For the first time, UNM grad students took part in one of the largest design competitions in the country that included over 60 colleges and universities, with the winner eligible to receive $50,000 in reward money.
Michael Pace, a graduate architecture student and one of three architecture students involved, said the Urban Land Institute, hosts the competition every year for architecture students across the country to create a real life model that can be applied to refining a development. The institute is a non-profit organization that focuses on the enrichment of land and environment.
The subject this year was the redevelopment of city blocks in midtown Atlanta, an area that, while lucrative for businesses, is plagued by traffic. It also lacks development which, if improved, would make it both unique and more useable for the residents, he said.
Pace said the site rests amidst numerous tailgate parking lots, across streets that house Georgia Tech, the football stadium, and a restaurant called The Varsity, which he called their version of Frontier.
The team consisted of five UNM students: three architecture students, one landscaping student, and one business student, he said. The team was tasked with familiarizing themselves with the area of interest so that they could build on what was already there and make it better.
“We are trying to provide housing for not only students, young professionals and the elderly, but mix in affordable housing and public amenities,” Pace said.
In addition to providing a practical layout, the team had to make difficult choices because of the strict limitations they had to operate within, he said.
“We had to work with particular parcels of each block compared to the ten thousand foot scale in which Atlanta was built on," he said.
Stephanie Schneider, a graduate student studying business administration after receiving her undergraduate in architecture, brought her knowledge of both fields to the team.
“One of the things with Atlanta’s layout is that it is very traffic heavy,” she said. “We were tasked with making the area more walkable, providing alternate transportation and connecting it with Georgia Tech and the various other annexes.”
The team had only two weeks to build their design and worked tirelessly to make it to their expectations, Schneider said.
Schneider said the team practically “lived” in the architecture building while the project was underway.
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“I had forgotten how time consuming architecture planning was," she said.
The team now waits for results to see if their design was picked for the final round of the competition. Pace said the team will send one member to represent them in Atlanta and showcase their model.
If they win, they are awarded $50,000. If they among the top finishers, they will receive $10,000, which makes the project all the more intense. Pace said they should be notified of the results in early March.
Unless the team wins or the competition is declared inactive, the team will not be able to disclose their hard worked model and the specific choices they made in fear of getting copied by other teams.
“It makes everything more top secret,” Pace said.
William a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @dailylobo.
