As part of their Architecture Week celebration, the AIA Architects League of Northern New Jersey administered the NJ Architecture Week Women’s STEAM Interscholastic High School Architecture Tower Challenge on Tuesday, April 14, hosted at Hackensack High School. In its third year, this competition is designed for teams of girls in grades 9-12 from Northern New Jersey high schools in Bergen, Sussex, Passaic, and Hudson counties.
This program was recognized by AIA National with a K-12 Architecture Week Grant.
Event Coordinator Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, CID, LEED AP, noted that this program challenges teams of students to collaborate on designing a tower that will be judged on four criteria: Zoning Efficiency, Economic Value, Seismic Performance, and Aesthetics/Design. Students use their own computers and CAD programs to create mixed-use towers and are required to build within a provided site, FAR requirements, setback limits, and street wall requirements. Students were also asked to create physical models of their tower’s structure using spaghetti and marshmallows that were tested for seismic on a shake table.
The Tower Challenge promotes climate initiatives through the design of a mixed-use residential tower. Density reduces greenhouse emissions through a reduction in transportation needs, by replacing sprawl with shared amenities, resources, and city services available to densely populated areas. This program is designed to reach and engage populations that are underrepresented in our industry. We seek to introduce creative problem-solving, the value of good design in the community, and model mentorship to these young women and their faculty.
Participating high schools included Hackensack, led by Tania Feliz-Patron and Sophia Raza; Sussex Tech, led by Joseph David, AIA; RiverDell, led by Angela Annecchino; High Tech led by Vanessa Batista; Ridgewood, led by Paul Cronk; and Becton led by Dana Muniz, with a total of 8 teams and 50 girls competing. Each team was advised by an Architect mentor volunteer from ALNNJ. Volunteers included Kelly Barragan, Manuel Pereiras, AIA; Marilu Tibana, AIA; Caroline Grecco, AIA; Richard Bettini, Associate AIA; Al Zaccone, FAIA; Eric Lam, AIA; John Gilchrist, AIA; Lou DiGeronimo, AIA; Jennifer March, AIA; Joe Bianco, AIA; Project Presenter Cecilia Cano, AIA; and Keynote speaker Elizabeth Pacheco, AIA.
The day consisted of the welcome address and information on becoming an architect by Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA; mentor introductions; project introduction by Cecilia Cano, AIA; the design charrette; model building; testing the models on an earthquake simulating shake table; presentations of the projects to the judges; lunch; keynote presentation and the awards assembly.
The results are as follows:
Best Tower Overall – Laser Cats Archies (High Tech High)
Congratulations!!
Special thanks to teachers Joseph David, AIA; Tania Feliz-Patron, and Sophia Raza, without whom this event would not have been possible. Thank you to Program Presenter Cecilia Cano, AIA, and Keynote Speaker Elizabeth Pacheco, AIA. Thank you to all the teachers and Architect Volunteers. Thank you to Hackensack High School for hosting the event. The League also extends its gratitude to Stacey Ruhle Kliesch, AIA, whose outstanding efforts brought this all together!