Environmental Design

Senior landscape architecture capstone focuses on climate resilience this spring

Regan Widergren — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:36:09 +0000

Senior landscape architecture capstone focuses on climate resilience this spring Regan Widergren Tue, 06/17/2025 - 14:36

The senior landscape architecture capstone studio, Landscape as Agent: Climate Resilience (LAND 4100), instructed by ENVD Instructor Emily Greenwood, launched the spring semester with a research paper that covered a specific theme of climate change, along with a graphic collage that represented their research. The data-driven collages were used as tools to help frame discussions around climate change impacts. The research from this assignment will inform the studio’s next assignment.

Using various research resources, students could choose from the following climate change vulnerabilities to investigate to create a better understanding of the issue.

Extreme weather events
Climate change inequity
Air quality and carbon emissions
Ocean health

Water quality and quantity
Food security and safety
Human Health
Energy Sources

Referencing their new knowledge, students were tasked with creating a tabloid-sized collage using digital and/or analog tools. Using techniques such as layering, the collage could have included compelling graphics such as maps, text, photographs and sketches.

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Ann Dang and Adam Harding, 2021 ENVD Alumni Award recipients, to speak at Program Recognition Ceremony

Regan Widergren — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:29:28 +0000

Ann Dang and Adam Harding, 2021 ENVD Alumni Award recipients, to speak at Program Recognition Ceremony Regan Widergren Tue, 06/17/2025 - 14:29

CU Boulder alums and 2021 Environmental Design Alumni Award recipients Ann Dang and Adam Harding will address the ENVD class of 2022 during the recognition ceremony on the evening of May 5.

Learn more about this year’s speakers:

Ann Dang, Environmental Design 2021 Young Designer Award recipient, received her Environmental Design degree in 2019. During her time at ENVD, she was involved in the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS), Student American Society of Landscape Architects (SASLA), Designers without Boundaries (DWB) and the Peer Mentorship program. Additionally, she joined the Spatial Justice Design Collective (SJDC) to produce exhibits and creative works tackling race and gender inequities in architecture.

After graduation, Ann worked full time at LOA Architecture and was more involved in SJDC where she became aware of the lack of diversity in architecture. The scarcity of minorities in architecture affirmed her ambition to start her own architecture firm in the future and become an advocate for social equity within the design industry.

Ann received a full-ride Sam Fox Ambassadors fellowship to pursue her master’s degree in architecture at Washington University in St. Louis but has decided to take a break from graduate school to prioritize her mental health and wellbeing. Currently, she is working full time at Arcturis, a multi-disciplinary design firm that is certified as a Women's Business Enterprise. Outside of work, she is a part of the Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (J.E.D.I) committee for AIA St. Louis. The J.E.D.I committee provides programming, training, volunteer and community engagement opportunities to increase diversity and equity within the architecture field.

Adam Harding, Environmental Design 2021 Distinguished Alum, is a prolific architect with a reputation for story-driven design. A leader of both his firm and his community, Adam has served his clients, the public and the profession of architecture. His work is transcendent; guiding his clients every step of the way. He creates meaningful design in the residential, commercial, municipal and hospitality market sectors in Colorado and across the country.

Adam joined Roth Sheppard Architects upon graduation from the �鶹��Ƶ with a Bachelor of Environmental Design in 2004 and now, 18 years later, he is a second-generation firm owner. As a Partner and the design visionary of his firm, he has led his firm through a cultural transformation; clearly defining its mission, goals and core values that foster professional development, individual growth and a commitment to design excellence.

Adam and his firm have been recognized with design and honor awards at a local, regional, and national level. In 2021, Adam received a National Young Architect of the Year Award from the American Institute of Architects and Roth Sheppard Architects was named AIA Colorado’s Firm of the Year.

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ENVD first-year advisor and architecture instructor receive Marinus Smith Award

Regan Widergren — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:27:33 +0000

ENVD first-year advisor and architecture instructor receive Marinus Smith Award Regan Widergren Tue, 06/17/2025 - 14:27

Rachel Lee Lavine, architecture instructor, and Dylan West, assistant director of advising and first-year experience, have been awarded the 2022 Marinus Smith Award. The award recognizes faculty and staff who have had a positive impact on students.

