Recognizing Excellence in Architecture

Each year, the School of Architecture and Design proves that the future of the built environment is in capableand creative hands.

This past academic year, a remarkable cohort of students garnered prestigious awards—from the New York Council of the Society of American Registered Architects (SARA) NY Design Awards to Metropolis magazine’s Future100, and multiple American Institute of Architects-affiliated scholarships.

“The recognition received by our students this year speaks to the extraordinary level of creativity, intellectual curiosity, and design excellence cultivated throughout our programs,” says Dean Maria Perbellini, M.Arch., Assoc. AIA. “These awards affirm the value of rigorous design education and highlight our students’ ability to address contemporary challenges with thoughtful, imaginative, and impactful solutions. We are delighted to celebrate their accomplishments and the growing influence of their work within the profession.”

SARA NY Design Awards Recognize Student Thesis Projects

Each year, SARA hosts design competitions for architecture students. At the SARA NY Design Award ceremony on June 4, four recent architecture graduates received SARA NY Design Awards for their thesis work.

Projects by Sean Guadron (B.Arch. ’26) and Dominic Marando (B.Arch. ’26), advised by Teaching Assistant Professor Evan Shieh, M.AUD., proposed innovative visions of adaptive reuse for New York City’s industrial heritage. Guadron’s project transforms the dormant Kingsbridge Armory into an intermodal transit hub and logistics center. His proposal challenges monofunctional defensive architecture, introducing a new mobility flow that integrates public, private, freight, and aerial realms. Marando’s explores “mycotech,” a symbiotic relationship between data storage and mycelium cultivation. Housed within a repurposed grain terminal, the project critiques energy-intensive data centers while proposing naturally sustainable, flood-adaptive fabrication.

Aaron Kumpf (B.Arch. ’26) and Chana Rhodes (B.Arch. ’26), advised by Visiting Associate Professor Jeannette Sordi, Ph.D., addressed urban growth, resilience, and transformation along New York City’s coastline. Kumpf’s project, “Historic Reconnections,” is an urban-scale waterfront project in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Rather than erasing an industrial past, Kumpf layers resiliency and public access, creating more than 20 acres of new waterfront space that rises alongside sea levels.

“I am honored to have received recognition for a project I put so much time and effort into,” says Kumpf. “‘Historic Reconnections’ challenged the way in which I thought of large-scale architecture, connections, and the human experience to interact and engage.”

Rhodes reimagines Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn as an “airfield for community and research.” Balancing habitat restoration, adaptive reuse, and public recreation, her proposal positions the decommissioned site as an active infrastructure for flood mitigation and ecological repair.

Katrina Deicmane (B.Arch. ’26), advised by Associate Professor Farzana Gandhi, M.Arch., received the NEXT GEN DESIGN 2026 Futures Worth Living award for her thesis on PTSD recovery. Rejecting institutional models of surveillance and isolation, she proposes a gradient care typology at the former Brooklyn Naval Hospital, blending therapeutic landscapes, research spaces, and independent living environments through biophilic and autonomy-centered design. Deicmane was also recognized in 2024 with a SARA Student National Design award.

Prestigious Scholarships and Grants

Several students were also recognized with competitive scholarships, sponsored by the American Institutes of Architects (AIA).

Bagdad Numi, nominated by Associate Dean Giovanni Santamaria, Ph.D., received the AIA Westchester + Hudson Valley Architectural Foundation Scholarship for her work on the Cross Bronx Expressway, including interactive community safety models and sustainable urban ecologies. “Her proposals for the Cross Bronx Expressway, her collaboration to create interactive models for community safety initiatives to facilitate resident engagement, along with previous awards and published design proposals are clear evidence of Baghdad’s true commitment and motivation in reshaping our spaces, fostering a resilient approach culturally and environmentally sustainable,” says Santamaria.

Sivapriya Janakiraman earned the SARA PA Education Grant (often referred to the Keystone Award) for “Controlled Chaos,” a community building in Jackson Heights, Queens. Her project rejects flexible design in favor of fixed spatial conditions—floor tracks, human-powered modules, and thick walls with built-in furniture—that residents themselves appropriate.

Lillian Ayodele, a rising fifth-year student, received the Center for Architecture Design Scholarship supported by the AIA. Her proposal to remove the Cross Bronx Expressway introduces a green, multi-modal layered infrastructure with a sunken rail, light rail, pedestrian pathways, and an intermodal biodome. Bronx native Bruno Lora received the 2026 Student Empowerment Award in recognition of his successful academic path and contribution to the community. The award is assigned by the Bronx Chapter of the AIA to recognize thriving students enrolled in an accredited architecture program.

Nominated by Chair of Architecture Gertrudis Brens, M.Arch., and Adjunct Assistant Professor Edgar Papazian, Emily Mejia , a rising fourth-year student, was awarded the AIA Allwork Scholarship. “Take all the opportunities that come your way,” Mejia says. “Being a part of all our architecture clubs, especially NOMAS [National Organization of Minority Architects], has given me experiences and scholarships that I probably wouldn’t have attained if I didn’t join.”

Earlier this year, Khaoula El Jaabak and Sivapriya Janakiraman were both named to Metropolis magazine’s prestigious Future100 list, recognizing the top architecture and design students in North America.

This article was contributed by the School of Architecture and Design.