A team of five Alfred State students was the Liberty Northeast Region winner in the 2024 National Student Design-Build Competition sponsored by the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA). The victory allowed the students to attend the DBIA’s Design-Build Conference & Expo (Dallas, TX) along with the seven other regional winners.
Architecture and Design Professor William Dean advised the design-build team which included architecture students Ella Brenner (Eden, NY), Abigail Jones (Pittsford, NY), Ryan Koplin (Brooklyn, NY), and Katie Petix (Bloomfield, NY), and architecture/construction management student Owen Lantiegne (Lafayette, NY).
The competition provides an opportunity for students to display their collaborative design and construction skills by competing nationally against other student teams. It encourages students to not only demonstrate their knowledge of design-build, but also use their skills and creativity to set them apart as future design-build leaders.
“This was an exceptional group to work with due to their ability to delegate the tasks they were presented with and problem-solve within an extremely short period of time. Their work ethic and level of preparation was outstanding, and I was pleased with the final submission,” said Dean.
Two weeks before the submission deadline, teams received a request for a Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) that contained preliminary project requirements. The successful regional submission allowed the team the opportunity to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the Governor John Dutton III Memorial Airport, Terminal ‘B’ Expansion Project in Bozeman, Montana. The RFP entailed the preparation of a proposed design, construction schedule and estimate for the $100 million project.
In preparing for the competition, the team met with ASC alum and architecture advisory board member Brian Cieslinski, Senior Principal of SEI Design Group (Rochester, NY). Cieslinski provided valuable insight into the design of airport facilities and gave the students a foundational understanding of the necessary details to create a winning SOQ proposal and competitive RFP. The team also received generous financial sponsorship from LaBella Associates.
Petix, who served as the team’s project manager, said, "This competition has to be one of the greatest experiences there is for an architecture student. Winning first place in our region was an incredible honor, providing an invaluable opportunity to work with an amazing group of students and professionals. This hands-on design-build experience has already started to benefit our careers, providing our team - and all who participated - with an upper hand in the knowledge of design-build. Most importantly, this competition demonstrated the power of different perspectives in achieving success, and I couldn't be prouder of what our team accomplished together."
