Pierce Students Land Architecture Awards

Four budding architects from Pierce College have won awards in an international competition that required the students to create energy-efficient home designs.

The Leading Edge Competition, which included entries from all over the United States and countries from Canada to Spain, is sponsored by a collection of government agencies and professional organizations, such as the California Energy Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy and the California Building Industry Assn.

Working in teams of two, the Pierce students designed a model home and site plans for eight others in an attempt to come up with the most efficient solutions to hypothetical building problems. They entered the competition as an assignment in their advanced architectural design class.

Marina Ancheta and her partner, James Dowgiallo, both of Canoga Park, barely got their designs to judges by the competition deadline in May, but ended up winning third place in a category called “dramatic illustrations.”

“We were running a little late, and the only way we were going to get it in on time was to take the train up to Stockton at 5 a.m.,” Ancheta said. “We were still painting and cutting on the train.”

Ancheta said a “wild taxi ride” completed the journey to the judge’s office, where they personally handed over their design boards.

“It was really exciting to go up there and meet all the builders and the architects and the engineers as well as the other students. It was fun to mix with that whole network of people,” Ancheta said.

The other victorious Pierce team, Gina Marcione of Chatsworth and Oscar Garcia of Burbank, won third place in a category called “aesthetics with solar design.”

“Doing all this work for the competition gave me a real understanding of all the thought and planning that goes into a building,” Marcione said. “For a student, that’s the best way to learn.”