The School of Architecture has announced the end of year awards for 2015. The James Britton awards for best final thesis projects were awarded on May 9 during the convocation ceremony in Hendricks Chapel, and the King + King Prize “Leadership by Design” competition awards were presented on May 4 in Slocum Hall.
Steven O’Hara presents his project “Variable Tectonics: The Project of the Jig,” which was named Best Thesis.
Fifth-year student Steven O’Hara’s “Variable Tectonics: The Project of the Jig” was selected as the Best Thesis. His project “questioned how an emergent or Gothic system of architecture can be applied to contemporary design thinking despite dominant constructional conventions that default to ‘Romanesque’ and maintains that there is a matrix in any fabrication process which includes a design intention, tool, materials and jigging.” Joshua Graham and Rebecca Soja received Outstanding Thesis awards for their projects entitled “A Field’s Field” and “The Meat You Haven’t Met,” respectively.
The James Britton Memorial Awards were created by James “Jack” Britton Jr. to honor his father, James Britton, a 1925 graduate of the School of Architecture and long-time architect in the ϲ community. The first Britton Memorial Award was given in 1983 to recognize the best final projects by graduate and undergraduate students in the professional degree programs. Every year since, three thesis project have been chosen by a jury made up of faculty, ϲ Advisory Board advisory board members and practitioners.
On May 4, the School of Architecture hosted the King + King Comprehensive Studio “Leadership by Design” Competition, an annual event for all students currently in a vertical studio who have completed their core studies in the undergraduate and graduate professional degree programs. As part of the competition, teams of students present their final studio projects to partners at King + King Architects as well as faculty members.
“Since 2004, the partners at King + King have been proud supporters of this competition. We look forward to reviewing the selected projects and recognizing those that exhibit the highest level of research, design exploration and systems integration,” said Kirk Narburg, partner at King + King and a 1990 M.Arch graduate.
“For over a decade the King + King Prize has promoted excellence in integrative design. The support and participation of the local profession is a great opportunity for academia and those who practice to see what the other group is doing,” said Larry Davis, associate professor and coordinator of the King + King prize. “Most importantly, the King + King prize promotes outstanding student work at a key moment in the education of the students. It directly connects their understanding of building technology and systems to their intellectual development, illuminating the essential relationship between ideas and technique in architecture.”
The following students were the top King + King prize recipients:
Top Graduate Prize: “Integrated Turbines Project,” by Justin Goehring, Carly Riley, Joshua Smead
Top Undergraduate Prize: “Italian Consulate,” by Hannah Kim and Bowen Victor Zhang
Honorable Mention: “Concrete Fab Lab,” by Sherina Zhang and Thomas Robert Arleo
Honorable Mention: “Variations of Urban Surfaces,” by Patricia Cafferky and Michael Lima
