School 4 Burma Competition Winners Announced

Building Trust International have announced that designers Amadeo Bennetta and Daniel LaRossa, of Berkeley, California have won the School 4 Burma Design Competition.

The winning design, for a modular school for migrant and refugee children in the Thai-Burma border town of Mae Sot, beat entries from all over the world as the competition generated progressive, contemporary design solutions. Over 800 designers and academic institutions expressed interest.

The winning team submitted a proposal that expressed a high level of flexibility responding well to the brief. The design utilizes an adaptable framework that balances prefabricated structural elements with locally crafted, modular, bamboo panels.  By creating entirely flat-packed components, BURMA [RE]FRAMED can be rapidly reassembled from a flatbed truck into a courtyard school, a single building or even as independent multi-use units. By reconsidering the restrictions of land ownership into an opportunity for flexible community space, BURMA [RE]FRAMED acts as a local/global bridge providing at-risk communities with a physical space around which the population can learn, grow and thrive.

The student category winners, Ms.Gauri Satam and Mr.Tejesh Patil from Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai, India, used the basic design principles of anthropometric/scale along with simple striking colours naturally creating a welcoming feel towards a learning institution for young minds.

Building Trust International is a non profit organisation offering design assistance to communities and individuals in need. Building Trust International assesses areas in need, finds sustainable, economical aid solutions and ultimately provides buildings and infrastructure. These core actions have blossomed into advocating and educating on the principles of socially aware design, providing an accessible resource on humanitarian design projects and providing a structure for the crossover of information between design professionals.
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