August 22, 2022 From Ireland to Germany, Three Students Awarded to Take Master Class Abroad

During the summer of 2022, three students from the School of Architecture participated in the Concrete Design Competition on REIMAGINE while studying abroad in Dublin, Ireland. The three students, Ahmad Ibrahim, JD Schumacher and Nicholas Williams, were recognized for their unique designs and were awarded the opportunity to travel to Kassel, Germany, to take part in a master class this August.

The Concrete Design Competition is for students in architecture, engineering, design and affiliated disciplines and is open to students registered in an educational institute in one of the participating countries. The 2022 competition required students to use concrete as a “means to ‘solve’ formal design ambitions and to use the material in innovative designs to possibilities for architects, designers and engineers to surpass existing limitations and visions,” according to the competition’s website.

The three students participated in the competition as part of an architecture class at University College Dublin, and one of the top awards included monetary prizes and the opportunity to participate in the master class hosted by G.tecz Engineering in Kassel, Germany.

In the master class, the theme of REIMAGINE will be “further explored in an international setting, supported by experts from the concrete industry and both local and international critics and tutors,” according to the competition’s website.

Ahmad Ibrahim, a 5th-year student in the School of Architecture was recognized for his project entitled “Versatile [Concrete], which attempts to “reimagine a typical three-story office building that is based on designing for disassembly and reuse,” said Ibrahim. “Unlike timber and steel frame construction, which connections can easily be reversible and recyclable, concrete buildings are destined to be demolished and end up in landfills. However, the opportunity to redesign concrete frame connections, and to exploit the potential of concrete and its properties, allows for an office building to be reimagined into one that promotes disassembly and reuse.”

JD Schumacher is also a 5th-year School of Architecture student whose project is a deep exploration “into the use of concrete as a building material that can be transformed into an element that can allow buildings to be designed and constructed for disassembly, reuse and adaptation,” he said. “Through the investigation of concrete’s capabilities, this three-story office building is a space that can be carefully constructed and later deconstructed to allow its members to be reused in new contexts.”

Fifth-year student Nicholas Williams, created “REIMAGINE: Concrete and Reuse,” which explores how a “concrete building could be designed for end of life and eventual disassembly rather than demolition,” said Williams. “Each layer of the project was designed to be easily taken apart to be reused on another site or in a new way to limit the carbon impact that cement production has on the environment.”

Students are attending the master class in Germany from August 19-28, 2022.

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