Department of Architecture students win multiple awards

LAWRENCE — Work by University of Kansas Department of Architecture students has recently been recognized by four different organizations. They are Central States American Institute of Architects Emerging Professionals, the Kansas chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and a joint competition cosponsored by the American Institute of Architecture Students and American Institute of Steel Construction.

Last month a team of four students placed third against 11 other teams in a 16-hour design charrette that took place during the Central States American Institute of Architects conference in Springfield, Missouri. Their mission was to design a community workshop, or “maker space” in that city’s downtown.

Savannah Greenlee, Kansas City, Missouri; Stephen Howell, St. Peters, Missouri; Taylor Maine, Shawnee, and Ashley Weber, Dekalb, Illinois, made up the team, which brought home a $400 prize. Their entry can be viewed here.

The AIA Kansas design awards were made early in October during the organization’s annual conference in Wichita. Its Honor Award for student-built work was awarded to the Armitage Center Pavilion at the KU Field Station, Lawrence. Nineteen students constructed the structure last spring as part of a design-build studio taught by Chad Kraus, assistant professor of architecture. It is composed of a series of five rammed-earth walls that frame views that support a 19-by-25-foot timber canopy.

A statement from the design jury chaired by Minneapolis architect Daniel Green said, “We appreciated that relationship between parts to the whole and the thoughtful detailing that went into each component.”

Lindsay Pericich, Overland Park, won two AIA Kansas awards. One was a Merit award, given in the student design category for a museum she designed for the Haskell Indian Nations University campus in Lawrence. This work was done in a studio taught by Associate Professor Kapila Silva.

Pericich also won second place in the third annual AIA Kansas Student Competition. The contest required that students present a project they designed to an audience of professionals at the AIA Kansas meeting. One of only four Kansas architecture students selected for this honor, she presented a recently completed Amelia Earhart Museum. Her win was based upon a poll of audience members taken on the spot. The museum was completed in a studio taught by graduate teaching assistant Roberto Castillo.  

A Citation award went to Daniel Brown and Dave Tran, Wichita; Andrew Forney, Lawrence, and Pia Westen, Woodinville, Washington, for their Living Institution of Functioning Ecologies Laboratory project, completed under Professor Steve Padget.

The jury also gave this project high praise, saying, “The jury felt that this project deserved recognition for its graphics alone, and this work stood out from both the student and firm work.”

The AIA Kansas award winning projects can be seen online.

Earlier this fall, architecture student Jonathan Crookham, Katy, Texas, earned an honorable mention in a competition cosponsored by the American Institute of Architecture Students and the American Institute of Steel Construction. Crookham’s project was an addition to the Kansas City Convention Center.

The block-long structural system relied on arching steel girders and steel cables to support a woven lattice of steel and glass fulfilling the contest’s rules, requiring Crookham to place “special emphasis on innovation in steel design.” Crookham did the project as a second-year student studying under architecture lecturer Alex Ogata. His entry can be seen here.

Students who worked on the Armitage Pavilion: Ragan Allen, Portland, Oregon; Corey Boucher, St. Peters, Missouri; Nicholas Colbert, Overland Park; Connor Crist, Marysville; James DeFries and Michael DeFries, Warrensburg, Missouri; Matthew Everest, Mission; Vincent Graceffa, Gardner; Chandler Hanna, Savannah, Missouri; Brittany Hodges, Leawood; Andrew Kloppenburg and Jared Pechaur, St. Louis; Shira Kohn, Northbrook, Illinois; Michael LaVanier, Shawnee; McKenzie Liebl, Lawrence; Chloe Lockman, Kansas City, Kansas; Erin McFarland and Ariel Peisen, Lenexa, and Taylor Pickman, Atchison.