The Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture is proud to announce the student and faculty winners of the 2021 SoA Awards Program. Please join us in congratulating the winners on their tremendous accomplishments, and thanks to all of those who participated in this year’s competitions.
View the virtual program below, and read on for a full list of award recipients.
STUDENT AWARDS
EPIC Metals Competition
The EPIC Metals Corporation sponsors this competition for third-year B.Arch students to design an innovative object utilizing metal deck systems. The project brief for the 16th annual design competition was to design a Soft Sensory Play Pod (SSPP) for The Children’s Institute in Pittsburgh for children of different abilities. The pods, intended to be fully mobile/transportable units, encourage playfulness and togetherness and give the community the opportunity to learn about inclusive design.
First Place: Seyoung Choo & Susie Kim
Project: Tangendi
Award: $1,000
Second Place: Brendan Bogolin & Nicholas Coppula
Project: Release
Award: $800
Third Place: Thomas Chen & Meghan Pisarcik
Project: Push and Pull
Award: $600
Honorable Mention: Carson Michaelis & Amyas Ryan
Project: Alveus
Honorable Mention: Xiaoyu Kang & Claire Xu
Project: Two-sense play pod
Jury: EPIC Metals: David Landis, Steve Potts; Advanced Construction Studio Faculty: Erica Cochran Hameen, Stefani Danes, Lori Fitzgerald, Matthew Huber, Joshua Lee; Steve Lee; Previous Winners: Paul Greenway, Ammar Hassonjee
The SoA recognizes design excellence through the Fourth-Year Design Awards program. All fourth-year students pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) degree are invited to submit a digital portfolio and a personal statement positioning their work in relation to the year’s theme. The 2021 theme is Propinquity, which emphasizes the underlying spatial concept of “nearness,” which is a relational measure and not fixed.
Finalists for this year’s Fourth-Year Design Awards were: Shariq Shah and Han Meng.
Ralph H. Burt Jr. and Alva L. Hill Scholarship
This award provides financial support to students whose work focuses on sustainable environments, performance-based design, and systems integration throughout the design process.Winner: Ellen Zhu, B.Arch ‘22
Award: $2,200Jury: Mary-Lou Arscott, Jeremy Ficca, Laura Garófalo, Joshua Bard
Stewart L. Brown Memorial Scholarship
This scholarship recognizes professional promise in terms of attitudes and scholastic achievement.Winner: Veronica Hernandez, B.Arch ‘22
Award: $9,000Jury: Select members of the Pittsburgh AIA Chapter
Ralph H. Burt Jr. and Alva L. Hill Scholarship
This award provides financial support to an M.Arch student whose work focuses on sustainable environments, performance-based design, and systems integration throughout the design process.
Winner: Elena Marzina, M.Arch ‘22
Title: Propinquity: Environment, Form, Feedback
Award: $2,200
Jury: Omar Khan, Kai Gutschow
Burdett Assistantship
This award supports students pursuing their first professional degree in architecture for projects and activities that will enhance their future work. The winner “shall possess love of their subject, integrity, patience, fairness, and respect for others.”
Winners: Kirman Hanson, B.Arch ’21, MSSD ‘22 & Rachel Lu, B.Arch ‘21
Proposal: Perceived Places
Award: $4,000
Winner: Schuyler McAuliffe, M.Arch ‘21, MUD ‘22
Title: The Shape of Energy
Award: $4,000
Jury: Omar Khan
Deller Prize in Sustainable Architecture and Real Estate
This award encourages architecture students to pursue non-traditional career paths, specifically to grow their skills in the specialty of design, construction, and sustainability under the umbrella of the real estate business.
Winner: Yingying Yan, B.Arch ‘22
Award: $4,500
Jury: Omar Khan, Valentina Vavasis
Payette Prize in Building Science
Payette Associates established this award to recognize the accomplishments of a B.Arch student who has achieved exceptional performance by integrating the fundamentals of building science in their design work.
Winners: Emily Edlich, B.Arch ‘22 & Shanice Lam, B.Arch ‘22
Award: $4,500
Jury: Omar Khan
Measuring & Monitoring Services, Inc. Internship Fund
This award provides financial support to SoA undergraduate students who wish to undertake a summer internship or related program under the guidance of established professionals.
Winner: Shariq Shah, B.Arch ‘22
Award: $3,200
Jury: Omar Khan
Alwin Cassens, Jr. Memorial Fund in Architecture
This award provides financial support to School of Architecture students to attend conferences or other events in support of their academic pursuits in the area of public interest design.
Winner: Suzy Li, MUD ‘13, MS of Architecture ‘14, PhD-BPD ‘23
Proposal: Rapidly Improving Urban Surfaces for a Carbon Neutral and
Climate Resilient Future
Award: $2,200
Jury: Omar Khan
George W. Anderson, Jr. Award
This award recognizes School of Architecture graduate students who demonstrate through their work an exceptional level of attention to detail or dedication to beneficially impacting the community.
First Place: Sameedha Mahajan, MUD '21
Title: The Communal Veil: Carving Spaces for Women in the Rohingya Refugee Camps
Award: $2,500
First Place: Xiaoran Zhang, MUD '21
Title: Re-cultivation: Gaoli Village Rural Community Commons Design, Nanjing, China +
Re-cultivation Thesis Research
Award: $2,500
Second Place: Sharleen Devjani, M.Arch '21
Title: Climate Change Gentrification: Little Haiti, Miami
Award: $1,500
Second Place: Kashmala Imtiaz, M.Arch '22
Title: Sharpsburg Ecotone
Award: $1,500
Second Place: Pedro Veloso, PhD-CD '21
Title: Generative Systems for Design
Award: $1,500
Shortlist: Surekha Tetali, PhD-BPD '22 & Wei Liang, PhD-BPD '24
Jury: Daniel Cardoso Llach, Erica Cochran-Hameen, Dana Cupkova, Jeremy Ficca, Stefan Gruber, Kai Gutschow, Ramesh Krishnamurti, Joshua Lee, Vivian Loftness
David Lewis Community Engagement Design Scholarship
This award provides financial support to School of Architecture students who demonstrate a commitment to working within diverse communities through participatory architectural design processes and who demonstrate commitments to social justice and community service.
Shortlist: Ryu Kondrup, B.Arch ‘21; Sameedha Mahajan, MUD '21;
Taisei Manheim, B.Arch ‘22
Award: $2,500
Jury: An Lewis, Bill Bates, Stefani Danes, Stefan Gruber, Jonathan Kline, Kristen Kurland
FACULTY AWARD
Isabel Sophia Liceaga Discretionary Fund
This award supports faculty-led projects that critically engage students and advance the mission and reputation of the School of Architecture.
Winner: Nida Rehman
Title: Disrupting Toxic Systems
Award: $2,000
Jury: Omar Khan