press release

Intern Architect's competition designs to be published in Architectural Record

Justin Laskin receives prestigious honor award

April 14, 2006 – Justin Laskin, a 2nd year graduate student of the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture and former intern at VMDO, has received an Honor Award for his entry to Architecture Record’s international competition for the rebuilding of New Orleans.

Last year, Record and McGraw-Hill Construction teamed with Tulane University. To generate housing proposals for New Orleans in the wake of the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, two competitions were created: the first for a New Orleans House Prototype, which was only open to current architecture students; and the second for a High-Density on the High Ground, which was open to everyone.

In February of this year, University of Virginia Professors Maurice Cox and Robin Dripps led graduate students on an extensive site visit to New Orleans. Justin and his fellow colleagues were given the opportunity to meet with various government officials, architects, and educators. Students in Cox’s studio were then divided into five teams and assigned the challenging task of creating a proposal and submitting it to the High Density on the High Ground competition. Their assignment was to generate a 140-unit housing community with mixed-use components on a high-ground site adjacent to the Mississippi River. While the competition welcomed visionary or hypothetical proposals, contestants were strongly encouraged to consider that New Orleans is currently encountering a severe and immediate housing crisis, and would require highly practical, cost-efficient solutions to this problem.

Justin and his team’s proposal was one of over 400 entered into the international competition. After careful review and deliberation by a jury, only two were selected to receive a 1st Place Merit Award and three others to be given a 2 nd place Honor Award.

Justin’s outstanding designs will be featured in the June 2006 issue of Record. In addition, his team’s proposal will be highlighted at the 2006 AIA Convention and Expo in Los Angeles. It will also be displayed, along with the other winners and thirty-three honorable mentions, as part of a year-long exhibition at a museum in New Orleans.

For more information about the Architectural Record Design Competition, visit http://archrecord.construction.com

For more information about VMDO Architects, please contact William Bishop at 434-296-5684 or visit http://vmdo.com

VMDO Architects was founded in 1976 and is youngest firm to receive the T. David Fitz-Gibbon Virginia Architecture Award, the most prestigious honor given by the Virginia Society of American Institute of Architects.