Bailey Freeman, a first-year ENVD student, nominated Lee-Lavine for her inspiration, excitement and positivity in the classroom.

“Not only did she inspire and excite the class about the topics, but she also brought a positive and kind attitude to class every single day. As a person, I felt seen and heard - which was a big deal, especially because I was still adjusting to college and was actively in search of friends or someone who acknowledged my presence.”

Halley Douglas, a landscape architecture student, nominated West for going above and beyond to support students.

“Dylan’s support for students goes above and beyond academic advising. He not only helps students navigate their path through the ENVD program but also helps them develop as leaders and as future professionals in their field. Dylan is always responsive to the needs of ENVD students, whether it is providing valuable career insight or a shoulder to cry on.”

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ENVD students take on Solutions Showcase at 29th Annual Campus Sustainability Summit

Regan Widergren — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:25:36 +0000

ENVD students take on Solutions Showcase at 29th Annual Campus Sustainability Summit Regan Widergren Tue, 06/17/2025 - 14:25

Last week, several Environmental Design students participated in the Solutions Showcase during the 29th Annual Campus Sustainability Summit. The showcase was held at the University Memorial Center (UMC) on Thursday, April 21, from 12 to 7 p.m. The exhibit floor featured a wide array of research, ideas and proposals from undergraduate, graduate and doctoral students, as well as from faculty and staff.

Sarah Fitzpatrick, a sophomore in product design, led a team of four seamstresses and a videographer in creating the Upcycled & Recycled Fashion Collection. The interdisciplinary team of students–Aiden Paul (AP) Liu, a junior in architecture, Cece Thyen, a sophomore in product design, Carly Kunkle, a sophomore in chemistry, Deven Verma, a sophomore in film, and Fitzpatrick–designed and created seven, personally themed, outfits that featured different methods and materials. The collection was established to create an intimate display of the possibilities for the fashion industry to be more “circular” and use post consumer materials. Viewers were educated on the harm of “fast” fashion and argued that “waste is only waste if it’s called waste.”

In addition to the fashion collection, the team produced a runway video that was filmed in three different locations.

“A natural place we love (Boulder Creek), a place sickened by pollution (80216 the most polluted zip code in Colorado, just 30 minutes away) and a place destroyed by climate change (Marshall Fire neighborhood),” Fitzpatrick said.

Fitzpatrick and her team won the Sustainability Summit Grand Prize of $5,000, from the Mission Zero Fund.

“We all have different plans, but in the general realm we all want to continue forward with curating sustainable and recycled fashion,” Fitzpatrick said.

Other exhibitors include Caleb Schmitz, a junior in planning, for his work Hazards and incarceration facilities: evaluating facility-level exposure to floods, wildfires, extreme heat, and landslides in Colorado. ENVD Instructor Emily Greenwood and students from her senior landscape architecture studio Landscape as Agent, Abby Mohlis, Sarah Riddick and Yikang Mei. And, Nicholas Arvidson, an architecture major, participated in the exhibit along with the CU Boulder Solar Decathlon 2023 team, who won a prize of $2,000.

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Environmental Design 2022 Latin Honors Recipients

Regan Widergren — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:14:39 +0000

Environmental Design 2022 Latin Honors Recipients Regan Widergren Tue, 06/17/2025 - 14:14

Each spring, a group of environmental design honors students defend their theses to their dedicated thesis committee. Afterward, the Honors Council meets and awards Latin honors at the levels of cum laude, magna cum laude or summa cum laude.

Congratulations to the following students graduating with Latin honors.

