This paper addresses critical environmental challenges, specifically the decline of urban biodiversity, which significantly impacts pollinators and local ecosystems. By integrating biodiversity-focused design and digital fabrication technologies, the research explores architectural solutions that could enhance ecological resilience. Through the course “Digital Fabrication Design: Facades for Biodiverse Urban Ecosystems,” this study investigates the development of facade prototypes that actively support multispecies habitats, including birds, bees, and native plants. Methodologically, the research employs a document-based case study to analyze student projects and their ecological functionality, focusing on design strategies that promote species coexistence. Results reveal the potential of modular and mesh-based facade designs to enhance urban biodiversity while identifying challenges such as addressing species-specific habitat needs. The study underscores the role of architecture in advancing urban sustainability and ecological justice, emphasizing the need for scalable, practical design solutions that harmonize with natural systems. By showcasing the possibilities of biodiverse facades, this research supports interdisciplinary collaboration and advocates for real-world experimentation to tackle pressing environmental issues and reimagine urban spaces as sites of ecological resilience.

The interdisciplinary design studio “The Machine in the Garden,” explored innovative approaches to reimagining industrial landscape infrastructure through the lenses of resilience, urban development, and environmental stewardship. Beyond industrial production, the studio aimed to design a new factory typology that would respond to climate change and prioritize holistic social, economic, and environmentally sustainable possibilities within Miami's limestone quarry area, known as the “Lake Belt”.

This course offered a collaborative platform for students from landscape architecture and architecture and leveraged partnerships with industry leaders. It incorporated a range of instructional methods including research, precedent studies, mapping, digital and analog modeling, and material exploration, supported by lectures on manufacturing sustainability, ecological performance, building systems, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

An important pedagogical objective was to develop holistic strategies for the built and natural environments, turning industrial spaces into ecological and community assets threatened by sea level rise. Students engaged in exercises, workshops, site analysis, and field visits to develop solutions that were responsive to their historic, natural, cultural, and ecological contexts.

Projects tackled complex site challenges, integrated ecological principles, and presented multifaceted solutions that met functional needs while creating urban design strategies that promoted environmental and civic renewal. This endeavor explored a forward-thinking approach to infrastructure and construction within a visionary framework for the region’s evolution in the face of development pressures and climate change.

This study addresses a critical and timely issue—how the built environment can support dignity for individuals experiencing housing instability. Common definitions of dignity include autonomy, respect, self-determination, freedom, and equality. For people experiencing housing and health instability, everyday life is extremely stressful, and the built environment can play a critical role in supporting psychological and somatic regulation (Devlin 2018). Ajeen and colleagues (2023) found that many participants perceived that trauma-informed design updates for homeless shelter bedrooms increased their experiences of dignity and safety. For this study, a practice-embedded research team collected observations of use at various supportive housing sites, documented through photos and note-taking, and conducted semi-structured interviews and focus groups in two phases with a total of 115 resident and staff participants. The team inductively analyzed this large dataset of text and images using grounded theory methods. Analysis revealed that the experience of comfort, community, and control are deeply interdependent and together create a rich and layered sense of safety for participants. Key design attributes—categorized as sensory engagement, nested layers, and identity anchors—emerged as critical for creating an atmosphere of dignity, which significantly contributed to the overall experience of dignity for participants. Ultimately, the research resulted in a grounded theory model of Dignified Design, establishing a framework for architects, designers, and other creators of service-oriented spaces.