A dozen fourth-year architecture students put their talents to the test in a recent competition sponsored by the , the most visited unit of The Carnegie system. The task: redesign the center maximizing efficiency for both visitors and occupants.
Eight outstanding proposals were developed and reviewed by a jury of architects and experts, including Thomas Flaherty, director of exhibits at the Science Center, and Vivian Loftness, head of Carnegie Mellon鈥檚 School of Architecture. Loftness is a member of the center鈥檚 technical jury.
Loftness said the student designs were some of the best she鈥檚 seen. Flaherty agreed and chose to exhibit the students鈥� proposals in the Carnegie Science Center earlier this year.
All of the proposals expanded the building facility to three times its current size adding much needed lobby space, educational facilities and exhibit prep and display facilities. They preserved the most popular features such as the Omnimax Theater, Sports Works and the Planetarium.
The projects stirred up a great deal of interest among the center's visitors. Children marveled at the skill with which some of the models were constructed, while their parents wondered if any of the projects would be built. Many visitors, including some architects and building professionals, suggested that the work was as good if not better than that of some professionals.
Architecture Professor Omer Akin, who teaches the course 鈥淎rchitecture Design and Occupancy,鈥� said this was one of the best studios he鈥檚 taught in his long career at Carnegie Mellon. He explained that a mission of the studio was to explore appropriate concepts that signify the 鈥渨onder of science and exploration.鈥�
One team of students modeled the form of their building after the 鈥渂ig bang.鈥� The design created the impression that building fragments, rapidly expanding form a common core, were arrested in mid-space. Another team used objects in orbit around the planet Earth as a metaphor for their proposal. Akin said several others used the neighboring fabric of buildings in downtown and the North Side to create dynamic and exciting geometry of building planes intersecting at acute angles.
鈥淭he students really put their heart into the work. They worked with passion. I鈥檓 so proud of them,鈥� Akin said.
