Rio Hondo College Awarded Top Prize at Chautauqua

Rio Hondo Community College, Whittier, won the grand prize last month at “Chautauqua 85,” a student design competition held at Cal Poly Pomona under the sponsorship of the American Society of Engineers and Architects.

The theme for this year’s competiton was “Fun, Fantasy and Folly” and Rio Hondo’s prize-winning structure resembled a South Sea island hideaway and took six hours and about $1,000 to build. Students working on the project designed by Kent Strother included Jim Nunez, Frank Risavich Jr., Todd Brubaker, Henry Vaca and Patty Barta. Money for the structure was donated by the student body.

The 20 entries in this year’s contest, the fourth annual event, ranged from a giant gum ball machine to a caterpillar/butterfly design, according to the society’s president, Tom Corwin, vice president of operations for McClellan Cruz Gaylord & Associates, Pasadena.

In addition to the grand prize winner, there were winners and honorable mentions in individual categories. In the university category, Cal Poly Pomona won both the honors; in the community college category, Rio Hondo was the winner and East Los Angeles Community College won honorable mention; in the high school category, Alta Loma High School won both awards.

A “People’s Choice Award” was won by Cal Poly Pomona.

Shelters were judged on four qualities: Aesthetics, appropriateness to the theme, engineering and craftsmanship.

In addition to Corwin, other judges were Raymond Spano, an architct with the Arroyo Group, Pasadena, and Joseph Bricio, an architect with Leidenfrost, Horowitz & Associates, Burbank.