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New York architect picks up first prize in WU competition
New York architect Nikole Renee Bouchard was named the winner of Washington University’s Steedman Traveling Fellowship Competition — and recipient of its $30,000 grand prize — for her environmentally conscious redesign of a building on the near northside of St. Louis.
The biennial competition challenges young architects from around the world to create their best development plans for a selected building. Participants in this year’s competition hailed from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, India, Singapore and the United States. Bouchard, a 2006 Cornell University graduate, was chosen out of 197 registrants, 49 of whom submitted designs.
This year’s competition building was the former St. Louis Cold Storage Company, located at 1257 Lewis St. Bouchard’s winning design would reinvent the abandoned 100,000-square-foot building into a center for urban agriculture. Her design, “In Situ Sensibility: Seeding the Future Growth of St. Louis,” focuses on the lack of natural environment in the area.
In her design, Bouchard proposes creating a network of hills and valleys to surround the building and make more open space. The space and the building would be used as an indoor/outdoor market for public functions, while also providing more green space, something Bouchard said the area lacks.
“There is a need for a program that activates the landscape and engages the public — people of all ages, social statuses and interests,” she said.
Bouchard’s $30,000 prize is the largest award of its kind in the United States and will go toward her study or research abroad.
Although not awarded prizes, two Washington University graduates were given honorable mentions for their designs. John Bruenning, a St. Louis native, received his master’s degree in architecture from Washington University in 2004, and Sabina Santovetti, from Rome, received her master’s degree in architecture from the university in 2005. Maria Eva Contesti of Seattle received the third honorable mention.
The Steedman Fellowship has been awarded since 1925 and honors James Harrison Steedman, a Washington University graduate and World War I veteran.
Bouchard’s winning entry, and the other acknowledged entries, are on exhibit through the end of April in Givens Hall at Washington University’s Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Design.
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