Healthy lunchroom
Student's redesign for cafeteria is a finalist in architecture contest
HIGH POINT HIGH — Michelle Kleva's plan for a sustainable high school cafeteria was a finalist in the National High School Architecture competition. The 17-year-old High Point student was the only New Jersey student selected for the top 10. A total of 110 students from 13 states entered the contest, sponsored by the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
The other nine finalists are from California, New York, Illinois, Florida, Massachusetts, Nebraska and Kentucky.
The contest asked students to redesign their school's cafeteria for healthy eating in a sustainable place. Each student project was evaluated by a jury of 40 architects, engineers, designers and university professors. The jury team also gave feedback on each entry before narrowing the field to the final 10.
Michelle's design focused on making the cafeteria healthier and more aesthetically pleasing, while also making it more efficient. Her idea of "food booths," much like those in a public food court, addressed the issue of food distribution, while also helping the traffic flow of students. She also added several different stations where distinct meal choices could be found more easily, a second floor dining area for extra seating and an outdoor cafe adjacent to the existing cafeteria. The use of low "e" double glazed glass throughout her design helped to solve the problem of sufficient lighting while at the same time saving energy.
At each step of the process, from inception and information gathering, to simple sketches, solutions and 3-D models, the students in this competition were required to use the DiscoverDesign Web site, produced by the Chicago Architecture Foundation. That served as a guideline for the students to follow and gave them a place to show their work. It also allowed professionals to specifically comment directly to the students on their ideas and designs.
Setting goals
Michelle entered the contest as part of her two-year architecture class at High Point High School, taught by Benjamin Kappler, who also sponsored her entry. Kappler is a technology education teacher, who has been at High Point for seven years.
"Competition with architecture students is very important; it mimics real life situations, as architects compete for projects all the time. To give kids exposure to that at a young age is really great," said Kappler.
He also emphasized the benefits the students received from this particular competition, the first of its kind for the high school level.
"For the students to get feedback from real architects on any project is outstanding for high school kids. This was a great a opportunity for them to do that."
Michelle, who plans to go to college for architecture, also saw this contest as an important step in her learning process.
"The competition was more architecture based than any other I'd previously entered and it was a great experience getting feedback from professionals about the good and bad things about my creation."
Not only do students have the chance to gain valuable experience and interact with professionals in their field, the top finalists won an all expense paid trip to Chicago to see the city's famous architectural sites. A second jury panel made up of prominent architecture organizations and architects in the Chicago area, as well as the DiscoverDesign Web site's creators judge the final 10 projects and announced the three top finishers on June 20. Michelle was not among them but says she proud to be named in the top 10.
"I was shocked and happy when I found out I was in the top 10 and the only finalist from New Jersey. It's an honor to be in the competition," said Michelle.
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