Look closely at Lawrence and you’ll find KU architecture all around you.

You can see it in the buildings that tell the story of the city, the homes and businesses that shape its neighborhoods and the innovative design-build projects created by KU students. 

Now, visitors have a new way to discover those connections through two self-guided architectural tours created by KU architecture students. 

The tours, available both digitally and in print, explore Lawrence’s architectural history and highlight the work KU students have contributed to the community.

They were designed around two goals: helping visitors recognize the range of architectural styles that shape Lawrence and highlighting KU's contributions to the city's built environment through Studio 804 and other student design-build projects. The team also hoped to have the tours ready for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, when Lawrence expected an influx of visitors.

For Sarah Montes, the project started with a simple idea: What if architecture students helped create it?

From idea to impact

Montes was in the fifth year of KU's five-year Master of Architecture program when she suggested the idea at a summer 2025 meeting of the Design Alliance of Lawrence. She graduated in May 2026 and now works full time as an associate designer at Multistudio, a Lawrence-based architecture and design firm.

With support from Multistudio, the Design Alliance of Lawrence, the KU School of Architecture and Design and AIA Kansas, the idea grew into a yearlong project involving KU students, faculty, architecture professionals and community organizations. The completed tours were released in June 2026.

Students from KU's graduate architecture and interior architecture programs, including members of student architecture organizations such as the American Institute of Architecture Students, National Organization of Minority Architecture Students, Women in Design and American Society of Interior Designers, researched Lawrence's architectural history, documented student design-build projects and shaped the tours for visitors.

The two tours are available through Explore Lawrence and as printed guides at the Watkins Museum of History and Explore Lawrence's offices. One explores the foundations of Lawrence architecture, and the other highlights KU Studio 804 design-build projects.

For the students who worked on them, the tours were more than a way to showcase Lawrence. They were a chance to take what they were learning in the studio and apply it to a real project, with a real audience and a real community need.

Bringing the project to life

One of the people who gave Montes the confidence to pursue the idea was Tyler Lindquist, vice president and office administrator at Multistudio and member of the Design Alliance of Lawrence. 

“I casually said to him, ‘Oh, I feel like students could do this. I think it’s a good project that would go well for them,’” Montes said. “He’s like, ‘Just speak up. Just say something.’ So I did.”

With encouragement from Lindquist and architecture professor Nilou Vakil, the idea quickly moved from conversation to action. One of the first challenges was finding a way to pay them for their work.

“Realistically speaking, if we wanted students working on this, they should be getting paid,” Montes said.

Montes began exploring ways to fund the project, and KU's chapter of AIAS ultimately applied for a Douglas County Community Foundation Community Grant. Montes wrote the application with input from Watkins Museum of History, Explore Lawrence and Lindquist, who also helped provide letters of support.

The grant provided stipends for 10 student participants and covered the cost of printing the brochures. Additional project funding came from AIA Kansas and Multistudio. 

“Tyler helped guide me how to actually write a grant application,” Montes said. “It was my first experience.”

Montes said the funding made it possible for students to gain paid, firsthand experience working on a project for a real community audience. 

“The funding was an important part of this entire opportunity,” Montes said. “It made it much easier for the students to actually participate in an experience like this.”

Learning beyond the studio

While architecture students regularly work with communities through design projects, the architectural tours introduced a new challenge: creating an experience without designing a physical structure.

“In studio, you’re designing a built environment to give an experience for a person,” Montes said. “Whereas in this situation, the difference is you already have an environment. In this case, it’s Lawrence. Now it’s the students’ job to curate an experience through their research and planning.”

Students researched historic buildings, documented KU design-build projects and collaborated with community partners to determine what information would best serve visitors. The process required skills beyond traditional design, including research, communication, project management and translating complex information into something accessible to a public audience.

“For a lot of us, it was a new experience to learn how to verify research, or what the process was to upload this stuff to Explore Lawrence, and what information they needed,” Montes said. “I think everyone came out learning how to be better communicators.”

Montes also saw how her own professional experiences translated into the project. During her internship at Multistudio, she learned how architects collaborate with engineers and other professionals, skills that helped her coordinate between students and community partners.

Showcasing Lawrence’s architectural legacy

The completed brochures highlight Lawrence landmarks alongside KU student projects, including work from Studio 804, KU’s graduate design-build program known for creating innovative, sustainable buildings.

Montes shared that the project changed the way she viewed the community she had called home during college.

“Over my years here, I’ve slowly learned more about the history of Lawrence, but this was one of the moments where you truly see it all on a page,” Montes shared.

“Lawrence has evolved so many times — again and again and again. It’s literally been burnt and risen from the ashes,” Montes said. “So it has that rich history that not a lot of people really think about when they’re just going to KU.”

The project also gave students a new appreciation for KU’s impact throughout the community.

“I knew about Studio 804, of course, but I didn’t know how many projects were right here in Lawrence,” Montes said. “But now there’s this brochure full of them, and there’s still so much more to share.”

Supported by faculty, connected to the community

For Montes, the project became an example of what can happen when students are encouraged to take an idea beyond the studio and given the resources to see it through.

“When I started at KU and realized all the professors were so willing to talk to me and genuinely wanted to see what I was interested in, and what I wanted to try to do, it became: ‘Here’s an opportunity. Go for it,’” Montes said. 

“I didn’t realize that I was going to be offered so many opportunities coming into KU, or the support to start something new. In the architecture program, students come up with an idea, and they go full send with it, and a professor supports them throughout the entire process.”
—    Sarah Montes, M.Arch. ’26, KU School of Architecture & Design

Montes said she learned not only from faculty, but also from the architecture students around her. Those peers were a highlight of her time at KU.

“Be prepared to make a lot of friends very fast,” Montes said. “It’s a support system with not just your professors, but also your peers. You learn so much and get to know them so quickly in this program.”

Now, the idea that started with a student speaking up has become a resource for people exploring Lawrence, giving visitors a new way to understand the city and giving KU students a chance to shape the community beyond the studio.