The University of Guyana’s Architecture Department in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology was recently awarded the first prize at the highly acclaimed 3rd International Lekol Architectural Competition held in French Guiana from June 1st to 3rd, 2023.
This year’s participants included the University of French Guiana, State University of Haiti, Anton de Kom State University of Suriname, Federal University of the State of AMAPA – Brazil, and the University of Guyana.
The Trades and Qualifications Campus of Excellence in the field of Wood, Eco-construction and Ecotechnology of French Guiana organised the international architecture competition for university students with the support of the Territorial Authority of French Guiana (CTG) and the State with the Regional Cooperation Fund (FCR).
The goal of the annual competition is to enable students in the architecture sector to design an ecological and solidarity project that meets the environmental concerns of the decade. The aim of the competition is to encourage students’ ability to innovate in the field of architecture, by offering to local populations an environmentally, economically and socially sustainable alternative.
This year’s architectural project was a proposal for a boarding school of excellence in French Guiana in an equatorial climate zone providing answers to the need for accommodation of young people from isolated cities aspiring to continue their studies on the coast as well to the aspirations emerging in the conclusions of the citizens’ convention for climate change and the dissemination of ecological concerns.
The design needed to satisfy the best ratio between production cost and architectural efficiency, decarbonised construction, consider urban planning elements, volume and adaptability, functionality, site suitability, and cultural fitness.
The UoG contingent comprised head of department, Dr. Anna Perreira, lecturer Mr. Godfrey Proctor, and final year BSc. Architecture students Ms Semira Greene, Ms Nia Bishop, and Ms. Toquana McPherson.
The department held an internal competition with final-year students which saw five groups of three students each developing designs. From January to mid-May, 2023, part- time lecturers Mr. Godfrey Proctor and Mr. Kurt Gonsalves guided the students during their design studio classes with the help of other faculty members. The winning team was selected via a jury comprising members of ARGO, an architectural firm out of Barbados, along with the Architecture Department’s Faculty.
The 3rd place winners were Brazil with 2nd place going to the University of Suriname.
The winning Guyanese team also won the prize for best construction for a building comprising 75% timber and 15% concrete and the remaining in streel supporting members, dorm rooms for male and female, laundry, kitchenette, TV and study rooms, sick bay, visitor and staff parking, and utilised strategies for biophilic design, passive cooling, rain water harvesting, and renewable energy generation.
The win is a historic one for the Department of Architecture and the University of Guyana and even more impactful considering the ability of the students to design buildings of a high calibre.
The final jury comprised Mr. Jean-Sébastien Villefort (Chairman of the jury and teacher at the Cnam, Chair of Sustainable Construction), Dr.Ouahcène Nait-Rabah (University Lecturer – Head of the Civil Engineering Department at the University of French Guiana), Mr.Frédérick Pujol (Architect), Mrs. Caroline Marie-Calixte (Architect), Dr Zoltan Pasztory (Lecturer in Wood Engineering and the Creative Industry at the University of HUNGARY), and Mr. Kelly Bien-Aime (Head of the Rehabilitation Department at the CTG).
Others in attendance at the final presentations included Dr. Kishoen Misier (Director of Infrastructure at the State University of Suriname), Dr. Félipe Da Silva Duartes Lopes (Lecturer, Teacher of Architecture at the Federal University of Amapa in MACAPA – UNIFAP), and Dr Géssica Nogueira Dos Santos (Lecturer, Teacher of Architecture at the Federal University of Amapa in MACAPA – UNIFAP).
