Westlake High Wins 4 Of 10 Awards In Student Design Contest

From Westlake Schools: The Great Big Home and Garden Show, February 1-10 at the I-X Center, will showcase the top ten area high school model home designs from the 22nd annual Student Model Home Design Contest, held January 19, 2019 at Cuyahoga Valley Career Center in Brecksville.

This year’s student contest theme was "The Great Multi-Unit Townhouse".

The Westlake High School senior team of ETHAN SIMON, ROBERT FULOP, CONNOR REIS & AUSTIN LOOSLI took first place and the overall grand prize winning the $1000 scholarship. They also won the specialty categories of “Best Presentation”, “Best Smart Home Technology”, “Best Green Building”, and “Best CAD/3D Drawings”.

Second place overall went to the Westlake team of JACOB MEYER, MICKEY HAMILA, & ARYA KIRPEKAR.

Finishing third overall was the Auburn Career Center team of ISAAC LIST & SHAWN CATLEY.

Finishing fourth overall was the Westlake team of HENRY LEVENBERG, DANNY (DK3) KEENAN & DREW MATHER. They also won the coveted specialty category “Architectural Design Award of Merit”.

Finishing fifth overall went to the Westlake High School team of TOMAS DeURQUIDI, SHANE BURICH & JOHN MUDRYK.

Finishing sixth overall went to the Theodore Roosevelt (Kent) High School team of JAROD SHUMAKER, TRISTIN GRANT, & MARK MONTGOMERY.

The remaining TOP TEN finalists were:

7th – the team of MAX CAMPBELL, MICHAEL CARLSON, KAREN ARGIE, & PEDRO RODRIGUEZ (Excel TECC in Mayfield);

8th – the team of ZACH ROSS, LOGAN GORKA, SAMONE STURKEY, WILLIAM KENNELLY, DANILL KURNOSOV (Excel TECC in Mayfield). They also won the “Best Model” specialty category;

9th – the team of NOAH LOVAS & MAX MEEKER (Theodore Roosevelt High School);

10th – the team of ERIC HARDING, JONATHAN CAHLIK, VINCENT TOLLIS, & THOMAS SCHERER (Cuyahoga Valley Career Center).

All entries of the top ten finalists will be displayed at The Great Big Home & Garden Show, February 1-10, at the I-X Center (booth #1671).

Sponsored by the American Concrete Institute NE Ohio Chapter, Equity Trust, Lesko Architecture, Brian Gilbert of Coldwell Banker, Northeast Ohio Technology & Engineering Educators Association, The Chas. E. Phipps Company, and Marketplace Events, these future architects, engineers, designers, contractors, and artisans were challenged to design a Multi-Unit townhouse that’s marketable, innovative, energy-efficient, and addressed the wants and needs of a young professional couple as well as a retired couple.

Multi-unit living has evolved as a desirable way of owning a home for any age group. It combines a true mixture of design presence and social and environmental responsibility, featuring floor plans that emphasize the ultimate in convenience and livability, while accommodating a wide range of lifestyles. No maintenance or landscaping is a plus.

Students were to create a functional and aesthetically pleasing Multi-Unit townhouse residence, incorporating the above grade concrete system (i.e., ICF - insulated concrete form) system into the design. The townhouse was to be no larger than 1,500 sq. ft. per unit with green & smart technology features, and they were to incorporate appropriate and creative use of other building elements, such as energy efficient and environmentally conscious products and systems to reduce energy costs.

Concrete building technology design offers homeowners increased energy efficiency, lower maintenance and substantial cost savings. Because of their unique construction properties, concrete buildings can be designed with virtually any type of exterior and interior. Concrete is one of the most fire-resistant construction materials available, and the strength and durability of concrete walls offer unmatched resistance to the devastation of major storms.

Using their knowledge of architectural design, green building design technology, smart home technology, and concrete construction, student entries included floor plan & elevation drawings as well as a scale model. They were judged in 15 separate categories, including design, planning and innovations, energy-conserving features, drawing presentation, model presentation, and exterior design. Schools entered this year included Auburn Career Center, Excel TECC (Mayfield), Theodore Roosevelt High School (Kent), Westlake High School, and host Cuyahoga Valley Career Center. A panel of building industry professionals from across the area evaluated the student designs.

In its 22nd year, the student contest is nationally recognized by the International Technology & Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA) for promoting technological literacy, energy efficiency and environmentally conscious design, engineering, construction and architecture.

“The students really rose to the challenge tackling a very sophisticated theme, since they had to design 4 units in the multi-unit structure. This is the first theme of its kind in all the years of the storied contest history!” said Jeff Bee, Engineering and CAD technologies instructor at Theodore Roosevelt High School (Kent). “The “Great Multi-Unit Townhouse” theme helped students realize and appreciate that designers, architects and

builders sometimes have to adapt to trends and accommodate the wants and needs of a client different than a typical residential home, just like the multi-unit building trends you see in the Gordon Square & Edgewater area, Tremont district, Ohio City, and many other neighborhoods around the Cleveland area.”

“Also, incorporating many Green and Smart building features in the design was a great way to bring innovative construction technology into a project of this kind. It’ll be a real must see and highly visual display at the I-X Center for this year’s show. We are very fortunate to have The Great Big Home and Garden Show management (Marketplace Events) provide a first-class venue to showcase the students’ work. It’s truly a great way to recognize and honor the outstanding efforts made by these future architects, engineers, designers, builders, inventors, and artisans.”

Image via Westlake Schools