M. Arch. Student Wins International Digital Modeling Competition
October 20, 2008
Farzam Yazdanseta, M. Arch. 2008, has won the top prize for architecture in the 2007-08 form•Z Joint Study Program Competition. Competing in a field of students from more than 150 universities in 27 countries, Yazdanseta received the Award of Distinction in Architectural Design. Assistant Professor Michael A. Ambrose served as Yazdanseta's faculty advisor and as the University of Maryland's Principal Investigator in the form•Z Joint Study Program. This program supports students' use of digital modeling software to explore three-dimensional design concepts.
Yazdanseta's innovative design solution for a new Public Radio International headquarters in Washington, DC, impressed the competition jury by pushing the boundaries of design modeling and digital representation. Yazdanseta's work, and the work of the entire ARCH 601 aesthetics|media|politics studio Ambrose taught in Spring 2008, explored digital modeling applications and methods to investigate digital media’s potential impact on the architectural design process. For images and animations from Yazdanseta's work, click to access the PDF and Movie.
“The elegance of this project lies in a balance between the abstract and real. While the views are commendable and enough architecturally convincing information is present, much of the structure, enclosure and material are only suggested, encouraging one's own imagination to fill in the gaps,” said Susan Melsop of Ohio State University, member of the 2008 competition jury.
Yazdanseta recently traveled to Minneapolis to accept his award at a special awards dinner held at the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA) Conference. All Award of Distinction winners receive a $1,000 prize, an expenses-paid trip to receive the award at the ACADIA Conference, and a form•Z RenderZone Plus license with one year of technical support and updates. In addition, AutoDesSys waives the processing costs of a 10-seat Joint Study license for each award-winning school for the next academic year.
Each year, student projects from schools participating in the Joint Study Program are nominated by faculty for presentation to a distinguished jury of five experts and theorists in computer aided design. Jurors are not employed by AutoDesSys, and they participate in a blind review process in which student names and university affiliations are not disclosed.
Currently in its 17th year, the form•Z Joint Study Program supports the learning of digital tools by subsidizing the use of form•Z in academic departments that are interested in educating their students in the articulation of three-dimensional forms. The prize-winning projects from the competition will be published later this year as part of AutoDesSys Inc.’s University Joint Study Program Annual Report.