Katie McEvily
News Reporter
Quick thinking and decision-making skills brought victory to a six-member team from the University of Houston's Gerald Hines College of Architecture during a design competition last month.
Graeber, Simmons and Cowan, an Austin architectural firm, developed a complex program, or set of project requirements, for the construction of a winery.
The program was developed for the firm's client Fredericksburg Winery, and all seven of Texas' accredited architecture schools were invited to compete in the design contest. Teams from Prairie View A&M University, Rice University, Texas A&M University, Texas Tech University and The University of Texas challenged UH under deadline pressure.
UH students Filippo Castore, Hector Covo, Sharon Pardilla, Celeste Ponce, David Sin and faculty adviser Geoffrey Brune discussed ideas and general strategies over their first dinner away from home.
"It's an absolute kind of equal effort," Brune said of the team. "I think what's important is it begins to indicate to them the true collaborative nature of what we do as architects."
Having received the program for the winery at 8:30 a.m., the teams separated into different conference spaces throughout the firm's offices. They worked from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. figuring and drafting their design concept on two 30-by-40-inch presentation boards.
"It's an incredible amount of information to deal with in such a little amount of time," Covo said of the competition.
The requirements for the facility included a