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Two West Virginia University students won a national contest by renewing, reusing and redesigning "an environmentally sound space to live, work and play," for artists and businesses in Asheville, N.C.
Kyle Stauffer, a senior landscape architecture major in the Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources & Design, won the "ReCycle this Site" design contest. Nina Chase, also a senior landscape architecture major, was recognized as runner-up.
The contest, sponsored by the Land-of-Sky Regional Council and the Environmental Protection Agency asked students from WVU, Virginia Tech, University of Arizona, Clemson University, North Carolina State and the Savannah College of Art and Design to design a livable space for artists and businesses in Asheville, N.C.
"It's amazing that we had three finalists and the top two projects overall. That says something about the quality of the education that I am receiving here," Stauffer said.
Stauffer received a $2,500 scholarship for winning the contest and will have the movie he submitted featured in a documentary. He was also asked to speak at a conference about brownfields, or polluted and abandoned industrial lands, in Philadelphia next year.
"This award helps me most by giving me a confidence booster. The knowledge that I can compete and win on a national level means a lot to me," he said.
Even though Chase did not place, she said she enjoyed the experience and is pleased with her work.
"Knowing that WVU landscape architecture students can compete, and competitively compete, with other top design students can only strengthen our reputation as an already prominent landscape architecture program," Chase said.
The Davis College was ranked 10th worldwide by DesignIntelligence for their Bachelor of Landscape Architecture Degree in 2010.
"It reflects on the quality of the student work coming out of our program. Named as a Top 10 program this year and performing well in a national competition brings more notoriety to our program, the Davis College and WVU," said Peter Butler, professor of resource management and one of the students' sponsors for the program.
Of the more than 200 students who participated, Stauffer, Chase and Calin Owens, also a senior in the Davis College, were chosen as three of the six finalists for the award.
The site chosen for the designs is positioned on 13 acres of flood plain adjacent to the French Broad River.
The land is recognized as being a brownfield because of pollution from a large leather tannery that was there previously.