10th Annual HBG Design Competition Recognizes Fay Jones School Student

Shawnya Meyers

l-r: Mark Weaver, Phoebe Norcross, Branden Canepa and Landon Shockey. Norcross won the 10th annual HBG Design International Design Competition. Weaver, Canepa and Shockey are all with HBG Design.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Phoebe Norcross, a fifth-year architecture student in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas, created the winning design in the 10th annual HBG Design International Design Competition. The competition recognizes work students complete at international locales within the school’s required study abroad programs.

Norcross, from Memphis, Tennessee, won an Award of Excellence for the design she created during her study abroad semester at the University of Arkansas Rome Center in fall 2016. She received a $5,000 prize for her project, “reciproCITY.”

“This competition and this awards program recognizes the value of our international program in architecture and design, presents this design work from these programs as a standard of excellence for us all, and encourages each and every student to participate in this awards program as we go forward,” said Peter MacKeith, dean of the Fay Jones School.

HBG Design, the Memphis firm that helped judge the entries, awarded the $5,000 in total prize money. Mark Weaver, a partner and principal architect with HBG Design and a 1982 graduate of the Fay Jones School, coordinated the competition. Branden Canepa, a recruiter with the firm, and Landon Shockey, a 2007 interior design graduate of the Fay Jones School, joined Weaver at the Oct. 18 awards ceremony in the Young Gallery of Vol Walker Hall. The ceremony was followed by a lunch hosted by the firm.

“The reason we started this program was to encourage the whole idea of travel and experiencing different places,” Weaver said. “Travel is transformative.”

Juries from HBG Design and the Fay Jones School evaluated the projects and provided comments on the students’ work. Jury members from the Fay Jones School included Stephen Luoni, Laura Terry and Torrey Tracy. Both juries reached a consensus, selecting Norcross’ design as the sole winner.

Students in the Rome Center studio were tasked with analyzing, developing a strategy and then designing an element for the Esposizione Universale Roma, or the EUR, a residential and business district in Rome. Students worked in groups for the early analysis, and then individually designed an element for the district.

For “reciproCITY,” Norcross decided to connect the site to five buildings in the surrounding neighborhood through a subway station that houses a commercial hub and an event space, and also relocates an existing outdoor market. This connecting piece sets up different experiences for entering the site and focuses on welcoming local pedestrians. She said each move had to have a reciprocal reaction, so when she excavated into the ground to connect to the subway, she built onto the site as well.

Jury members said Norcross took “an almost surgical approach to the resolution” using graphics and written information to support her overall idea: using space to connect people to urban spaces. She displayed “a clearly articulated position regarding space and its experiential qualities.” The jury said Norcross used outstanding graphics that revealed a command of the design process, using a variety of drawing types, including diagrams, transects and perspective vignettes.

“The program in Rome gave us a chance to work independently without too much professor input,” Norcross said. “I got really excited about figuring out my own personal way of expressing what I want to do with architecture.”

Terry said Norcross’ project displayed joy, communicating her passion about both the process and the project. Norcross used color – primarily shades of blue – to help express her design plans.

“I feel like a lot of architecture is grayscale, and I wanted to bring some life to that,” Norcross said. “I’m really interested in color and learning how to use it better.”

HBG Design established the international design competition for architecture students at the Fay Jones School in 2007. Moving forward, the firm will expand this annual competition to also include interior design student projects done in study abroad programs. Those will be taking place at the U of A Rome Center as well as in the Latin American Urban Studio, a summer studio that takes place in Mexico City.

Fay Jones School students have participated in study abroad programs at the U of A Rome Center in Italy since 1989. The school also has conducted the Latin America Urban Studio in Mexico since 1994.

MacKeith commended Weaver and HBG Design for expanding the competition and celebrating the Fay Jones School’s multidisciplinary programs.

“I’ve been involved in the university for 25 years now,” Weaver said. “It’s great to stay in touch with students and keep up with current trends.”