MBMA Awards $31K to Top Student Designs in annual competition

by Christopher Brinckerhoff | 18 March 2025 6:00 am

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The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA)[2] has announced the winners of its fourth annual Student Design Competition. The association granted $31,000 in awards to eight winners and their faculty sponsors in undergraduate and graduate divisions in an online ceremony.

For the undergraduate division, the first-place award and $5,000 went to Maya Westbrock, a student at California State University in Sacramento, Calif. She is the first two-time competition winner, taking second place in the 2023 contest. She was advised by Mark Roddy from the department of design.

The second-place award, along with $3,000, was presented to the team of Carlos Martinez and Naman Desai at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. Their advisor was Marcel Erminy, professor of practice at Texas A&M University’s College of Architecture.

Third place and $2,000 went to the team of Michelle Quan and Gabriel Paz, students at the Universidad del Istmo in Frajinas, Guatemala. Luis Miguel Sagastume, an architecture and design faculty member, advised them.

Two $500 merit awards were also awarded. The team of Cade McCue, Daniel Resch, Amanda Cetorelli, and Kara Barnes earned one merit award. They were advised by Adam Yaracs of the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.

A second merit award was given to Stacy Romana, a student at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Charlotte, N.C. Her faculty advisor was Greg Snyder, associate professor and undergraduate program director at the School of Architecture at UNC.

In the graduate division, Pragathi Chandramouli, a student at University of Massachusetts Amherst, won first place and $5,000. She was advised by professor Stephen Schreiber, chair of the department of architecture in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts.

Second place and $3,000 was awarded to Pranav Dale, a student at University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was advised by professor Caryn Brause of the department of architecture in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Leonard Morse-Fortier, lecturer in structures at University of Massachusetts Amherst, also advised both contestants.

Third place and $2,000 were awarded to the team of Farzad Saeidi Samet, Seyedehaysan Mokhtarimousavi, and Shiva Manshour from University of Nevada at Las Vegas. Their faculty advisor was Grant Mosey, assistant professor of architecture at the School of Architecture.

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Tony Bouquot, general manager at MBMA, says, “We congratulate Maya Westbrock and her advisor, Mark Roddy, on earning the top prize in the 2024 MBMA Student Design Competition. It’s wonderful to see someone use their experience from last year’s competition and do even better. We also would like to thank the faculty sponsors for their work and the time they put in to make this competition even better.”

Lee Shoemaker, PhD, PE, director of research and engineering at MBMA, says, “This was the fourth year of the competition and the largest ever, with a total of 49 entries from schools across North America. We are excited to see the design competition grow and introduce metal building systems to students across the country and beyond.”

The competition occurred during the 2024 fall semester with the entry date in January. The contest for undergraduate and graduate architecture students challenged each participant to create an innovative metal building design for a new campus recreation center.

The five-member panel of judges were:

• Eric Pros, AIA, director of design at DS Architecture, Cleveland
• Terri Meyer Boake, LEED AP, professor at University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, Cambridge, Ont., Canada
• Lauren Gwaltney, AIA, senior associate at Williams Blackstock Architects, Birmingham, Ala.
• John Underwood, consultant to Behlen Manufacturing Co., Columbus, Neb., chair of MBMA’s education committee
• Robert Tiffin, national accounts manager at Silvercote LLC, Greenville, S.C., chair of MBMA’s architect committee

Source URL: https://www.metalconstructionnews.com/news/industry-news/mbma-awards-student/

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