Alumnus receives 2026 CNU Charter Award

May 21, 2026

BY rawad nahhas

Alec Paulson (B.Arch '22), a Tulane School of Architecture and Built Environment alumnus, has been honored with a 2026 Student Merit Award from the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) for his undergraduate project Hybrid Bridge: A Multi-Level Civic Infrastructure for the Upper Kebena River. The award was presented on May 14 at CNU 34 in Northwest Arkansas, where 15 winning projects were recognized from a pool of 79 submissions representing 10 countries and 24 U.S. states.

The project was developed as part of the Addis Ababa River City Research Project, a Saul A. Mintz Global Research Studio led by Ruben Garcia, faculty director of the studio. Rather than treating infrastructure as a purely utilitarian system, Paulson's proposal reframes a bridge over the Upper Kebena River in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia as a layered civic armature — integrating pedestrian mobility, flood adaptation, re-housing, and public amenities within a single architectural structure. CNU jurors described the design as an "inhabited, programmatic structure" that addresses some of the city's most pressing urban challenges.

The Charter Awards, now in their 26th year, recognize outstanding work that embodies the principles of the Charter of the New Urbanism — projects that revitalize cities, connect communities, and make a tangible difference in people's lives. Paulson's submission was recognized in the category of The Block, The Street, and The Building.