Erika Andrade-Torres, summa cum laude
The Racialization of Educational Spaces: Exploring the Design of the �鶹��Ƶ and its Contribution to Racialized Experience

Emily Chinowsky, summa cum laude
Urban Parks as Healers: Designing Parks for High-Impact Chronic Pain

Luke Duarte-Silva Barry, cum laude
Post-Hurricane Urban Form: An analysis on how hurricane resilient architecture has created a disconnect between the residential home and the street

Cobi Granger, summa cum laude
Destressing University Environments: Evaluating Campuses that Encourage Restoration and Recover in Students

Chris Hamilton, summa cum laude
The Agrarian Myth in Suburbia: Relating Materialized Culture with Actualized Sustainability

Allison Smith, summa cum laude
Grocery Store Display Design Limits In-Store Food Accessibility for Wheelchair Users

Grace Wheeler, magna cum laude
Making Mars Home: Considerations from Earth When Designing Spacefaring Communities

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ENVD’s Davis Velte �鶹��Ƶs Real World Design at Mosaic Architects + Interiors

Regan Widergren — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:11:56 +0000

ENVD’s Davis Velte �鶹��Ƶs Real World Design at Mosaic Architects + Interiors Regan Widergren Tue, 06/17/2025 - 14:11

Davis Velte is a third-year architecture student from Evergreen, Colorado, who has been balancing school and an internship at Mosaic Architects + Interiors since November 2021. Mosaic is a Boulder-based firm that specializes in custom residential architecture and interior design.

Velte landed the internship after his environmental design (ENVD) studio instructor, Jade Polizzi, suggested that he apply. Through the fall 2021 and spring 2022 semesters, Velte worked 16-20 hours a week at Mosaic while handling the responsibilities of being a full-time student. This transition into such a sizable work commitment during the school year was possible due to Mosaic’s insistence that he prioritizes his studies and his ability to manage his time at work and school effectively. During this experience, Velte was able to earn academic credit for his work with Mosaic through the ENVD Internship for Credit Program.

Velte began the internship by doing a lot of behind-the-scenes office work, like organizing closets and creating magazine ads. Eventually, he transitioned into assisting with Revit renderings, going on-site visits and playing a larger role in the company.

ENVD students are often curious about what computer programs are important and how their schoolwork will apply to future careers in design. Velte referenced Revit as the predominant program he uses at Mosaic. By taking a Revit course during his first year in ENVD, he credits that experience with giving him a leg up when searching for and applying to internships. Analog design skills are also valued at Mosaic. While the firm does a lot of digital work, many of its early conceptual designs are still done by hand.

From Velte’s perspective, one of the biggest differences between doing a school project and a project in the real world is that everything isn’t as hypothetical and the architects really understand the significance of what they are designing. He has enjoyed his time with Mosaic and understands how the skills and concepts he has learned in ENVD apply to real-world contexts.

Velte’s experience at Mosaic has been so successful that the firm has asked him to take a full-time role upon his graduation from ENVD.

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From schools to streets: How the pandemic is helping us reimagine built environments

Regan Widergren — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:10:54 +0000

From schools to streets: How the pandemic is helping us reimagine built environments Regan Widergren Tue, 06/17/2025 - 14:10

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Architecture student creates clothing company to spread positive message

Regan Widergren — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 20:03:29 +0000

Architecture student creates clothing company to spread positive message Regan Widergren Tue, 06/17/2025 - 14:03

Environmental Design students may know Travis Weis as a classmate in their studio and lecture courses, others may interact with him regularly in the Digital Media Center, where he takes on the role of lead tech assistant. In addition to being both a full-time student and student leader, he manages an apparel business. Weis, a third-year architecture major from Denver, created Release The Mind to help spread positivity through clothing that aims to simultaneously support the community and environment.

Learn more about Weis’s fashion concept and how he hopes to spark inspiration with his audience.

Tell us more about Release The Mind.
"Release The Mind" refers to letting go. Often during periods of stress or hardship in life, my feelings and thoughts made whatever I was dealing with worse. Leading my actions to change from how I would normally face problems. I realized that feelings and thoughts can be manipulated by the world around us, but it also helped me understand they don't have to be.

My mind consciously or unconsciously holds on to expectations I have for myself and the world, but life became a whole lot easier to manage when I began to let go of these expectations. Releasing the mind comes down to individuals learning about how and why they think and using that to become less attached to the things that they see around them. It's learning to not get caught up in the words on a page because it is easy to forget it's only paper.

