Pedagogy 2025
Abstract
Hampton University’s Department of Architecture offers a Certificate in Adaptation to Sea Level Rise as part of its 5-year Master’s degree (M.ARCH) program. During a year-long seminar series, Hampton architecture students collaborate with engineering students from nearby Old Dominion University to create design solutions for flooding in communities in the Hampton Roads region. This partnership is called the Coastal Community Design Collaborative (CCDC) and has existed for more than a decade, and as new technologies emerge in the design space, it has become increasingly important for this pedagogy of interdisciplinary collaboration to evolve with the tools available. This paper lays out the framework by which the course introduced text-to-image AI models (GenAI) software to the classroom. The goal of this introduction was to facilitate better comprehension of architectural technologies and landscape techniques meant to combat nuisance flooding in low-lying communities. This paper outlines several assignments that were given to familiarize the students with the power of the GenAI tool but also to highlight its clear and specific limitations. The paper leverages created by the teaching team to gain a basic understanding of the bias of the selected text-to-image model, OpenArt.ai. Issues of equity, justice, and contextual accuracy underpin the choices made within the OpenArt.ai tool, raising the potential for future conversations about the role of GenAI in design and society. Further experimentation will become necessary to maximize the positive impact in the classroom as regards the pedagogy of technologies and skills associated with equitable adaptation to sea level rise.
Dr. Luka Hamel-Serenity (Dr. H) is an Assistant Professor at the Hampton University Department of Architecture. He teaches in the third-year design studio and runs the year-long Adaptation to Sea Level Rise seminar series in conjunction with Old Dominion University. Dr. H received his doctorate from UVA in 2025 from the Constructed Environment program housed in the venerated School of Architecture. He studies the intersection of race, place, and climate in low-lying urban areas of the US Mid-Atlantic like Annapolis, MD and Norfolk, VA.
Dr. Mujde Erten-Unal is a Professor and the Graduate Program Director in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department of Old Dominion University. She received her master’s degree in environmental engineering, and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from the S&T University of Missouri-Rolla. Her research interests include coastal resiliency, sustainable development, biological and hazardous wastewater treatment. She has been involved in trans-disciplinary collaboration among students from ODU civil engineering and Hampton University architecture departments through coastal community design collaborative. The City of Norfolk identified her as one of the one hundred Resilient City Builder due her work in SLR and flooding.
Dr. Farzaneh Soflaei is an Associate Professor of Architecture at Hampton University. She holds dual PhDs in Sustainable Urban Design (Tsinghua University) and Sustainable Architecture (Azad University). Her research focuses on sustainability, energy optimization, and resilience in architecture and urban planning, with publications in academic journals. With over a decade of teaching experience across the Middle East, China, and the U.S., she has taught 30+ courses. She has also worked as a senior architectural designer and consultant. A member of AIA and USGBC, she holds LEED AP (BD+C) and LEED Green Associate credentials, contributing to professional sustainability education.