UCLA Architecture and Urban Design

Congratulations to Ceren Harputoglu and Anjana Ann George (both MSAUD ’26) for receiving an Honorable Mention in the 2026 Advanced Architecture Contest organized by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) for their project, “Floresomatic”.

Developed for “The Automated Abundance: Architecture Between Technology & Governance,” Guvenc Ozel and Michael Peguero’s MSAUD Architectural Intelligence Studio, “this project proposes a new housing paradigm where digital intelligence, urban agriculture, and human experience form a single cyber-physical architectural system.

Responding to climate instability, social fragmentation, and ecological illiteracy, the project reframes housing as an active, living infrastructure: a responsive architectural organism shaped by plant life, sensory feedback, robotic fabrication, embedded AI, and collective participation.

Residents cultivate high-value plant species through immersive, gamified environments, where ecological processes are translated into shifts in light, material, and atmosphere. Across scales, “Floresomatic” imagines housing as part of a distributed ecological network, one that learns from its inhabitants while supporting regeneration, shared responsibility, and new forms of collective life.

See the link in our bio for more from this project.

Among the art on view at this year’s Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is “Visage Brut,” a large-scale installation by Claus Benjamin Freyinger (M.Arch. ’05), lecturer in UCLA Architecture and Urban Design, and Andrew Holder (M.Arch. ’05), co-founders of The Los Angeles Design Group.

Reimagining the logic and mythology of a totem pole through contemporary construction, “Visage Brut” takes the form of a soaring steel tower composed of modular boxes, each folded, rolled, cut, or warped just short of structural failure. The result is a vertical procession of hybrid geometries that carries weight while projecting an uncanny, almost figurative presence.

Shifting between sculptural mass and filigreed lattice, “Visage Brut” invites viewers to slow down, move around it, and look closely.

Explore the full story behind the project at the link in our bio.

Join us for “Transitioning Worlds”, a two-day conference celebrating 60 years of architectural experimentation at UCLA AUD, organized by Natasha Sandmeier, Kutan Ayata, and Mariana Ibañez. As part of AUD60, the conference brings together faculty, alumni, students, and invited guests for conversations on the changing conditions shaping architecture today.

Monday’s program features four thematic sessions on experimental practice, design education, building, and Los Angeles as a site of urban inquiry. On Tuesday, the conference turns toward tomorrow with student-led Pecha Kucha presentations, followed by an afternoon of making, reflection, and exchange across the AUD community. This event is open to the public; please register in advance at the link in our bio.

AUD’s Core Samples exhibition draws from decades of archival material to explore the many media, methods, and histories that have shaped design pedagogy at Perloff Hall. We enjoyed an opening reception on March 12, featuring tours and insights from AUD’s Samaa Elimam, Michael Osman, and Chair Mariana Ibañez.

As the second program in our AUD60 celebration, Core Samples reactivates the AUD archive as a site of teaching, research, conversation, and collective memory. Swipe through for moments from the opening and click the link in our bio if you’d like to arrange a viewing — the show is on view through June 30, by appointment only.

We look forward to continuing the AUD60 festivities next month with our conference, “Transitioning Worlds,” on April 20 and 21.

Midterm review progress in the MSAUD Material Innovations Architecture Studio with and

As part of UCLA AUD’s MSAUD program, this advanced topics studio engages graduate students in yearlong research through design at the intersection of architecture, materials, computation, and sustainability.

Students shared developing proposals for the yearlong research studio “Towards Circular, Innovative Buildings for the Olympics: Reimagining Design and Construction through 3D Printing” — exploring large-scale 3D-printed, modular prefabricated systems for more circular, low-carbon building futures.

Through computational design, design for manufacturing/disassembly, biomimicry, and material reuse, the studio investigates how Olympic-scale infrastructure can become a test bed for adaptable buildings with long-term life beyond the Games.

