A custom-brick project designed by a team of three Mississippi State architecture students recently won first place in a national masonry competition.
Junior Baron O. Necaise of Gulfport presented his teamβs βThe Pulseβ brick design at the National Concrete Masonry Association 2018 Midyear Meeting in Chicago in early August. Teammates included juniors Madison C. Holbrook of Steens and McKenzie R. Johnson of Fayetteville, Georgia, who were finishing a study abroad course in Rome, Italy.
NCMA Vice President of Engineering Jason Thompson said the competition is designed to expose the next generation of architects and engineers to concrete masonry and hardscape products as a material and a building system.
βThe °ΔΓΕΜμΜμΊΓ²Κ entry was highly innovative both in its design and application,β Thompson said. βThe students considered an array of aspects starting with manufacturing feasibility to serviceability and performance issues in the field. The jury was blown away with the quality of the submission.β
The project is °ΔΓΕΜμΜμΊΓ²Κβs first entry into the competition.
βThe Pulseβ was completed in °ΔΓΕΜμΜμΊΓ²Κ Assistant Professor of Architecture Jacob A. Ginesβ spring 2018 materials course. For the assignment, Holbrook, Johnson and Necaise produced a set of eight concrete masonry units based on a single design, with each brick measuring 3-5/8 inches by 3-5/8 inches by 8 inches. The student team considered use of light and shadow, composition, orientation, usefulness and configuration while following a very specific digital fabrication process for the design and development of their custom brick.
Holbrook, Johnson and Necaise made their project eligible for the national competition after taking first place in a local Unit Design Competition sponsored by Saturn Materials LLC of Columbus.
In reflecting on the teamβs success in the national competition, faculty adviser Gines noted two things he thought set the °ΔΓΕΜμΜμΊΓ²Κ group apart from the other two finalist teams from Ball State University and Iowa State University.
First, the °ΔΓΕΜμΜμΊΓ²Κ team came with its design fabricated into bricks cast out of concrete. Second, the students worked with Fred Dunand, president and owner of Saturn Materials LLC in Columbus, to manufacture a set of the bricks, Gines said.
βThat definitely demonstrated manufacturability, which was one of the criteria for the competition,β Gines added.
Dunand, an NCMA member who was instrumental in getting Mississippi State started in the competition, was excited about the studentsβ performance in their first year of competition.
βItβs a pretty big deal that put the Mississippi State School of Architecture in front of the nation,β said Dunand, adding that the bar had been set high, and plans already have started for Mississippi State architecture students to compete again next year.
Jassen Callender, the School of Architectureβs associate director and director of its fifth-year program in Jackson, said the studentsβ accomplishment is βa testament to the quality and dedication ofΒ the School of ArchitectureβsΒ students and faculty.β
βProfessor Gines should be commended bothΒ for his willingness to engage time-honored materials in new ways and for the example he sets for students,β Callender said. βThe members of the team represent the character of this generation of °ΔΓΕΜμΜμΊΓ²Κ architecture students β innovative and hard working.β
Necaise said the team is honored to be the first from Mississippi to win the NCMA Unit Design Competition.
βIt was also the 100th anniversary of the NCMA, so the whole experience is something Iβll never forget,β he said. βI have a new appreciation for concrete masonry and everything I have learned through the process.β
°ΔΓΕΜμΜμΊΓ²Κ is Mississippiβs leading university, available online atΒ
Read the feature in SMART | dynamics of masonry, pages 58-59.