UNC Charlotte School of Architecture

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UNC Charlotte School of Architecture

UNC Charlotte's David R. Ravin School of Architecture provides innovative leadership in design.

The School of Architecture at UNC Charlotte is devoted to engaging students in an energetic study of how architecture affects - and stimulates - our life every day. Studying architecture implies you will become an expert in building design and construction; apply strategic thinking to environmental problems; learn leadership skills to work in your community. Faculty and students at the School of A

rchitecture are committed to creating an open-minded and creative atmosphere to pursue research, explore new forms of building, and discover collaborative practices that nurture human potential. Our graduates understand where knowledge comes from and how to integrate their voice with others to influence the art and science of architecture. The School of Architecture opens opportunities to students through interdisciplinary programs, close alliances with the profession, and active programs in the community. Representatives of a North Carolina state agency communicate via this Web site. Consequently, no person communicating via this site (whether a state employee or the general public) should have an expectation that any communication on this site is private. All communication on this site may be subject to disclosure under the North Carolina Public Records Act.

06/02/2026

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.

05/28/2026

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

05/27/2026

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

05/26/2026

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.

05/18/2026

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

05/04/2026

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/

04/30/2026

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

04/29/2026

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

📸 Amy Hart

04/22/2026

Today is Earth Day, and we’re celebrating the School of Architecture’s continued commitment to design innovation for environmental sustainability 🌍🌱

Associate Professor of Architecture Liz McCormick and Professor of Engineering Brett Tempest, now in their sixth year of collaboration, are completing their interdisciplinary spring seminar, “Building Health: Building Resilient Building Materials for Global Health & Sustainability.” The course builds on five years of collaboration with the University of Oxford (UK) and the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) 🧱

As in previous seminars, this semester’s students explored how low-tech masonry systems can address heat, airflow, moisture, and mosquito intrusion, developing and testing brick prototypes through a combination of computational modeling and hands-on fabrication.

Participating students are Rachel Chew, Brianna Harbit, Khatheryne Jones, Kayla Marindin, Alex Montgomery, Madeline Mourfield, Ashley Parsons, Aisha Qatabi, Bailey Roach, Zach Robinson, Daniel Roca, Vivian Vassilski and Tom Wileman.

Their amazing ideas for both new brick materials and new brick designs have been on display in a pop-up exhibition on the second floor of Storrs. Among the experiments in brick composition are mixtures with algae and with corn, coconut and pineapple fibers, along with cool new shapes for bricks.

The course and pop-up exhibition were supported by the 2025 ACSA Brick Education Prize and a 2025 School of Architecture Faculty Research Grant to support collaboration between architecture and civil engineering, funded by Edifice, Inc.

The first was April 22, 1970. This year, the theme is “Our Power, Our Planet.”

04/10/2026

Congratulations to graduate student Alex Montgomery, who has received the AIA/SoA Traveling Fellowship, sponsored by AIA Charlotte!

This year marks the 50th anniversary of this amazing program, which each year funds an architecture student's travel for a special research project.

Alex, who earned a B.A. in Architecture last May and is pursuing a dual master's degree, will leave May 17 for more than three weeks in Morocco, where he will study that country's approach to sustainable architecture.

"I have always felt drawn to this region of the world, where European, African, and Arabic influences intersect, and where Morocco sits just across from Spain," Alex says.

"During my undergraduate studies in architecture at UNC Charlotte, I was exposed to a wide range of topics, but sustainable design stood out most. I became interested in how material choices and urban form can work together to create environmentally responsive spaces. Moroccan urban fabrics, for example, are shaped to naturally promote thermal comfort, something I am eager to study more closely.

What continues to drive me is the idea that many of the resources we need are already around us, yet we often overlook them. Morocco offers a powerful example of resilience through its vernacular architecture, using passive heating and cooling strategies that respond directly to climate and landscape.

What fascinates me most is how this approach begins with human behavior -- seeking shade as the sun intensifies, gathering where airflow provides relief, and finding shelter when heat becomes overwhelming -- and evolves into architecture that is both functional and deeply connected to its surroundings."

Address

9201 University City Boulevard
Charlotte, NC
28223

Telephone

+17046878622

Website

https://soa.charlotte.edu/

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