2009 Portman Prize Winners

Click on the images for a brief slide show of the project.

First Place [$6000 travel scholarship]
Matthew Erwin

Form Follows Energy
Energy Follows Form

Geometric information is now controlled on mass scales by generative and parametric design tools manipulated by the architect-programmer. This enablement frees solar ‘information’ from the confines of shading limits and thermal masses, allowing direct influence on building forms and efficiencies. The symbiotic relationship that exists between buildings and photovoltaic systems can be transformed from parasitic to mutualistic by reintroducing solar data into the design process, intertwining system and structure such that structure creates energy and energy creates dynamic beauty. City Hall East is the testing ground for this system, transforming an abandoned goliath into a dynamic focus of urban renewal.
Professor: Stuart Romm

Proposed site after the implementation of higher density detached single family protoype homes.

"BEFORE" map of the neighborhood showing suburban density and encroached watershed. "AFTER" map of neighborhood showing subdvided lots, additional greenspaces, and expanded watershed.

Longitudinal section through proposed prototype house showing positioning of house closer to the street and the transition of site down into the watershed.

Cross-section through new prototype housing and existing neighbors showing the contrast in density.

Second Place [$1000 ]
Meredith Carroll

Rethinking McBurbia

An essential part of the ‘American Dream’ is predicated on the desire to own a house with a yard. As older suburban neighborhoods near Atlanta’s perimeter decline, the need to propose alternatives to current conventions of suburban living becomes paramount. Considering Atlanta’s recent challenges with watershed management, energy consumption, and commutes, rethinking the settlement patterns concretized by years of suburban development is vital. This thesis will use the single family house as a protagonist for re-evaluating the current suburban condition of the contemporary American city - Atlanta. How can architecture fulfill the promise of suburbia while establishing a new model of the detached single family house in an ever-evolving urban framework?
Professor: Mike Gamble

Third Place[$500]
Jonathan Aprati

The American Dream Meets Density:
Condensing the Single-Family Detached Neighborhood

"As Atlanta matures, the recent trend for in-town living must be transformed from the draw of novelty to the desires of the mainstream. In our effort as designers to encourage density, we do not have the ethical privilege to rewrite the American Dream; we do, however, have the responsibility to reinterpret it. Thus, increasing density expands into a larger question: How can the ideals of detached single-family suburban housing be fulfilled in high-density in town developments?"
Professor: Richard Dagenhart

Honorable Mention
Will Bryant

Marketecture: Sustaining Life and Capital

The American economic system has a quality that allows it to be self-sustaining: the ability to create positives - and profits - from negatives. If there is a problem, then there is a market for someone to fix that problem. This generation has an opportunity to capitalize on a problem. (M)ar(ket)chitecture shall be about maximizing the functional aesthetics of sustainability through processes of cataloging and understanding perceptions, and the interaction of man in his environment, and implementing design reactions that showcase how those interactions can be mutually and monetarily beneficial. These steps are key moments of a design process set to orchestrate developers, inhabitants, green product manufacturers and the general public beyond short term perceptions of sustainability. In order to keep making money and living out this great social experiment called the United States we must preserve the environment in which we live. MARKETECTURE can be good if we choose to make it that way. Americans historically have been known as great salesmen, it is time we sold ourselves something worth buying! This new generation can either fade into the darkness behind real estate agents and developers, or they can grasp their design tools and plunge into the icy waters of the Delaware, leading the charge to help sustain this country in which we live, and spark a revolution of design and innovation.

Honorable Mention
Katherine Lowrey

PLACE SETTING: a Faculty House for Georgia Tech

"I see the task of architecture as the defense of the authenticity of human experience." (Juhani Pallasmaa, Encounters)
In architectural discourse, establishing a "sense of place" is a powerful, often illusory endeavor that infuses physical, cultural and phenomenological elements into a constructed environment: in this case a a new Faculty House for Georgia Tech. "Place Setting" is a term that evokes those things and rituals that when brought together instill a particular sense of place and belonging to encourage social interaction and collaboration while amplifying the local identity of the campus.

Honorable Mention
Maureen Tighe

Reclaiming the Connector

Atlanta can become denser and therefore more sustainable by capturing unused freeway rights of way- below, above and alongside- that address existing issues of disconnection, wasted space, and rough/neglected boundaries with new developments that respond to and contribute to the surrounding territories.