For Immediate Release: June 12, 2009
Media Contacts: Emma Filar, Marketing & Communications Associate
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Green Community: 2008-09 International Student Design Competition Winners Announced

WASHINGTON, D.C.--The 2008-2009 GREEN COMMUNITY Competition challenged students to rethink their communities. The competition expanded on themes from the National Building Museum’s sustainable exhibits, Green Community, Big & Green: Toward Sustainable Architecture in the 21st Century, and The Green House: New Directions in Sustainable Architecture and Design. The competition, organized by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ASCA), the National Building Museum, and Architectural Record, focused entirely on the issues of sustainable development—how can we plan, design, and construct the world between our buildings.

The GREEN COMMUNITY competition program encouraged students to explore sustainable planning strategies such as brownfield/grayfield redevelopment, transit-oriented communities, natural resource management, and land conservation and develop a proposal to create a flourishing and sustainable community using the tools of the environmental design disciplines: architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning.

First, second, and third prizes, and with two honorable mentions have been awarded along with 9 Project Citations from 260 submitted projects, which represent 1,322 student participants and approximately 200 faculty from 76 Universities and 15 countries. On Tuesday, July 28 at 7:00 pm, lead juror, Ivan Harbour, from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partnership, will give a lecture at the National Building Museum.

Jurors: Ivan Harbour, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Robert Ivy, McGraw Hill/Architectural Record; Rachelle Levitt, Urban Land Institute; Harry VanOudenallen, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

COMPETITION WINNERS

First Place: "Urban Reef"
Students: Dylan Barlow, Kyle Belcher, and Geoffrey Gregory
Faculty Sponsors: Mona El Khafif & David Fletcher
California College of the Arts

Juror comments: A dramatic analysis, visionary form, well assembled ideas, and beautifully illustrated. Marries a big idea directly related to the topic with an architectural solution. Deals expressly with how to deal with high rise density.

Second Place: "edgEcology: Change the Edges, Change the City"
Students: Chris Hardy, Tomoki Takebayashi, Chris Gruber, and Rachel Kunreuther
Faculty Sponsor: Jamie Vanucchi
Cornell University

Juror comments: This project is future thinking and develops a methodology for growth and change. The system design deals with water and land, allowing the city's waterfront to thrive. Stunning level for student work. 

Third Place: "Urban Green Community: Revitalizing the South Nebraska District"
Students: Amalia Bamis, Kirsten Dahlquist, and Li Yu
Faculty Sponsor: Vikas Mehta
University of South Florida

Juror comments: This project offers an alternative for walkability, and is realistic because it addresses the car and connectivity between the neighborhood. Relationship to the river’s edge, sustainability of using that edge, soil quality. The building construction offers much higher density with single family homes next to multi-family homes.

Honorable Mention: "The Virtually Customised Community"
Students: Andrew Cook
Faculty Sponsor: Colin Pugh
Manchester School of Architecture

Juror comments: This project is very inventive and thought provoking, it proposes communities created by those who have chosen to live together via virtual customizable communities, a 21st century commune. There are many pre-existing structures that will eventually need to be reinhabited (i.e. malls, factories) and this project addresses that.

Honorable Mention: "The Greenest Brick"
Students: Alex Libengood, Eric Six, John Simenic, Sylvia Piszczor, and Lauren Wetula
Faculty Sponsor: Thomas A. Dutton, Scott Johnston, and John Blake
Miami University

Juror comments: This project used a highly innovative idea, transforming an abandoned subway line into a bike path.

The jury also selected nine projects to receive a project citation:

"ANYTOWN UK - A Green Community is a Social Community"
Student: Emma Ramsbottom
Faculty Sponsor: Colin Pugh
Manchester School of Architecture

"Green Community: Urban Agriculture + Transit"
Student: Nicholas Alexander
Faculty Sponsors: Harry A. Eggink
Ball State University

"Jambalaya Co-Op"
Students: Emily Chia Ying Lin and Scott Ling
Faculty Sponsor: David Lieberman
University of Toronto

"Kazimierz: Completing the w/hole"
Student: Katarzyna Kapuscinska and Conrad Surowka
Faculty Sponsor: Anna Palej
Cracow University of Technology

"North Industrial Area Redevelopment. Los Angeles, California"
Student: Laura van Batenburg-Stafford, Nicole Davis, and Cristianne Peschard
Faculty Sponsors: Ronald Sakal and Sallie A. Hood
University of Notre Dame & Design Center for Building Communities

"Pieces in a Framework: Green Design Initiative"
Students: Andrew Putz, Luke Smith, Jessica Forsythe, Maxwell Edward Szewczyk Streeter, and Grace Harter
Faculty Sponsor: Thomas A. Dutton, Scott Johnston, and John Blake
Miami University

"Reclaiming"
Student: Lidiya Angelova, Monika Blazenovic, and Thao Nguyen
Faculty Sponsor: Vikas Mehta
University of South Florida

"Reclaiming Pittsburgh"
Student: Emily Vogler
Faculty Sponsors: Rebecca Kainer
University of Pennsylvania

"With Time: Retrofitting Suburbia"
Students: Kris Kelly, Andrew Bramm, and Anita Gunther
Faculty Sponsor: Graham D. Livesey
University of Calgary

COMPETITION SPONSORS

The American Institute of Architects, Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects, Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, McGraw-Hill Construction

About ASCA

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is a non-profit, membership association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education. Members consist of all college and universities that offer accredited degree programs in architecture in the United States and Canada, candidate schools seeking accreditation, and affiliate membership for two-year and international programs and others ineligible for accreditation. Through these schools, over 5,000 architectural faculty are represented. In addition, over 500 supporting members composed of architecture firms and practitioners, product associations, individuals and students add to the breadth of the association’s constituencies and programs. To learn more visit, www.acsa-arch.org.