University of Houston
AC-5: Immersive Experience

The UH Graduate Design-Build Studio designs and constructs for area non-profit organizations site-specific solutions to climate-influenced building problems. By offering Master of Architecture students the opportunity to see their ideas evolve from initial conception to completed construction, the studio demonstrates at full scale the implications of the students’ aspirations and measures the quality of their thinking against the rigorous standard of built reality. Each project creates an opportunity for close and direct interaction with a client group, resulting in a more personal and immediate view of the architect’s impact on creating local community. Past projects emphasized solar power integration into designs, sustainable energy use, and smart climate control systems.
The Houston Early Research Experience (HERE) is a two-week workshop intended to orient rising sophomore and junior undergraduates to the fundamentals of conducting research. UH faculty members and instructors lead the seminars. HERE uncovers the complexity of understanding and grappling with big picture problems. The 2023 HERE program took place May 15-26, 2023 and focused on the topic Food Systems: Culture, Security & Sustainability. Houston’s diverse food scene has gained increasing national recognition, establishing the city as a culinary hotspot. However, among supply chain issues and inflation, many questions remain on how Houston will manage issues such as food scarcity and sustainable infrastructures. In small groups led by a faculty mentor, students developed a research proposal related to a contemporary topic or problem, with themes ranging from diversity and culture, sustainability, food industries, food insecurity and more. Past focus areas include energy, urbanization, and inequality.

https://www.uh.edu/architecture/special-programs/designbuild-studios/
https://uh.edu/honors/undergraduate-research/our-programs/here/