February 2, 2016 MAX_min Student Teams Impress
Designs submitted for the college’s annual MAX_min student design competition were extraordinary, according to the panel of distinguished jurors, so much so that the panel decided to give two honorable mentions and not one, but two, best of show awards.
MAX_minimum Design Competition is an annual competition for all students of the College of Architecture and Design.  MAX_min encourages collaboration and design thinking to reach conceptual and pragmatic design excellence in projects that meet the greatest impact on the design environment with the least possible means.
Students are grouped into interdisciplinary teams to create projects that leverage the potential of design thinking to creatively impact the ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, the University of Tennessee or the state of Tennessee.
This year, the fast-paced competition launched Jan. 14, 2016, with designs due five days later and judging taking place on Jan. 29.
Best of Show
Teams receiving best of show awards are Team 24 (Project 07_3) and Team 16 (Project 01_3).
Congratulations to Team 24 members, Jola Grzybowska, Drew Donegan, Destiny Huff, Abby Holliday, Kyra Wu, Aubrey Andrews, Allison Randall and Mubarak Hauter.  Project 07_3 depicts a site near Lake Loudon Road at the water’s edge. The provocation included establishing a new vaporetto system with land/water station points between UT’s new Cherokee Farm and main campus.
Congratulations to Team 16 members, Christina Lulich, Mason Bolen, Cullen Sayegh and Casey Hall.  Project 01_3 is a proposed wedge-like space between two Lake Avenue parking garages on the UT campus. Teams were challenged to consider the logic of remnants of residual space.
Honorable Mention
Teams earning honorable mentions are Team 17 (Project 04_7) and Team 33 (Project 06_6).
Congratulations to Team 17 members, Hannah Margush and Adam Buchanan.  Project 04_7 was focused on a slot of land adjacent to UT’s new Student Union. Teams were provoked to manipulate the land to use new spatial typologies created from surrounding construction.
Congratulations to Team 33 members: Aaron Shugart-Brown, Karolina Bojarska, Katie Hitchcock, Franklin Potts, Brittany Lauren McGraw, Carrie Compton and Dillon Dunn.  Project 06_6 is set in the Art and Architecture Building. Teams were challenged to renovate the atrium level of the building.
In addition to bragging rights, winning teams received monetary prizes donated by Max Robinson, the School of Architecture’s former director and namesake of the MAX_minimum Design Competition.
The ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ extends thanks to the distinguished panel of jurors for the 2016 MAX_min design competition:
Max Robinson, Emeritus professor and former director of the UT School of Architecture
Marcia Tobin, Principal, Vice President, AECOM
Darcy Rathjen, project coordinator, UT Facilities Services
Cameron Bolin, architect, SandersPace Architecture.