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For the second year in a row, a NewSchool team of students took first place in the initial stage of the Design-Build Institute of America’s (DBIA) 2015 National Student Competition – Western Pacific Region. According to the Executive Director of DBIA and the Competition Chair, “the competition was extremely strong, and the regional jury members were very impressed with [the] team’s qualifications and responses to the RFQ.”

The NewSchool team will advance to the next stage of the competition and won a $1,500 stipend.

Participating students and alumni include Jose Ponce (team captain), Chris Lerma, Jaime Mello, Beatrice Soto, and Luis Valdovinos. They will work with NewSchool Construction Management Chair George Welch as they begin the preparation of a design/build plan for a virtual project.

A NewSchool of Architecture & Design student team won the first place in the Region 7 Design/Build competition of the 28th Annual Associated Schools of Construction (ASC) Student Competition event that took place in Sparks, NV Feb. 4-7, 2015. This is the second time in three years that a NewSchool team has taken first place. In 2013, they won the Virtual Design and Construction portion of the competition.

More than 1,300 college students participated in this year’s annual competition for college students studying construction management. George Welch, NewSchool Construction Management Department Chair and team coach for the ASC competition, credits NewSchool’s success to the collaborative spirit between the Architecture and Construction Management departments.

“We are one of the few truly collaborative schools, in that most other universities have Architecture and Construction Management programs but the students don’t work as closely together,” said Welch. NewSchool participants included students from both the Architecture and the Construction Management departments, including construction management majors Obhi Dewan (’15), Chris Lerma (’15), Victor Maple (’15), Jaime Mello (’15) and Brian Zenz (’15), as well as architecture majors Ruben Bravo (’16), Athena Dadiz (’15), Jose Ponce (’16), Beatrice Soto (’16), and Luis Valdovinos (’15).

The Annual Design/Build ASC Competition is also widely regarded as one of the largest recruiting events in the construction management industry. More than 70 of the largest construction management companies attended the conference this year, including Balfour Beatty, Swinerton Builders, and Turner Construction. In previous years NewSchool participants have received excellent networking opportunities during the event. This year’s NewSchool attendees also had multiple job interviews and after their win, were treated to a dinner by one of the largest construction management companies in the U.S.

Of the 17 awards given to companies and professionals recognized at the 39th annual Orchids & Onions event in San Diego, three awards went to NewSchool of Architecture & Design alumni for their architecture design and innovation. NewSchool alumni specifically took home an Orchid for Architecture, Orchid for Interior Design and an Orchid for the Miscellaneous category.

Orchids & Onions is an annual fundraising program of the San Diego Architectural Foundation, which aims to educate the public on what makes good architecture, planning, landscapes, graphics, and interiors. The event also raises awareness and practical discourse about the environment in order to effect positive change and more thoughtful design.

• Orchid for Architecture: Kettner Exchange, designed by NewSchool alumni from the San Diego firm Tecture.
• Orchid for Interior Design: Patio on Goldfinch, designed by NewSchool alumni from the San Diego firm Tecture.
• Orchid for Miscellaneous Category: Quartyard, designed by NewSchool alumni from the San Diego firm RAD Lab.

The STEAM Pavilion design/build by NewSchool of Architecture & Design undergraduate students received an A+ Awards Special Mention from Architizer in 2016.

The pavilion was designed and built in 2015 for the STEAMConnect’s annual conference focusing on lectures, debates, and workshops revolving around the links between Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics. The STEAM Pavilion idea originated from the necessity to accommodate the activities that take place at the annual conferences of STEAMConnect. These activities involve talking, sitting, eating and, above all, meeting. The NewSchool student designers for the project believe that architecture is a clear combination of Science, Technology, Engineering, Math and Art, so addressing the necessities of the STEAMConnect annual reception was a perfect example of STEM + Art disciplines coming together, blending creativity, design, and technical skills.

The pavilion was built by architecture students Freddy Bravo, John Colwart, Marika-Anne De Ocampo, Aipeng Fang, Travis Garcia, Guy Hartwig, Emilio Ingrasci, Heiarii Li Cheng, Guillermo Menjivar, Madison Parsons, Austin Richards, Anthony Rodriguez, Andrew Schiffer, Yangyi Situ, Justin Soderlund, Tobey Toney and Salvador Vicente – under the direction of architecture faculty Ramiro Losada-Amor and Victor Navarro, and with design and construction assistance of Alberto García.

In 2016, the design/build received an A+ Awards Special Mention from Architizer.

About Architizer: Architizer is the world’s largest and fastest growing website for architecture has launched the definitive architectural award program with 115+ categories and more than 350 jurors. The Architizer A+ Awards received thousands of entries from a 100 countries and represents the best of architecture and design worldwide. Winners are chosen by our illustrious jury including such industry luminaries as Denise Scott Brown, Bjarke Ingels and Tom Kundig, as well as personalities from beyond architecture like Tony Hsieh (CEO, Zappos), Yves Behar (Fuseproject), John Edelman (CEO, Design Within Reach), Cameron Sinclair (Architecture for Humanity) and Barry Bergdoll (MoMA).