Two Maryland students were a part of winning teams in this year's Inter-School Design Competition (ISDC), which was held Sunday, September 18th at the National Building Museum. Part of AIA|DC's Architecture Week, the ISDC mixes teams from six Washington-area accredited architecture programs to go head-to-head in a spontaneous full-day design assignment and creative problem solving. Architecture seniors Brian Glassman and Kayleen Kulesza placed second and third place respectively with their teams in the competition.

This year's competition topic was "Tornado Disaster Shelter", challenging teams to design a tornado disaster shelter or a module of a tornado disaster shelter to be situated on the National Mall, using a provided kit-of-parts. Twelve student teams of four students each had from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM to complete their design. A jury lead by architect James Dallaman, of La Dallaman Architects in Milwaukee, awarded the winning teams the following Tuesday at a special ceremony at the museum.

The ISDC is an annual event, in cooperation with the National Building Museum, American Institute of Architects chapters from Northern Virginia, the Potomac Valley, and the DC area. This year's participating architecture schools included: University of Maryland, Catholic University of America, Howard University, Virginia Tech (Washington Alexandria Architecture Center), Morgan State University, and the University of District of Columbia.  Assistant Professor Hooman Koliji represented the University of Maryland faculty in this competition.

The School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at the University of Maryland is home to four academic disciplines: architecture, urban planning, historic preservation and real estate development. Committed to educating its students and community about the importance of sustainability and smart growth, the School practices an interdisciplinary approach to education, research, creative work, and community and professional service. For more information, please e-mail us or call 301.405.8000.

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