Not to learn to stop feeling. But to have enough control in mind to be able to take a step back and observe feelings, perceive what it affects. Never trying to outwit or fight what can't be controlled, it's the understanding that everything I perceived has influenced me to become the person I am today. So instead of being haunted by the pain and struggle of this world, it's knowing the hardships I face and overcome that truly define my character.

The understanding that feelings of want and sadness give more significance to feelings like selflessness and love. I couldn't keep looking for happiness in the things I saw around me because I would never truly find it. I needed to find happiness in the one place I didn't look. In myself. That’s what inspires the clothing. The idea of letting go resonated with me so much I wanted to use symbolism and imagery to get people aware of what I think releasing the mind means. The best part, just the words “Release The Mind" can inspire something different for everyone. I hope to spread a message in order to help out anyone who is struggling like me. If I can manage to do that, all of the work I put into this brand becomes worth it.

Truthfully, I don't like industry, especially a super wasteful and unethical one like fashion. My vision is for my friends and me to be some of the pioneers in a new type of thinking. Developing people, community, and environment as the new role for industries. The power of business comes from the people, so why shouldn't businesses give back to people too. That's why all of the shirts we sell are guaranteed to be ethically sourced and use materials that reduce their impact on the environment. Extensive research goes into who makes our clothing and how they are treated because we want to be proud of where it comes from. But that is only the beginning, since I am still in school, I am constantly researching how I can help the community and environment through this concept of Release The Mind. Hopefully, with the help of others, it will grow into something that can create real change, but for now, I'll just keep giving out stickers.

What went into making it a reality?
Making this company took months of hard work and constant failure. Through days, sometimes weeks of creative burnout, countless bus rides to and back from Denver, and even using my skateboard to deliver orders it took months to just create this idea in the first place. Sometimes I had to take three steps back before I could take another step forward. I had to start from scratch so many times that I got used to it. On top of that, the fashion industry is oversaturated with cheap, poorly made and unsustainable shirts. More sustainable shirts made from plastic water bottles, organic cotton, Tencel modal, or recycled polyester are starting to come into the market, but often have shortages and are more expensive. Yet with my background in ENVD, I realized how important it was to use more sustainable options so, in addition to using sustainable shirts, our newest [product] drop was hand pressed in my dad's garage.

How do you balance managing Release The Mind, working in the DMC, and coursework?
Balancing my ENVD coursework, clothing brand and student lead position at the Digital Media Center was a challenge getting used to, but eventually, I realized work doing each of these things often inspires work for another. For example, if I learn a tool on Adobe illustrator while I am making shirts I can use that same tool to help students at the DMC or in my own studio projects.

What’s something unique about Release The Mind you want everyone to know?
Release the mind wasn't started to make money, it was never and will never be the purpose for the work we do. Release The Mind is just my dream to give back, spread a message through fashion, and design to change the world.

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Agency

Regan Widergren — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 18:44:01 +0000

Agency Regan Widergren Fri, 06/13/2025 - 12:44

agency (n.): action or intervention, especially such as to produce a particular effect.

Well-designed actions promote agency and protect your time and energy allowing you to achieve classroom success while also developing your own interests. A well-designed action meets the following criteria. You state it in the positive. You are responsible for starting and completing the action. You are excited about the action, but not overwhelmed. You can measure the action.

To practice this strategy or explore others, contact Ashley Chadwick, ENVD academic coach.

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FYE Program partners with Creative Labs Center to introduce First-Year Students to Woodworking Tools

Regan Widergren — Fri, 13 Jun 2025 18:38:47 +0000

FYE Program partners with Creative Labs Center to introduce First-Year Students to Woodworking Tools Regan Widergren Fri, 06/13/2025 - 12:38

Last Wednesday, ENVD First-Year Experience students spent the afternoon exploring the Creative Labs Center with Caleb Wright, manager of ENVD academic support centers, and the CLC monitors. Students used a handful of tools from the woodworking lab and made cellphone holders from spare pieces of hickory. The simple phone holders taught the processes of layout, crosscutting, drilling, sanding and finishing in about an hour.

FYE activities are a great way to learn about ENVD, CU and Boulder while socializing with your peers. The Creative Labs Center offer hands-on training on many of the tools they offer encouraging all ENVD students to maximize their creative abilities.

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