SMC Interior/Architecture Students Earn Prestigious “Special Recognition Award”

SMC Interior/Architecture Students Earn “Special Recognition Award” at Prestigious National Architecture Competition

First Community College to Be a Finalist at The Barbara G. Laurie (BGL) Student Design Competition Hosted by National Organization of Minority Architects

SANTA MONICA, CA—Santa Monica College (SMC) architecture and interior architectural design (IArc) students won a “Special Recognition Award” at the annual Barbara G. Laurie (BGL) Student Design Competition hosted by National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA). SMC is the first community college in the competition’s nearly 25-year history to advance to the final round, and was one of three community colleges participating this year. The awards were announced during the NOMA conference held in Baltimore from Oct. 23-27, 2024.

The two-day BGL Student Design Competition featured the work of 41 National Organization of Minority Architecture Students (NOMAS)chapters from across the country. The student design teams were tasked with creating a master plan and architectural design for a new multi-modal transit center in West Baltimore. This project aimed to address the historic injustices and displacement of the Black community along the I-40 corridor—known as 'The Highway to Nowhere'—while acknowledging the past, celebrating an inclusive future, and emphasizing sustainable design and community engagement.

SMC students spent seven months working on their entry piece which was entitled ‘SCAR: Reweaving Fabric of Community.’ Their building's massing was designed to resemble a healing scar, symbolizing the community's strength and creating a regenerative space for individuals to thrive. They received the Special Recognition Award for their long-term multi-generational housing proposals and their innovative "Sponge City" approach, which retains rainwater and recharges natural aquifers.

In the first of two rounds, competitors gave a five-minute presentation with four slides, after which a jury selected the top eight to advance to the final round for a 10-minute presentation. Alongside SMC, the list of finalists included Cornell University, UCLA, Syracuse University, Tulane University, University of Florida, New York Institute of Technology, and Kennesaw State University.

“Our students literally worked throughout the night with no sleep—in the hotel’s dining space—developing their 10-minute presentation to add 23 additional slides, with all-new drawings and diagrams,” said SMC Professor of Architecture & Interior Architectural Design Javier Cambron. “The distinction they earned at the BGL Student Design Competition speaks highly to their innovation, creativity, dedication and training. All of us who teach in the program are immensely proud of them!”

SMC student Lea Jacobson—who presented the college’s project alongside Beau Carter—said: "It has been an amazing journey to watch a group of strangers become some of my best friends and pull together to create an incredible project. Both the students and advisors have put their all into making SMC a truly competitive school and it is incredibly gratifying to see that hard work in the form of the special recognition award."

Carter added that the special recognition reflected “how far hard work and dedication can go. Being the first community college to reach the finals is a victory in its own. I hope this award shines a spotlight on the talent within the community college architecture programs.”

Santa Monica College has degree and certificate options available in both architecture and interior architectural design. The unique feature of SMC’s architecture and interior architectural design programs lies in how they are integrated—sharing some foundational curricula and technology—while also maintaining the distinction: interior architectural design focusing on human interaction with space, emphasizing interior furnishings and finishes, and architecture addressing building forms and site context.

SMC also provides four design studios—traditionally at the core of an architecture education, but not always available at two-year colleges. Articulation agreements in place at seven California architecture schools—with more in the works—allow SMC students to transfer to five-year baccalaureate degrees in architecture at the third-year level.

With housing shortages reported across America, the building sector of the economy is in expansion. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the market for architects will grow by 8 percent over the next 10 years. SMC enrollments reflect these trends. A combined 150 students pass through the IArc and Architecture programs annually, including a number of international students. The student body is notable for its diversity, as evidenced by the dynamism of its NOMAS chapter. (SMC is one of only four community colleges to have a chapter). Cambron advises the SMC NOMAS student club, along with Architecture History professor Michael Rocchio.  Last year, five Corsairs also won the top prize for “most innovative design” in the Design Village challenge, hosted by Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

SMC alum and past president of the NOMAS chapter, Avalon Rossi—now in her second year of a master’s program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning—had a bachelor’s in English and film from UCLA. Instead of going straight into a master’s program in architecture, she signed up for SMC’s Certificate of Achievement in Architecture. The program allowed Rossi, who had overseen 15 full-scale renovations from Palm Springs to San Diego, to go beyond being a general contractor—“to be able to do it all.”

“Architecture is very software intensive,” Rossi said. “I can’t even imagine starting my program at Columbia without having prior knowledge of the technical side of things”—tools like 3D modeler Rhino, visual programming language Grasshopper, and building information software Revit.

“The teachers at SMC are very grounded in the working world; they’re involved in real projects in Los Angeles,” she noted. “Yet every single teacher was always very willing to mentor me and talk with me. And not just with me. They do that with every student.”

Both the architecture and interior architectural design programs are housed within SMC’s Design Technology department. For more information, visit smc.edu/architecture or email Cambron_Javier@smc.edu.

Santa Monica College is a California Community College accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges (ACCJC).

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