep dive into the Remaking Cities Institute, one of the major research platforms within CM–A. We also share photos from this year's Spring Carnival pavilion and an announcement about the spring award winners.

This edition of the newsletter celebrates the community and work of Carnegie Mellon Architecture. Head of School Omar Khan reflects on how architectural education at CMU contributes to a bright view of the future. We also share videos and photography from school celebrations this spring, including the PJ Dick Innovation Fund Faculty Grants Program showcase and the "x-change" publication launch and welcome back celebration.

In our last edition of the year, the CM—A Newsletter dives into the Computational Design Laboratory (CodeLab). We talk to its director, Daniel Cardoso Llach, and alum Lydia Schweitzer (MSCD '21) who now works in research at NASA. We also share exciting news: the school launched a publishing imprint, in otherwards, and its inaugural publication "after school"; this year's "x-change" publication will soon be available; and in January, we will celebrate the second round of PJ Dick Innovation Fund awardees.

In this edition of the Carnegie Mellon Architecture Newsletter, we explore the legacy of the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, one of the most storied research centers at the school. We hear from co-directors Vivian Loftness, Erica Cochran Hameen and Azadeh O. Sawyer, as well as an alum of the program, Siliang Lu (PhD-BPD '19). We also learn about research from the M.Arch Travel Awards winners, who presented their work at an exhibition and Pecha Kucha presentation on October 27.

In this edition of the Carnegie Mellon Architecture Newsletter, we introduce our theme for the coming year: the many forms of research that take place at Carnegie Mellon Architecture and the ways that CM–A researchers, research centers and alumni are changing the world through policy and practice. We also share photographs from our annual student exhibition, this year themed "Cabinets of Curiosities" and remembrances of architect, educator and alumnus Art Lubetz (1940-2025).

In this issue of e-SPAN, we say farewell to Mary-Lou Arscott, Associate Studio Professor and Associate Head for Design Fundamentals, who retired this spring after 18 years with the school. We include the story of her unconventional architecture path in her own words. We also share images from this year's Spring Thesis Exhibition, Commencement and the inaugural Building Performance and Diagnostics Symposium which took place at CMU in April.

In this issue of e-SPAN, we explore how industry partnerships can strengthen the research at Carnegie Mellon Architecture by talking to three faculty recipients of the PJ Dick Innovation Fund Faculty Grants Program: Azadeh Sawyer, Vernelle A. A. Noel and Juney Lee. We also invite alumni and friends to join us this year during Spring Carnival Weekend, April 3-5. Finally, we see some images from student travel over spring break.

In this issue of e-SPAN, we dive into a niche area of AI in architectural practice: Building Information Modeling (BIM). We talk to a PhD student, Yael Nester (PhD-AECM ’27), who feels confident that AI cannot replace the human architect's judgment. We then speak with alumnus Jared Friedman (B.Arch ’10) who describes some of the innovative ways he uses BIM and AI in his work as a Computational Product Manager at Walter P Moore. We also get to see work from Tannaz Afshar's (PhD-AECM ’26) in-progress dissertation about deconstruction and material reuse on a university campus. Finally, we recap some exciting recent celebrations, including NOMA Pittsburgh's 10th anniversary gala, where faculty, students and alumni won awards, and the PJ Dick Innovation Fund Faculty Grants Program round one showcase.