Congratulations to Alpha Arsano, Assistant Professor of Architecture: her proposed graduate research studio, Designing for Thermal Equity: Housing, Heat, and Health in Boston, received an Honorable Mention in the 2026 ACSA Course Development Prize on Architecture, Climate Change, and Society.

Alpha explains, “What makes this especially meaningful is that this work emerges from the broader culture of design research at Northeastern and it’s School of Architecture. Our graduate studios collectively offer students a wide range of opportunities to engage pressing environmental and societal challenges—from climate adaptation and building performance to community-engaged design and material innovation.

This studio builds on that shared foundation. It focuses on the intersection of housing, heat, and health, asking how we can develop realistic, equitable retrofit strategies for existing residential buildings—particularly in communities most vulnerable to rising temperatures. Through participatory engagement and performance-informed design, students explore how architecture can contribute to more just and resilient urban futures.

I’m especially grateful to be part of a community of colleagues and students at Northeastern who are expanding what design studios can do—bridging research, practice, and real-world impact. I also want to acknowledge the ongoing collaborations that have informed this work, including the Freedom By Design team at Northeastern and the Vine Street Community Center community in Roxbury.”

Alpha Arsano is an Assistant Professor of Architecture and a building scientist at Northeastern University. Arsano’s research explores strategies to maximize low-carbon, equitable bioclimatic building strategies under current and future climatic conditions to maintain occupants’ comfort and health. She has been developing early-design stage analytical mythologies that can be combined with large-scale datasets on the building stock of the majority world where the highest population increase is anticipated. The goal is to identify design and technology solutions for vulnerable communities affected by global warming. Arsano developed a digital design tool, ClimaPlus, to promote building design that integrates bioclimatic strategies with technology to reduce carbon emissions in pursuit of a more sustainable and healthier environment. In an effort to make sustainable building design education accessible to a larger audience across the globe, the web-app has been used in a MOOC course on edX with over 50,000 learners from more than 170 counties.