Arhitecture Design Competition for NH High School Students

Keene, NH – Calling all high school students interested in a career in architecture and design: the New Hampshire Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIANH) is inviting all New Hampshire high school students to participate in its High School Design Competition. Early registration is encouraged. Students often use both the fall and spring terms to develop their designs, and early registration will allow volunteer AIA architects to visit the classrooms and talk with students about their ideas and critique designs in progress. Teachers have often used this program as part of their classroom curriculum, although students may also work independently.

 

To enter students should have their teacher or principal register them no later than January 28, 2011. Competition entries are due April 28, 2011.

 

According to the AIANH, the competition gives students an opportunity to design a fictitious Sustainable Living and Innovation Center that will serve to educate, promote, and test innovations in sustainable living and new green technologies. This building will not only showcase current green living trends and products but will introduce what is to come. This highly adaptable building aims to look at the future and inspire the public’s imagination on how we live and interact with the environment. This forward thinking program demands a design that evokes excitement and a sense of exploration.

 “Participants in this program will gain experience in recognizing the various challenges in planning and designing indoor and outdoor spaces for specific uses and will introduce students to green building principles,” said AIANH’s Education Chair and Past President, Bruce Hamilton AIA.  “Design is an excellent means through which to reach students of all levels and to challenge them in their analytical and problem solving skills, and this program provides an opportunity for young students to do just that.”

 

The High School Design Competition Program will be providing a variety of monetary awards for projects exhibiting excellence in their design, modeling, and graphic presentation. Awards will include:

 

Awards for Best Design, Overall Superiority, in all aspects of Design Solution, Model, and Graphic Presentation.

Awards for Best Model describing Design Solution

Awards for Best Graphic presentation describing Design Solution:

 Awards for Honorable Mention

 At the discretion of the judges, honorable mention certificates will be presented to noteworthy submissions

 

Michael Morin AIA, president of AIANH, calls this “a wonderful opportunity for high school students interested in architecture and design. When provided with the proper tools, students are wholly capable of expressing their ideas about their world and about themselves through design. The High School Design Competition Program provides an experience for students to communicate those ideas as well as to increase their understanding of planning and design.” 

 

Students interested in participating should have their teacher or principal register them with the AIA New Hampshire office no later than January 28, 2011. Final entries will be due April 28, 2011. Complete guidelines are available on the AIANH website, http://www.aianh.org/lbd.asp. Results of the pasts two years' competitions are also on the website. For more information, contact Carolyn Isaak at 603-357-2863.