BOONE—An interdisciplinary team of students from Appalachian State University’s Department of Technology placed first overall at the local level and second overall at the state level of the 2009 North Carolina Sustainable Building Design Competition.

Team KISS (Keep it Simple and Sustainable) was composed of students Spencer Cameron, Belle Farish and Andrew Woodruff, all building science majors with concentrations in architectural technology and design; Caite O’Bryant, interior design major; and Andrew Wyndham, graduate student in industrial technology.

Team KISS from Appalachian State University’s Department of Technology placed first in the local level and second overall at the state level in the 2009 North Carolina Sustainable Building Design Competition. Team members are Spencer Cameron, front left, Caite O’Bryant and Belle Farish. Also pictured are Andrew Woodruff, back left, and Andrew Wyndham. (Photo courtesy of Appalachian’s Department of Technology)

Instructor Don Woodruff and assistant professor Chad Everhart,  both faculty members in the Department of Technology’s building science program, were faculty advisors for the competition.

This year’s competition asked students to design a two-story, multi-family, residential building to meet the needs of Community Alternatives for Supportive Abodes (CASA), an organization created in 1992 that provides supportive housing for individuals with mental illness, developmental disabilities or substance abuse disorders.

The approximately 6,000-square-foot building design had to include nine individual apartments and an indoor community space for meetings and gatherings. The design had to meet high-energy efficiency standards and include sustainable design elements in the categories of indoor environmental quality, water efficiency, material selection, hazard mitigation, community preservation and affordability.

Also, the project required designs to be universally accessible and within Housing and Urban Development (HUD) design standards.

The N.C. Sustainable Building Design Competition sponsored by Advanced Energy engages students in the state’s universities and community colleges to learn and apply the lessons of sustainable design and construction. Each year statewide winners see their design built as part of the grand prize. The competition was held in conjunction with the Triangle Emerging Green Builder Natural Talent Design Competition.

For more information about the competition, visit www.advancedenergy.org/sbdc/index.html.

For more information about Appalachian’s Department of Technology, visit www.tec.appstate.edu.

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