Architect and UW Alumna Mariam Issoufou Wins UN Champion of the Earth Entrepreneurial Vision Award
Congratulations to UW architecture alumna Mariam Issoufou on receiving the 2025 United Nations Champion of the Earth Entrepreneurial Vision Award.
Through her practice, Mariam Issoufou Architects in Niamey, Niger, Issoufou advances climate-responsive architecture rooted in traditional building methods and local materials. Her work demonstrates how culturally grounded design can help communities adapt to extreme heat while supporting sustainable development.
Issoufou earned her Master of Architecture from the UW in 2013. Read more about her work by clicking below.
UW Architecture Professor Kate Simonen Selected for Inaugural Research Impact Advocates Cohort
Professor Kate Simonen, FAIA, SE, of the University of Washington College of Built Environments has been selected for the inaugural UW Research Impact Advocates program, which helps faculty share the broader impacts of their work. As founder of UW’s Life Cycle Lab, she leads research on reducing embodied carbon and improving building materials, highlighting the role of sustainable design in public conversations on climate action.
Showcasing Student Work
Explore the work of graduate and undergraduate students. Many of the projects on display highlight the vision of the Architecture Department at the University of Washington. The showcased work explores topics such as adaptive reuse, community engagement, high-performance buildings, housing, international studios, materials and fabrication, and research.
Innovative Collaboration Creates Living Materials
Faculty and students in chemistry, bioengineering, and architecture are collaborating to develop bio-based building materials that integrate living organisms such as algae and fungi through advanced fabrication. Their work reimagines buildings as adaptive systems that can heal, regenerate, and capture carbon, positioning the built environment as part of natural cycles rather than separate from them.
Rick Mohler named ACSA Distinguished Professor
Congratulations to our department chair Rick Mohler, who was named one of ACSA’s 2026 Architectural Education Award Winners. Each year, ACSA honors architectural educators for exemplary work in areas such as building design, community collaborations, scholarship, and service.
As department chair for the past two years, Rick has addressed internal inequities while advancing interdisciplinary, community-engaged teaching and research. But as he notes, “I am most proud of my support for our diverse, community-focused student organizations. This allows me to extend the cultivation of the next generation of citizen-architects beyond the classroom and into the life of the department.”