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Gabriella Gutierrez 277-6654 Carolyn Gonzales 277-5920

March 13, 2002

DESIGN COMPETITION SET FOR MARCH 18 AT UNM

The University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning presents the Rinker Materials Design Competition. Formerly known as Crego Block, Rinker Materials sponsors the event. Judging is set for Monday, March 18 from 1-3 p.m. in the design studio, located on the southeast corner of Cornell and Central.

This year's design topic is a ropes course and climbing wall designed for the western edge of Johnson Field near the gym and pool. The entries will be on exhibit in the 200 Level Studio until semester's end. Jurors for the competition are Daryl Gorenflo, general manager of Rinker Materials; George Anselevicius, former dean of the school; and Gordon Wittenberg, architecture faculty, Rice University.

"The 200 Level Design is the first year of the undergraduate architecture program," says Gabriella Gutierrez, associate dean, School of Architecture and Planning. Gutierrez coordinates the 200 level curriculum and teaches one section of it.

For this project, all 40 students and faculty took the ropes course. "Not only did it help them develop trust and self-esteem, but it gave them a better understanding about what they're designing," Gutierrez says.

Funds from the Rinker Materials endowment paid the $10 fee per person to attend the course, she says. As a result, Susan Harper, the psychologist who directs UNM's confidence course, will serve as a special judge for the competition.

Students did site analysis before beginning design work. They determined the uses of various materials, and because this competition is sponsored by Rinker Materials, they looked specifically at the use of concrete block.

Rinker Materials, owned by CSR Ltd., West Palm Beach, Fla., has been the parent company of Rinker Materials, and before the name change, Crego Block, for seven years. "The name change brings brand equity," says Gorenflo. "In Florida, Rinker Materials makes 120 million concrete blocks a year. Comparatively, we make six to seven million a year in New Mexico," he says.

This is Gorenflo's third year as a judge. With a background in construction, he looks at the designs differently than the architecture judges do. They look primarily at creativity, whereas he looks at creativity and at the viability of building them.

"I enjoy being involved in the competition. The better architects understand masonry, the more likely they are to specify it in construction," he says.

Following the design competition, Gordon Wittenberg will present, "Material as Language," the Rinker Materials Lecture in the Spring 2002 John Gaw Meem Lecture Series to be held at 5:30 p.m., Northrup Auditorium, room 122 in the Geology Building.

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