Last Friday, Perloff Hall was buzzing with energy as 35+ architecture and design firms connected with UCLA AUD students at our annual Career Fair. The event gave students the opportunity to connect directly with professionals, learn about current employment opportunities, and share the work they’ve been developing at AUD.

Thank you to all the firms and professionals who joined us, and to the students who showed up ready to engage!

Congratulations to NOMAS at UCLA on earning top prize in the 2026 Barbara G. Laurie Student Design Competition for their proposal “Anchored Corners.”

Presented at the 2025 NOMA Conference in Kansas City, the project reimagines Kansas City’s East Side through housing and public space as tools of repair—responding to the lasting impacts of redlining, displacement, and infrastructure-driven segregation.

Conceived as a “city within a building,” Anchored Corners weaves multi-generational housing with community anchors—childcare, gallery, library, café, grocery, barbecue restaurant, and jazz lounge—alongside green roofs, rainwater collection, greywater reuse, and native planting. Supported by a community land trust model, the proposal foregrounds long-term affordability and a more connected, equitable future.

Team: Georgie Ampudia (BA ’26), Vazken Armatuni (MArch ’27), Dania Castillo (MArch ’26), Harry [D**g Ho] Huh (MArch ’27), Jaewon Lee (MArch ’28), Gabby Liu (MArch ’26), Aida Shirazi (MArch ’26), Yanjie Zhao (MArch ’26), Bella Zheng (MArch ’26)
Advisor: AUD Vice Chair Kutan Ayata

“Sea Ranch” by Imran Ahmed, Ena Yanchapaxi Burneo, and Taeseung Seong (MSAUD ’25) has been awarded a Merit Level Scholarship in the 2025 AIA-LA × ACLA 2×8 Competition, an annual student exhibition and scholarship program recognizing visionary architectural work. Selected from this year’s theme, “Resilience,” the project responds to escalating climate threats, including wildfire, extreme weather, and ecological instability.

Developed for “Sea Ranch: Building with Extremes,” a UCLA AUD Research Studio led by Jeffrey Inaba and Tucker van Leuwen-Hall, the proposal reimagines Sea Ranch through a dual lens of ecological renewal and demographic resilience. The project introduces a working native-tree nursery that transforms high-risk, non-native vegetation into a regenerative, fire-adaptive forest system—positioning the landscape itself as long-term infrastructure for protection, biodiversity, and regional reforestation.

Paired with this ecological framework is a modular, fire-resilient housing system built from prefabricated concrete panels, designed for low-impact construction, adaptability, and affordability. By enabling residents to customize and participate in the assembly of their homes, the proposal fosters intergenerational renewal, community ownership, and a renewed relationship between people, architecture, and land.

Rather than treating sustainability as harm reduction alone, “Sea Ranch” frames it as a way of life—where forest, housing, and community operate as a single evolving system. The project extends Sea Ranch’s legacy of environmental stewardship while offering a scalable model for climate-adaptive living in fire-vulnerable regions across California.

Click the link in our bio to see more from this project.

For sixty years, UCLA Architecture and Urban Design has pursued a better tomorrow through design. Grounded in a culture of collaboration and experimentation, UCLA AUD is where emerging designers and a diverse community committed to creativity, rigor, and shared purpose come together to imagine new possibilities, test bold strategies, and shape the future.

As UCLA AUD celebrates its 60th anniversary in 2026, we honor the legacy of our students, faculty, and collaborators—the buildings and communities we’ve shaped, the innovations and policies we’ve pioneered, and the knowledge we’ve created. We also look forward with ambition and purpose, ready to design for a city and world in constant flux. AUD60 is also a celebration of Los Angeles—a city whose pioneering architecture and innovation inspire the world. What we create here echoes globally, and UCLA AUD is committed to advancing ideas that shape both our city and our world.

From January through June 2026, AUD offers a series of public programs that honor and reflect on our institution’s rich legacy. Click the link in our bio to see more information and RSVP.