Benjamin Bowen spent at least 100 hours over the past two months working on an architectural design project, and he would do it again.
“After this, I know that it’s something that I can do professionally and enjoy,” the Anthony Wayne High School senior said.
Mr. Bowen, 18, won the top award Tuesday in a high school design competition sponsored by the Toledo chapter of the American Institute of Architects.
One of about 50 competing students, he was recognized during an award ceremony at Handmade Toledo, a crafts store and event space near downtown. About 150 people attended.
“After participating [in the annual event] last year, I was super-enthused about it and kept going, and now I am really enjoying it.”
Mr. Bowen spoke at the beginning of the 2½-hour event, before he was announced as the award winner in the seniors’ category. The award included a $3,500 AIA Toledo scholarship and a $1,500 cash prize. At least 25 other students won smaller awards.
Caelan Rea, 17, another competitor, expressed feelings similar to those of Mr. Bowen.
“I am more inspired about it now,” young Rea, an Ottawa Hills High School junior, said of architectural design. “It was something that I never considered as a career path before. But now that I’ve done something, after I’ve been exposed to it, it’s definitely an option that I think of.”
Todd Heslet, an Anthony Wayne High School teacher who was a project instructor for the competition, said that was the whole point of the exercise.
“It gives them a sense of what architecture is,” Mr. Heslet said. “Now, some kids might go, ‘Oh, this might not be for me,’ but other kids may think, ‘This is where I want to be.’ So, it works both ways.”
The 73rd annual contest asked students to design a community center for the East Toledo Family Center in Navarre Park.
Participants were required to submit drawings including overall floor plans, enlarged floor plans, site and roof plans, building elevations, building sections, three-dimensional representations, and a detailed project description.
The East Toledo Family Center, which operates two separate buildings on the opposite ends of the park, has expressed interest in combining their facilities to create a “condensed” campus, according to event organizers.
In December, the Toledo City Council Neighborhoods and Community Development Committee heard a presentation outlining findings from a feasibility study, which concluded that the center is currently at capacity and needs to expand.
The organization operates centers from two Toledo-owned buildings, including the East Toledo Family Center at 1020 Varland Ave. and the East Toledo Senior Center a short distance away at 1001 White St. Both buildings are at Navarre Park.
More than 3,000 individuals are served annually at the center through educational programs such as preschool, Head Start, enrichment, and general equivalency diploma, programming as well as youth athletics, and senior services, the center’s executive director, Jodi Gross, told committee members.
Students participating in the center design competition were tasked with developing a design solution that incorporates a variety of interior and exterior spaces, including daycare rooms, activity rooms, outdoor classrooms, plantings, a playground, and an outdoor athletic court.
Michael Rowe, a local architect and a competition committee member, said the winning projects would be turned over to the family center for possible project marketing.
While the center would also be free to use any of the students’ ideas, it is unlikely that any project would be used in its entirety because budget constraints weren’t a factor in the mock designs, Mr. Rowe said.
The design competition was directed by AIA Toledo and administered to students through teachers and local design professionals serving as advisers, according to the group’s website. It noted that awards were given for different grade levels, as well as for excellence in areas such as sustainable design, landscape design, graphics, and presentation.
First Published April 26, 2023, 12:18 a.m.
