AIA|LA Announces Winners of 2×8:Exchange,
The AIA|LA’s 2019 Student Awards Program
Eleven University and College Students Win Scholarships

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—Monday, May 13, 2019—The American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter honored the winners of its annual student competition at a ceremony held at the Helms Bakery District in Culver City on Wednesday, June 8. Eleven students were bestowed scholarships totaling $13,500 for their winning entries.

“The quality of work is always amazing. What stood out this year, as a whole, is the social awareness of the competing students,” noted AIA|LA Executive Director Carlo Caccavale, Hon. AIA|LA. “Their commitment to a sustainable future. Their commitment to dealing with local issues, such as homelessness. Their commitment to more general issues regarding livability for years to come.”

In all, a design jury recognized eight architectural projects culled from 28 submissions by students attending colleges and universities across California. (Three projects were designed by partners, the remainder by individual students.)

Ranging from private universities to public colleges with two year programs, the scholastic institutions participating in “2×8:Exchange” offered a diverse array of students drawn to the field of architecture. Cal Poly – Pomona, Cal State – Long Beach, East Los Angeles College, LAIAD, Otis, Pasadena City College, SCI-ARC, UCLA, UCLA Extension, USC, Woodbury School of Architecture – Burbank, Woodbury School of Interior Architecture – Burbank and California College of the Arts (CCA) were represented in the program.

Scroll down for a list 2×8:Exchange Winners | To view winning projects click here or cut and paste this url into your browser: https://www.aialosangeles.org/aiala-events/2×8/2×8-winners-2019/

A three-pronged program, 2×8 is a design competition through which the AIA|LA celebrates students of architecture, supports them with scholarships, and exhibits their work.

Each participating academic program displays two student projects that epitomize the institution’s core vision. Now open for view to the public at the Helms Design Center Trade Showroom, Studio B, 2×8:Exchange closes Friday, June 7. The gallery is located at: 8745 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232.

The show’s installation is a forward-thinking take on the traditional gallery setting. It includes VR immersion, a zero waste plan, and an engaging event series added to the one-of-a-kind pop up gallery that the annual 2×8 exhibitions are known for. The exhibition design provides a winding “art walk” gallery with open spaces for group discussions. Materials used to construct the temporary gallery will be reused at local community and student design workshops, and are recyclable. Ongoing programming during the show’s run will include a family workshop, offer a fascinating view of the architectural design process, and illuminate how best to utilize an architect.

Please find below the winners and scholarship recipients of “2×8:Exchange” along with jury notes. The 2019 2×8 jury consisted of: Clay Holden, AIA – Clay Holden Architects; Michael Miller; Ashley Richardson, AIA – EYRC Architects.

Honor Award – $5,000 Scholarship
Project: housEMOJI
Student: Ryan (Hung V.) Nguyen
School: Cal Poly – Pomona
We appreciate the careful look at the vernacular of a gable roof house typology and how complex the interactions of space have been evolved through a re-look at this common typology. It has offered a complexity that adds enough interest in special conditions to an otherwise very simple program.

Merit Award – $2,500 Scholarship
Project: Urban Fog
Student: Zizheng Icarus Wu
School: California College of the Arts (CCA)
Architecturally, there is a lightness to the structure that has many interesting layering and programmatic uses. From an experiential point of view, this project is about inhabiting a cloud. Being in the fog is going to be a different experience every time one walks into it; not knowing what to expect from the space, how the light filters through the layers, will be quite compelling. There is a lot going on but the program will evolve much interest for a complex space.

Merit Award – $2,500 Scholarship
Project: Suitcase Archipelago
Student: Marwan Bamasood + Eric Soifer
School: California College of the Arts (CCA)
The strongest asset of this project is the programmatic thinking and the systematic approach to how the components of this resort interconnect and how they approached sustainability, which is otherwise a byproduct or a waste, and turning into a positive by creating a consumable product for the resort. There was a really big depth of thinking beyond just the esthetic and the architecture.

Citation Award – $1,000 Scholarship
Project: 4300 Degnan
Student: Ban Sheni and Fabian Dietrich
School: USC
We all got a lot of joy out of reading the cartoon and the graphic novel that accompany the work, the simplicity and clarity of the forms and how the architecture can pull us in – we appreciated the humor that was brought to this project and thought that the depth of study expressed in the graphics was really compelling.

Citation Award – $1,000 Scholarship
Project: LA, I Fold
Student: Dutra Brown and Anastasia Tokmakova
School: SCI-ARC
We were impressed with the graphic clarity of the presentation, the boldness of the elevations and sectional studies, the clarity of the diagrams and the power of a really beautifully articulated model.

Honorable Mention Award – $500 Scholarship
Project: La Serpiente
Student: Emilio Bustos
School: East Los Angeles College
This is a really strong investigation where the designers studied a numbers of different influences which resulted in a very clean and compelling form. The clarity and consistency of the graphics drew us into the project, helped enliven the drawings and allowed us to inhabit this otherwise 2 dimensional project.

Honorable Mention Award – $500 Scholarship
Project: Meditation Center
Student: Hugo Ho
School: LAIAD
One of the most compelling elements of this project is the fact that the designers took their inspiration from written text and created a strong system of rules and order out of it. It is clearly represented and we can see how the translation from word into built form works. The next level investigation of this project is how you inhabit this meditation center and what are the spaces that have evolved from this manipulation

Honorable Mention Award – $500 Scholarship
Project: Bridge Housing Prototype
Student: Rikako Sho
School: Otis
We loved the program and what this project is addressing with teenagers homelessness, being such a big issue in Los Angeles. The plans are very thoughtful and well articulated and we really appreciated the thought given to creating privacy within a large open framework – that really drew us in.

What 2×8 is:
A competition, exhibition, and scholarship fund for architecture students at institutions of higher education throughout California. Academic institutions select two projects by student teams, which are then considered by a jury of architects and designers who select winning entries. Winners and scholarship recipients are announced at the exhibition opening where all entries are displayed.

Exhibition Information: 2×8:Exchange
Date: Thursday May 8, 2019 – Closes Friday, June 7, 2019
Where: Helms Design Center Trade Showroom, Studio B. 8745 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232

For further information and winning project images do contact: Tibby Rothman, tibby@aialosangeles.org or by phone: 213.639.0763

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