Undergraduates participated in Mock Firm competition, encompassing all aspects of architectural firm

By Anthony King | Downtown News

Five undergraduate students at the NewSchool of Architecture and Design (NSAD) in downtown San Diego won top honors at the 2012 Mock Firms competition, held in Chicago, May 4.

The team, consisting of Monika Banakaite, Wilfred Briones, Brandon Nash, Lam Thanh Nguyen and Carlos Sandoval, was one of six finalists for the MCM Group Mock Firms International Skyscraper Award. A second NSAD team was also among the finalists. The MCM Group is the internationally recognized sustainable community planning, design and architectural firm that sponsored the award.

Named the Capsule Architecture Lab, the winning team’s project was a proposed skyscraper for Beijing, China. Teams were required to present the design concepts to a panel of architecture professionals, receiving immediate feedback. In addition to the $1,000 first place award, the team also won Top Sustainable Mock Firm and Top Architecture Mock Firm.

“At NASD we have made global experience part of our mission,” said NSAD President Steve Altman in a press release. “This competition, with its focus on a hypothetical project in China, was an opportunity for our students to show how they can successfully apply their technical and creative backgrounds at an international level.”

Used as an educational tool, the entire competition – from initial research and planning to presentations – simulates working in an actual architectural firm, giving the students hands-on experience.

“What’s unique about this competition is that it involved us organizing a firm [-like] structure,” Banakaite said. “A lot of our time in the beginning was just to understand how real firms would apply for project competitions like this, which was a very unique experience.” In addition to the actual skyscraper design, she said the team also created marketing materials, logos and even a philosophy for their mock firm.

Before the team could start working on the design, they needed to think of a concept, a site and outcomes for their proposed building. After deciding on Beijing, both Banakaite and Sandoval said researching the culture and area of the city was an important part of their success. “We were very concerned about the current situation in Beijing and the social structures and issues of the site,” Banakaite said.

Sandoval agreed, saying an understanding of the social context for the building was the “driving force” behind the design. “We have to understand that architecture is not just … a way of implementing an icon into the urban fabric,” he said. “It’s more of how can we better the lives of the individuals that are inhabiting places.”

Historically, neighborhoods in Beijing were formed by connecting homes through narrow alleys, called hutongs.  Hutongs were the basis for social interaction in the city, yet as development progressed, many were demolished and replaced by larger streets and buildings. The NSAD team incorporated the hutong concept into their skyscraper design.

Calling this process a “humanistic approach,” Sandoval said the same method could be applied to almost any project. “This process is heavily taught here,” he said. “You have to take into consideration of what’s around you, the context, [and] the culture.”

Banakaite agreed, saying, “We’ve taken on to really understand the problem first, and to understand specifically what the project needs, not just in terms of architecture and structure [but] the social surrounding and the context. We think that’s a really important part of each project, regardless of what the actual program is.”

The group’s faculty mentor for the project was Raul Diaz, a principal with Roesling Nakamura Terada Architects, also in downtown. Diaz, who said he helped by critiquing and guiding the students, said the students worked well together as a team, which he called an integral part of working in a real firm.

“I was actually really impressed with the team and how well they got along,” Diaz said, calling this teaching method common practice for how architecture firms function today. “You always have the romantic image of this master builder architect who’s in charge of everything, but in reality it’s very much a team of experts now.”

Meeting approximately once a week for several months, the team was able to research and complete the project in addition to their regular classes. The students are currently approaching finals, and will be finished with the semester late June.

Anthony King is the Editor of San Diego Community News Network (SDCNN)’s Gay San Diego. You can reach him at [email protected].