Four NewSchool of Architecture & Design students were selected to the finals at the 2014 Red Bull Creation Competition, a 72-hour innovation competition which challenges the nation’s best and brightest makers, hackers, and inventors to innovate around a secret topic.

The project, which was developed in a fourth year Urban Issues class with Luisa Shultz, an instructor at NewSchool of Architecture & Design, was selected as one of six finalists from across the country to compete against five well-established organizations. Competing under the name Tactical Urbanists, this was the only student group selected to compete. Julio A. Media, David Harrison, Anastasia Podolskaya, and Boyd Wheeler traveled to Detroit to participate in the competition. “Our theme is to activate space through problem-solving derived from our urban background mixed with the challenges which will be faced from the competition and the location. With our architectural background, we have attained the ability to look at problems through a different lens than most. One of our greatest strengths is our ability to see hidden potentials in areas which most people would not recognize. Architectural studies have provided us with a diverse background of experience, which allows us to make connections across various topics,” said David Harrison, Co-Founder/Designer.