NSAD Students Sweep Green Building Competition

NewSchool of Architecture & Design Students Sweep Natural Talent Design Competition
Students take home 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes in green building competition

SAN DIEGO, Calif.—August 11, 2009—Six students from NewSchool of Architecture & Design recently won every top award at this year’s Natural Talent Design Competition sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council’s San Diego Chapter. The two students awarded first prize are also regional winners and will move on to the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) national competition during the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo (November 11–13, 2009) in Phoenix, Ariz.

“We are proud of the exceptional work our students created for this competition. Their exciting, innovative designs reflect NewSchool’s commitment to train students to make a significant contribution to the green building movement,” said Dr. Steve Altman, president of NewSchool.

The Sixth Annual Natural Talent Design Competition winners from USGBC’s San Diego Chapter are:

1. $1,000 Prize: Escape From Reality—Sarah Harris and Nate Riek. An exoskeleton design to enable Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), passive thermal masking and cooling, and a memorable interrelationship of internal and external spaces.

2. $500 Prize: Garden Park—Christina Franklin and Jesse Seals. Use of a building canopy design, BIPV, and the most sophisticated understanding of the competitive challenges of hospitality and residential design.

3. $250 Prize: Equisetum: A LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)-Platinum design—Josh Ayer and Arnoldo Espindola. Designs for passive cooling, gray-water recapture, and a modular residential unit design illustrating a complex understanding of architectural design and heat-gain management.

USGBC's Natural Talent Design Competition provides emerging architects and designers an applied learning experience focused on integrated design, sustainability and innovative technologies. The goals of the Natural Talent Design Competition are to broaden environmental education in the building professions and to empower and inspire future leaders in the green building movement.

NewSchool students recently took home wins in the “Best Overall Design” and “Best Structure Design” categories for the Cal Poly Design Village 2009 competition, as well as first, second and third place at the regional BARKitecture CHIQue 2009 competition, which resulted in their designs being featured in Dwell magazine in addition to receiving prize money.

About NewSchool of Architecture & Design
NewSchool of Architecture & Design, founded in 1980, is accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS). ACICS is a national accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. NewSchool, with more than 480 students, offers NAAB-accredited professional architecture degrees at the bachelor’s and master’s level, as well as a Bachelor of Science in Digital Media Arts. For more information, visit http://www.newschoolarch.edu/. 

In the United States, most state registration boards require a degree from an accredited professional degree program as a prerequisite for licensure. The National Architectural Accrediting Board (NAAB), which is the sole agency authorized to accredit U.S. professional degree programs in architecture, recognizes three types of degrees: the Bachelor of Architecture, the Master of Architecture, and the Doctor of Architecture. A program may be granted a six-year, three-year, or two-year term of accreditation, depending on the extent of its conformance with established educational standards. Master’s degree programs may consist of a pre-professional undergraduate degree and a professional graduate degree that, when earned sequentially, constitute an accredited professional education.
However, the pre-professional degree is not, by itself, recognized as an accredited degree.

About the U.S. Green Building Council 
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization comprised of more than 19,000 organizations from the building industry, working to develop buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work. Founded in 2003, the USGBC’s San Diego chapter has more than 600 members dedicated to transforming the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated.