Dos Pueblos High School students took the top three awards in the Annual High School Architectural Design Competition, which in 2023 attracted a record of more than 80 participants. This is the second time in the competition’s 32-year history that Dos Pueblos swept the competition.
First place went to 12th-grader Ellie Gleason, the first person to have won the award for two consecutive years.
Ava Warmath, also in 12th grade, took second place; and Quinn Gleason, a 10th-grader, won the third-place award. Ellie and Quinn Gleason are sisters.
Honorable mentions went to Hailey Salas, 11th-grader at Orcutt Academy; Kiersi Court, 10th grader at Providence School; and Rylan Schaller, a 10th-grader Cabrillo High School.
The competition is held annually by the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara (AFSB), a nonprofit that seeks to stimulate interest in the profession among high school students.
For the first time in its 32-year history, the legacy trophy has been lost. The trophy is engraved with the winner’s name and their school’s name, and then delivered to the winner’s school. There it resides for the year until the next finals. This year, Dos Pueblos High reported the trophy has gone missing.
After months of planning, more than 80 students from across Santa Barbara County gathered in two locations on Feb. 28, where they were briefed on this year’s challenge: the development of a new community center set in the midst of an existing neighborhood park somewhere in Santa Barbara County.
The goal of the project was the creation of the neighborhood’s new rejuvenated center of activity and community amenities, such as youth and family programs and recreational facilities.
An additional element to the design challenge was that the community was mixed income, with many low-income families in need of a safe public park and with access to recreational programs and facilities.
Over the years, the surrounding park has deteriorated and is now poorly lit, making neighbors feel unsafe. Also the park has some existing mature trees that the community wants to save, and there is an existing gazebo large enough to host weddings, birthday parties and other family-oriented celebrations, that would ideally be saved.
The students had the day to complete their submissions for the competition after which a panel of architects selected 12 finalists.
The 12 finalists gathered at the Dunn School in Los Olivos on March 4 to present their proposals and answer questions before another group of architect judges.
For the first time in its 32 year history the charrette took place in Santa Maria, where Alan Hancock College hosted 51 competitors, which was greater participation than both venues hosted in 2022 (in 2023 the south county venue hosted 31 competitors at Direct Relief in Goleta).
Nine of the 12 finalists were girls, and three of the four jurors were women. Five of the six winners were girls. Given that currently three-quarters of architects in the U.S. are men, this diversity is very encouraging for the architectural profession.
The Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara reports it is pleased by its new partnership with Hancock College, because that indicates the program is truly serving both the north and south regions of the county.
Greg Pensa, Alan Hancock Board trustee and Rotary past-president, is credited with connecting the competition with the college. Saad Sadig, the chair of Hancock’s Industrial Technology Department, served as one of the jurors on March 4.