Engineering students win top prize in national sustainable contest

Waterloo School of Architecture and engineering students won first prize in the 2013 Evolve Sustainable Design Competition sponsored by RBC and B+H Architects. 

Students Renee Hum-Hsiao, Elaina Poleto, Keegan Steeper, Joanne Yau and Thomas Yuan received first prize for their design of an environmentally sustainable bank branch of the future. They won $5,000 and the opportunity to meet with some of Canada's top architecture professionals at B+H. In addition, the Waterloo Engineering team of Alice Chen, Alan King Bowden, Andrea Ng, Alice Song and Mina Vedut was awarded an honourable mention and a $2,500 prize.

The competition challenged architecture and engineering students to work together in interdisciplinary teams to design a net-zero energy and water-wise bank branch of the future that incorporates innovative yet practical concepts for achieving extreme energy efficiency, includes renewable power and minimizes the branch's water.

"The winning submissions used a great balance of technology and passive design - strategies that maximize the benefits of natural light, heat and ventilation - to meet the goals of the competition," said Douglas Birkenshaw, principal at B+H. "The dedication and quality of submissions by all of the students was inspiring."