About Us
Equity, Resilience, Connection and Belonging across the Built Environment
The Drachman Institute of the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture (CAPLA) serves as a nexus for research and design projects that center around outreach work.
The Drachman Institute bridges community needs and CAPLA’s knowledge and expertise to advance equity, resilience, connection and belonging across the built environment. The Drachman Institute’s research and design work are linked in an iterative process that continues to calibrate the performance of the built environment to meet the goals of the populations it serves.
Our Areas of Expertise
- Architecture
- Emerging building technologies
- Energy conservation
- Health and the built environment
- Heritage conservation
- Landscape architecture
- Real estate development
- Sustainable design
- Sustainable market transformation
- Transportation
- Urban design
- Urban planning
Our Structure
Drachman Institute Leadership
Drachman Institute Director
Courtney Crosson
Director, Drachman Institute
Associate Professor of Architecture
ccrosson@arizona.edu
Courtney Crosson is a licensed architect, associate professor and director of the Drachman Institute at the University of Arizona, where she teaches classes on water in the built environment and community outreach studios. Her current research advances decentralized water systems to address pressing problems facing cities—whether water scarcity in the U.S. Southwest or safe and affordable water access in informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya. She has won numerous national and state awards for her teaching, outreach and research. Crosson, who earned a Master of Architecture from Yale University and BA in Art History from Duke University, joined CAPLA in 2016.
Drachman Institute Interim Director
Bo Yang
Interim Director, Drachman Institute
Associate Dean for Research
Professor of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning
boyang17@arizona.edu
Faculty Executive Committee
- Laura Carr, Senior Lecturer in Architecture
- Kristina Currans, Assistant Professor of Urban Planning
- Helen Erickson, Project Director, Heritage Conservation Program
- Kenneth J. Kokroko, Assistant Professor of Landcape Architecture
- Oscar Lopez, Senior Lecturer in Architecture
- Eric D. Weber, Associate Professor of Architecture
- Diana E. Austin, Professor and Director, School of Anthropology, Research Anthropologist (BARA)
- Kathleen C. Insel, Professor and Chair, Biobehavioral Health Science Division, College of Nursing
Housing Equity Lab
Kenny Wong
Coordinator, Housing Equity Lab
Lecturer in Sustainable Built Environments
Urban Resilience Lab
Courtney Crosson
Coordinator, Urban Resilience Lab
Associate Professor of Architecture
RESTRUCT / Industry Innovation Lab
Altaf Engineer
Director, RESTRUCT
Coordinator, Industry Innovation Lab
Assistant Professor of Architecture