Written by Maggie Haslam and Brianna Rhodes
A field of wildflowers 55 miles north of College Park is an unlikely setting for a visitor’s center. But for Alden Schutz ’25, it was a canvas for conceiving a place that marks one of the most pivotal moments of the Civil War. The architecture major’s design project, a series of buildings and pavilions blanketed with photovoltaic panels, overlooks—without upstaging—the Monocacy Battlefield just south of Frederick, Md., where Union soldiers thwarted the Confederate Army’s advance on Washington, D.C.
"I wanted to create something unique that would stand out and be a reason to go to this site," Schutz said. "But, at the same time, it is a historic site, so you can't create something super ‘out there’ because, at a point, it starts to disrespect the land it's on."
History, community input, the environment and personal passions often drive a student’s approach to their work; this semester, their projects took inspiration from a neighborhood’s past, family, even Prince George’s County’s go-go music scene. They addressed challenges like climate change and affordable housing, gentrification and suicide. Below are some of this semester’s best in design, neighborhood planning, preservation and development:
Honoring a War's Turning Point
For Monocacy Battlefield’s observatory, Byron Overlook, Schutz tapped into both the site’s rich history and surrounding environment to envision an educational and administrative center. Winner of the Jason Abramowitz Design Award, which honors the memory of the 2017 B.S. graduate, the design includes clusters of indoor and outdoor spaces wedged into the landscape, its orientation taking advantage of sun and wind. Classmate Elizabeth Romero Andrade’s design, which won the Monocacy National Battlefield Foundation Prize, creates overlapping spaces ranging from intimate to expansive for visitors to gather and reflect on the site’s history and significance.
“I think it's great that the students took on such a challenging project,” said David Cronrath, former dean of the School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, who served as the chairperson of the blind jury for the award selections. “They put out strong ideas on how you might address the issues they were presented with, especially with such a rich history as this site.”
View photos from the design studio.
Planning the Future of Langley Park
Devising a resiliency plan for a vibrant immigrant community facing displacement in the wake of a new transit line was the subject of a planning studio this fall as part of UMD’s Partnership for Action Learning in Sustainability (PALS) Program. Situated close to College Park, Langley Park consists of 67% immigrants, and will soon have a stop on the light-rail Purple Line. During several workshops with community members, students identified challenges and disruptions spurred by Purple Line construction or that were pre-existing, such as increasing housing costs, lack of reliable transportation, air pollution and poor street infrastructure. Their final project, which was presented to Prince George’s County Department of Planning this month, offered strategies to preserve and expand affordable housing, improve the quality of streetscapes, reduce the heat island effect and strengthen community organizing.
“Working with people is a lot more interesting than working with zoning ordinances and comprehensive plans,” said graduate student Aaron Steigler. “Having those relationships with community or local community organizations was really important to the success of this report.”
View photos from the planning studio.
“Tracking” Prince George’s County’s Soundtrack
To dig into 100 years of eclectic sound in Prince George’s County, historic preservation graduate students didn’t turn to Spotify or vinyl, but to long-shuttered venues that hosted musical history. “Live! From Prince George’s County” offers deep tracks on 12 notable sites, from the sticky floors and deafening reverb of College Park heavy metal haunt the Paragon to Duke Ellington’s performances at Sis’ Tavern in North Brentwood. In this sequel to work completed in 2022 through PALS for the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the students used interviews, archival material, even social media groups to surface the sociopolitical and musical histories of local nightclubs and arenas, parks and radio stations. In addition to their report, a zine (or small-batch magazine), concert posters and a story map chock with music clips and videos play up this slice of the county’s history.
“I have a ton of new music now on my daily playlists,” said Katie Gill, who graduates this month. “Music really isn’t as represented in the region's historical reports because it's so intangible. But it’s an important part of the county’s landscape and in telling its story.”
View photos from the historic preservation studio.
Bringing Active Retirement to Ellicott City
When Master of Real Estate graduate student Jack Tintle was determining how many units he might fit into his concept for an active, independent senior living development in Ellicott City, Md., the former architect did something only a developer would do: He looked at his surface parking ratio. Situated on a challenging, sloped site, a garage was out of the question—and more expensive. But he brought his design and development skills to a concept for a 138 larger-than-market-average apartments with amenities—including a koi pond, interfaith chapel, fitness center, dining patio and hot tub gazebo—designed for someone on the cusp of retirement. It also nabbed him the win for this year’s capstone competition. Called the Jacqueline Residences, both its name and its spirit of social, active engagement are a nod to Jack's mother, who spent 25 years as an activities director at a local nursing home. He kept his project under wraps from his parents, who he calls his biggest supporters, until he presented at the capstone competition the week before graduating.
“I think everything that I am today, and everything that I will be in the future, is because of the two of them,” he said.
View photos from the Colvin capstone competition.
Building a Home for a City’s People
With its colorful, baroque architecture and volcanic skyline, the Guatemalan city of Antigua is a draw for tourists; but for the locals who sell to them in the markets, serve them in restaurants or work the city’s hotels, living in the city is mostly unattainable. That’s the backdrop for a family housing development designed by Deisy Valasquez ‘24, a graduate architecture student who was inspired by her parents and their stories of life in Guatemala before immigrating to the U.S. in the 1990s.
Winner of this year’s Thesis Prize, the design offers a mass of different-sized dwellings clustered around gardens and a public plaza; while emulating the color of the city, the structures take advantage of mass timber technology to offer resiliency and take advantage of local materials. A trip to Antigua this past year, as well as a study abroad trip to Scandinavia last summer inspired Valasquez to draw on environmental, cultural and architectural context and helped her understand local needs; a community center built into the design (and inspired by the children she met) offers a place for families to gather and play.
“I kept thinking of my parents,” she said. “I didn’t want to just go in blindly and build something in Antigua. There were a lot of pieces to consider, and Professor (Matthew) Bell pushed me to really break that down.”