Design
students win awards
By
Mandy Wright
On-line Forty-Niner
The
design department at Cal State Long Beach
designed and conquered at the Institute
of Store Planners Student Retail Interior
Design Competition, taking home more awards
than any one school has done in the competition's
history.
The
competition called for students to create
a design for young women's cosmetics boutique
in an urban shopping mall. Students were
given guidelines and a floor plan, and were
instructed to design the interior of the
store as well as the store name and logo.
Akihiro
Wakasa tied for second place and $500 with
her design "Epi Center." Marla
Leongomez, an international student from
Columbia, took home third place and $300
for her design titled "Aspire."
Michelle Blackburn was awarded honorable
mention in concept and branding, and Brian
Celius received honorable mention for technical
design. The four individual student awards
earned CSULB the title of "Winning
School."
"This
is the first competition I've ever entered,"
Blackburn. said. "It was a little intimidating."
The
students created their projects during a
junior studio course in the spring 2003
semester. Out of the 23 students in the
studio course, the best six designs were
chosen by course instructor Chris Brown
and submitted for competition.
"Obviously,
I'm very pleased with how well they were
received, because you just never know what
the judges are going to like," said
Brown, a lecturer in the design department.
Since
CSULB had never participated in the competition
before, the awards were somewhat unanticipated.
"I
was surprised, because it was out of the
whole nation," said Blackburn.
"It
was amazing for the students," said
assistant interior design professor Dorothy
Ottolia. She first learned about the competition
on the Internet, and felt that the design
students would benefit from it.
"They
were shocked because it was the first time
CSULB had been invited, and our name was
just everywhere," Ottolia said.
In
designing the projects, students had to
consider factors such as managers' offices,
janitorial closets and counter space, in
addition to the interests and age group
of the store's prospective clients. The
submissions also had to include samples
of the materials that would be used in designing
the boutique, and both exterior and interior
views.
"I
dedicated a lot of time to this competition,"
said Leongomez, a graduate student in the
interior design department. "It was
a personal achievement for me to win something
here because I am an international student."
The
students' entries made enough of an impression
on the judges that a new category was created
solely for the competition. Although there
were not originally any honorable mention
awards given, the judges later added five
categories, two of which were awarded to
CSULB students.
"That's
impressive to me," Brown said. "It
really speaks volumes about the quality
of work that was done, especially by our
students."
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