Vectorworks Inc., Columbia, Maryland, announces its design scholarship winners and named Michelle Wanitzek as the Richard Diehl Award winner in December.
The company received more than 1,000 submissions, ultimately awarding 30 students prizes for 22 projects in the architecture, interior design, landscape and entertainment industries.
Wanitzek submitted her master’s thesis at the University of Wismar, “Nomad Coworking,” which was selected as the winning project.
According to Vectorworks, the submission features a “coworking space and coffeeshop in a listed monument — a site identified for its architectural or historical significance — and focuses on the increasing importance of alternative and flexible workspaces.”
Wanitzek was awarded $7,000 for tuition, fees, housing, textbooks, study abroad, conference registration and other educational purposes for winning the top prize.
“With a progressive idea of what monument protection means, Michelle designed an infrastructure in the middle of Wismar’s Old Town, which is suitable to revitalize the city and capable of giving the monument a contemporary purpose,” says Oliver Hantke, judging panel member and University of Wismar dean of the faculty of design. “Her concept of multi-layered use picks up on current trends in the construction industry including sustainability and efficiency strategy, utilizing historical buildings, revitalizing small-town structures, new forms of working environments and providing communication structures to strengthen social cohesion.”
Wanitzek says that she hopes the award brings more attention to adaptive reuse architecture.
“It is a great honor to win the Richard Diehl Award with my thesis project, especially because I never expected this success,” says Wanitzek. “It means a lot to me to show that interior design is much more than most people realize. It’s about how we want to live and how we can utilize the architecture that already surrounds us. I think in today’s world, there should be an increased focus on repurposing existing buildings and I hope this award will increase awareness of the practice.”
Read more about scholarships.
