UNC Charlotte School of Architecture

Last week, Spectrum News 1 highlighted our architecture students for their work in the national Housing Innovation Challenge! 🏠

"As North Carolina continues to deal with an affordable housing shortage, a group of UNC Charlotte students is helping create solutions that could make homeownership more attainable for residents," the article opens.

Architecture graduate student Gabrielle Ciceron has dreamed of designing homes since childhood. Now, through the Housing Innovation Challenge, she has the chance to see one of her designs become a reality. "Now to finally, in real life, be at a place to where I design something and it was appreciated so much they are willing to build it – it's like a dream honestly," she shared.

The Housing Innovation Challenge is a national competition bringing together university students, builders, nonprofits and local governments to create cost-effective housing designs.

Charlotte is the first host city, and UNC Charlotte was one of 10 winning teams selected from 20 nationwide. Three of our student designs advanced, each taking a different approach: a cottage with an open courtyard, a combined unit all under one roof with shared porches, and a modular build you can customize "kind of like Legos," as Ciceron put it.

Students are now working to combine elements from all three into a single final design to be presented this summer.

Habitat for Humanity is providing the land for the Charlotte project, with construction expected to begin in February 2027 and completion targeted for October 2027. The 10 completed homes will then be sold to residents.
The goal, as one organizer put it, is to drive down not just the mortgage cost, but the cost to build, operate and maintain — and to take those lessons to cities nationwide.

Congrats to these students for their meaningful work!

📰 Article by Arin Cotel-Altman for Spectrum News 1 Charlotte
🔗 https://brnw.ch/21x3sjh

A look back at some photos from our 4th year architecture final reviews!

📸: Toby Schuetze

A team from the David R. Ravin School of Architecture has been chosen to participate in the inaugural Housing Innovation Challenge, a national design-build competition that brings students together with builders to help address the affordable housing crisis 🏠

The UNC Charlotte team, led by Associate Professor Marc Manack, is one of 10 academic teams selected nationwide to advance. The competition was announced at the 19th Housing Innovation Summit in Uptown Charlotte, where the city is serving as the inaugural host.

The 13 students worked in three teams, each developing a distinct proposal.

1️⃣ “Three Ply,” developed by Sundus Abu Reyal (leader), David Mba, David Peterson and Quincy Rackley, presents a modular design that can be adapted for two, three or four units built out of cross-laminated timber.

2️⃣ “CottageCORE,” designed by Lela Holt (leader), Jeremiah Boswell, Sean Cornelius, Timothy Graham and Ashley Parsons, positions two duplexes around a cottage courtyard, increasing density and encouraging social connection.

3️⃣ “Under One Roof,” designed by Gabrielle Ciceron (leader), Shane Deas, Jasmine McConnell and Meckayla Marc, integrates a primary residence and two accessory dwelling units into a single structure that features a generous front porch, adding density while keeping the appearance of a traditional home.

The team has been assigned a lot on Pegram Street in the Belmont neighborhood. Over the next 16 months, students will decide which design to pursue, refine it, and work with building partner BuildLabs to prefabricate and install a full-scale home.

In October 2027, completed homes from all 10 teams will be on view during a multi-day public exhibition before becoming occupied by residents.

The median home price in Charlotte is nearly $444,000, requiring a household income of more than $146,000 to afford — almost double Mecklenburg County's median household income.

“At a time when communities across the country face urgent housing challenges, it is essential that emerging designers develop innovative, interdisciplinary and forward-looking solutions that expand access, improve quality of life and reimagine the future of housing," says SoA Director Blaine Brownell.

📸 Team leaders Gabrielle Ciceron, Sundus Abu Reyal and Lela Holt courtesy of Tommy McCart Photography for the Housing Innovation Challenge. Renderings from each project.

