For Immediate Release: June 20, 2007
HGA Architectural Designer Wins 2007 Ralph Rapson Traveling Study Fellowship
Minneapolis, MN - Architectural designer Nicholas Potts, Assoc. AIA, of HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA), Minneapolis, was selected as the 2007 recipient of the Ralph Rapson Traveling Study Fellowship. The $10,000 fellowship enables young architects or designers to continue their architectural education by pursuing foreign or domestic travel-study.
"The traveling fellowship is a great learning experience," Potts says. "This allows me to pursue my design interests and strengthen my professional skills as an architectural designer."
Potts says he will use his fellowship money to travel to Spain, and possibly Morocco, to study modern architectural developments and trends of the past ten years.
Participants were asked to design a hypothetical Center for Global Climate Change in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, where the Will Steger Foundation would house its staff and various educational and outreach activities. Potts' design and verbal presentation was selected from five finalists out of 39 submissions.
Potts' innovative design concept slips a grouping of interconnected modernist forms onto a wooded site of oak, maple and birch trees overlooking White Bear Lake. Different building modules address the program requirements for a museum, offices, educational area, lobby, and guest housing. Translucent panels of layered recycled glass sheathe the modules, creating a striking architectural effect that suggests the strata of arctic ice sheets.
Interior spaces are open and bright, with light filtered through the opaque glass walls and glimpses of the forest canopy revealed through a series of skylights. Potts proposed covering the ceiling planes in wood minimally harvested during construction.
Separate from the main public buildings are a kennel and guest quarters, with an attached concrete fire pit and sauna. "The hearth permits the forest to seep into the program and allows visitors to ponder the site's serene landscape and lake beyond," says Potts, who first visited the pristine site during a classic Minnesota blizzard.
An architectural designer at HGA since 2005, Potts graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2005 with a Master of Architecture degree. He co-founded the student journal T/here. He was also a student coordinator for the University's participation in the AIA "Great City" design workshops.
Potts is the sixth architectural designer from HGA to win the Rapson Traveling Study Fellowship, and the fourth HGA designer in a row to win. When he returns, he will present details of his educational travels to the jurors and foundation board members.
The Ralph Rapson Traveling Study Fellowship is sponsored by the Minnesota Architectural Foundation in association with the University of Minnesota College of Design and School of Architecture, in honor of Minnesota modernist Ralph Rapson.
The competition is open to AIA Minnesota members under the age of 40 who have either graduated from the University of Minnesota College of Design and have worked in the architecture at least one year; or have graduated from another accredited architecture school and have worked in Minnesota at least one year.
This year's jury members were Ralph Nelson, Architect; Herb Baldwin, Landscape Architect; David Eijadi, FAIA, Architect; and David Dimond, AIA, Architect. Nicole Rom, Executive Director of the Will Steger Foundation, also participated in the initial jury.
HGA Contact: Julie Luers (612) 758-4000 e-mail JLuers@hga.com
Media Contact: Susan Evans, Evans Larson (612) 338-6999 e-mail susan@evanslarson.com