The 2020 Student Design Competition was judged during the 179th ASA Meeting ‘Acoustics Virtually Everywhere’ in December 2020.  The competition is made possible by the support and efforts of the Technical Committee on Architectural Acoustics and National Council of Acoustical Consultants, and awards are made possible through the Wenger Foundation’s support of the Newman Student Award Fund. The project involved designing a covered outdoor music performance pavilion with covered and lawn seating, with additional lawn seating to serve as the summer home for a city orchestra.

The submitted designs were judged by a panel of practicing design professionals and were evaluated on technical merit, design vision, adherence to the design brief and program requirements, and the effectiveness of the presentation. Many thanks to the judges for contributing their time and expertise to the competition: Robbie Eleazer (Trahan Architects), Paul Scarbrough (Akustiks), and Dawn Schuette (Threshold Acoustics).

And the winners are…

First Honors ($1,400 USD)

• Nima Farzaneh and Tommy Metzger; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Faculty Advisor: Todd Brooks)

Commendations ($900 USD each), in no particular order:

• Zhou Chao, Yang Lu, Feng Qian; Chongqing University (Faculty Advisor: Prof. Xie Hui)
• Josefin Krüger, Anna Stigenberg, Leon Müller; Chalmers Institute of Technology (Faculty Advisors: Prof. Wolfgang Kropp and Prof. Morten Lund)
• Jennifer Solheim; University of Nebraska – Lincoln (Faculty Advisor: Prof. Erica Ryherd)

Congratulations to the winners, and thank you to all those who participated in this competition!