It was so fun to see architecture student Lela Holt on WCNC news last week! Lela is one of the leaders of the UNC Charlotte team chosen to participate in the inaugural Housing Innovation Challenge, a national design-build competition that brings students together with builders to help address the affordable housing crisis.
Watch the news segment here, and stay tuned for more information about this exciting project!
https://www.wcnc.com/video/news/local/charlotte-turns-to-students-for-affordable-housing-ideas/275-d6485b80-0084-4142-8804-75d3afe01c6e

What started as a prototype assembled outside the Storrs building ended up at a seven-acre urban regenerative farm in west Charlotte, the result of a vital community partnership and the work of 65 UNC Charlotte students and two faculty. Here's how it came together 🌱

Assistant Professor of Architecture Kyle Spence had been carrying the pieces of the EcoDome with him since before he moved to Charlotte, with a vision of using it for some kind of agricultural landscape project. When he met Wisdom and Cherie Jzar, founders of Deep Roots CPS Farm, at the Uptown Farmer's Market, that vision finally had a home.

Funded by a Gambrell Faculty Fellowship through the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute, "Roots of Change" brought together 45 architecture and urban design students across three semesters to develop, refine, and build the vertical planter at Deep Roots. After assembling the prototype on campus, students re-engineered the structure for strength and expanded it to fit the farm's mission, testing it again on campus before installing it at the farm, with mentorship from Neighboring Concepts.

The planter boxes went through their own process. Spence reached out to Professor Lydia Thompson, who assigned the project to her ceramics class. 20 students turned lumps of clay into the custom vessels now lining the EcoDome's shelves.

Students also designed laser-cut story panels, a living archive covering the history of farming in Mecklenburg County, the Catawba River Basin, and the family tree of Deep Roots itself. At the ribbon cutting, students presented research posters on urbanization, agricultural decline and food access.

Today the EcoDome greets visitors at the entrance to the farm, growing herbs and edible flowers while serving as signage, gathering space and a prompt for conversation. As Cherie Jzar put it, the 18-month "Roots of Change" collaboration was "a wonderful journey," that created "a space of learning, a space of connecting, a space of telling the story about Deep Roots."

Read the full story at https://brnw.ch/21x2SsW

Professor Jeffrey Balmer will present a lecture about Italian architect Luigi Moretti this Thursday in Tokyo, where 30 School of Architecture students are currently engaged in the Japan summer studio led by Professor Chris Jarrett in partnership with Meiji University.

On April 17, the David R. Ravin School of Architecture hosted its annual graduate student symposium, CriticalMASS!

The day included graduate student presentations from architecture schools across the country as they shared work from their final year of study.

This year's CriticalMASS Distinguished Guest Critic was Bryan C. Lee Jr., FAIA. Lee is a New Orleans-based architect, educator, and activist whose career has redefined the role of design in fostering social and spatial justice. As the founder and director of Colloqate Design and a leading voice in the Design Justice movement, Lee also served as the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) 2025-2026 president. He is currently a Design Critic at the Harvard University Graduate School Of Design.

Congrats to all on their hard work!

📸 Photos by Toby Schuetze

Congratulations to Assistant Professor of Architecture Sabri Gökmen, who received the 2025-26 Architectural Research Centers Consortium New Researcher Award! The ARCC Board of Directors chooses one recipient annually from an international pool of nominees.

“We are proud to celebrate Dr. Sabri Gökmen as the recipient of the 2025–2026 ARCC New Researcher Award, a highly competitive national honor recognizing emerging scholars whose work demonstrates innovation, rigorous inquiry and meaningful contributions to architectural research,” said Blaine Brownell, director of the David R. Ravin School of Architecture. “A computational designer and researcher, Gökmen’s work advances the integration of artificial intelligence, parametric design and digital fabrication, positioning him at the forefront of a rapidly evolving disciplinary landscape.”

Gökmen received the award at the 2026 ARCC-EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education) International Conference in Atlanta on April 10.

Read the full announcement: https://coaa.charlotte.edu/2026/04/14/architecture-professor-wins-new-researcher-award/

Calling all architecture alumni, faculty, and staff! Join us as we celebrate the careers of Kelly Carlson-Reddig and Peter Wong! Wednesday, May 6, 5-7 PM at Free Range Brewing on North Davidson. Please RSVP here:
https://forms.gle/ZtMTbzbTi7nEeo3P7

Final reviews are underway in the David R. Ravin School of Architecture! Good luck to everyone on your upcoming finals and projects! 💯

📸 Amy Hart