School News

In this edition of the Carnegie Mellon Architecture Newsletter, we go in-depth on the Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, one of the oldest research centers at the school. We hear from the co-directors, Vivian Loftness, Erica Cochran Hameen and Azadeh O. Sawyer, as well as an alumnus of the program, Siliang Lu (PhD-BPD '19). We also share research from M.Arch travel award winners, who presented their work at a school exhibition and Pecha Kucha 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).

This past July, we lost an enigmatic figure in our community: Art Lubetz. The visionary architect, educator and alumnus had a profound impact on the lives of those he taught, worked and collaborated with. In the weeks following his passing, we collected memories of him from his former students, fellow faculty, mentees, colleagues and those whose lives he touched. Reflect and remember Art through these stories, as told in the words of our community.

Carnegie Mellon Architecture is accepting applications for the Fall 2025 Awards. Applications are due on Friday, October 31, 2025 at 11:59pm ET. Up to more than $80,000 in funding is available to support projects, internships, research and travel for undergraduate, master's and PhD students.

Arthur Lubetz, a visionary architect whose bold and colorful designs transformed Pittsburgh’s architectural landscape, passed away early in the morning on July 4, 2025. Art served as an Adjunct Professor at Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture for over 30 years. He influenced generations of students, as well as his colleagues, the school, and the City of Pittsburgh over the course of his nearly six-decade career.

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.

Carnegie Mellon Architecture is proud to announce the student recipients of our spring 2025 awards program. This spring’s awards provide over $56,000 of funding support to undergraduate, Master's and PhD students. Awards recognize student work in design and representation, public interest design and sustainability, as well as professional promise. We extend our thanks to the juries, and to EPIC Metals for sponsoring the reception following the ceremony.

Assistant Teaching Professor Sarosh Anklesaria is the recipient of the 2025 Henry Hornbostel Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest honor recognizing a teacher in the College of Fine Arts. The award is named after Henry Hornbostel, the first Dean of the College of Fine Arts and the architect of several Carnegie Mellon University buildings. Anklesaria will be recognized at Carnegie Mellon’s Celebration of Education Awards Ceremony on April 24.

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.