MAPP News
MASS Design’s Alan Ricks Joins UMD as 68th Kea Professor
Alan Ricks, AIA, Int FRIBA, the founding principal and co-executive director of MASS design group, joins the University of Maryland this fall as the Architecture Program’s 2025-26 Kea Professor. A celebrated, socially minded, global designer, Ricks will work alongside Associate Clinical Professors Julie Gabrielli and Brittany Williams, Assistant Professor Deok-Oh Woo and Lecturer Dan Curry to teach the fall Integrated Design Studio.View Article Details for MASS Design’s Alan Ricks Joins UMD as 68th Kea Professor 
New Exhibit Uncovers a Buried History
In the summer of 2006, University of Maryland Professor Emeritus Lindley Vann and 19 architecture students traveled to the Bay of Naples to explore an ancient city, lost in ash. Over the next 20 years, factions of students returned each summer to participate in a global effort to excavate and document one of the last surviving Italian villas that once catered to the Roman elite.View Article Details for New Exhibit Uncovers a Buried History 
UMD Students, Faculty and Alums Earn Acclaim at 2025 Maryland AIA Awards
A fire station designed from ashes, an homage to a Civil War turning point and a refuge for oyster recovery were just some of the University of Maryland student projects to amass accolades at this year’s AIA Maryland Excellence in Design Awards. They joined nearly a dozen alums and faculty honored for projects that exemplify sustainable and beautiful design and contribute to the public realm.View Article Details for UMD Students, Faculty and Alums Earn Acclaim at 2025 Maryland AIA Awards 
Faculty, Alums Make Forbes’ “Residential” Experts List
When it comes to residential projects, choosing the right architect can determine whether a home becomes the stunner—or the scourge—of a neighborhood.According to Forbes, the key is to shop local. Last week, the magazine debuted its 2025 America’s Best-In-State Residential Architects, 400 designers that go beyond mastering curb appeal by centering their practice on place, from materials selection and climate to functionality and neighborhood esthetic.View Article Details for Faculty, Alums Make Forbes’ “Residential” Experts List Video: Placemaking Project Nurtures Community Amidst Change
Just steps from the bustling intersection of University Boulevard and New Hampshire Avenue a few miles from the University of Maryland, a stretch of asphalt was transformed into an arts and culture district for a few hours on a spring Saturday, offering a glimpse of a possible future for the community of Langley Park, Md.View Article Details for Video: Placemaking Project Nurtures Community Amidst Change 
Student Team “Cements” Win in National Design Competition
The design for a Southern California fire station that doubles down on its civic duty blazed a trail to victory this week in the 2025 Concrete Masonry Student Competition. University of Maryland architecture graduate students Alvaro Nunez ‘26 and Wenjie Zhuang ‘26 scorched the competition with Underhill—Encitas Fire Station #01, to take honorable mention in the national contest, sponsored by the Concrete Masonry and Hardscapes Association and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ASCA).View Article Details for Student Team “Cements” Win in National Design Competition