WOODBURY UNIVERSITY : 7 Students Win Design Competition

Seven Woodbury University architecture students won the top award at an architectural design competition last weekend at California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo.

The Burbank students designed and built a 20-foot-tall, triangular tower with free-floating platforms to win the “People’s Choice” award in the Poly Royal Design Village Competition April 26-29. One of 63 entries, the unusual structure also won an honorable mention award in the “Exploration of Form” category.

The students in the five-year architecture program who participated were project designer Craig Rizzo, Eric Hamnerlund, Cole Butler, Perry Roumbos, Spencer Knapp, Paul Simpson and Nick Rumanes.

They used chain-link fencing, sewer pipe, wire and wood to build the structure, which consisted of platforms suspended from three columns by cables. It was capable of sleeping six students.

Butler said the tricky part was that the students did not know where they would be asked to set up their structure.

“We ended up having to carry all the materials 2,500 yards and then had to set it up in a canyon where the ground was not completely flat,” she said. “It took us four hours to set up.”

Hamnerlund said the structure turned out to be the tallest in the competition by 6 to 8 feet.

“We wanted to make a monolithic impression in the minds of all who saw it,” he said.

The theme, “Exploration of Form,” urged students to create a structure not based upon accepted architectural concepts.