The University of Guyana’s Architecture Department in the Faculty of Engineering and Technology was recently awarded the first prize at the 3rd International Lekol Architectural Competition held in French Guiana from June 1 to 3, 2023.
This year’s participants included the University of French Guiana, the State University of Haiti, Anton de Kom State University of Suriname, the 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 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 the Head of Department, Dr Anna Perreira, lecturer Godfrey Proctor, and final year BSc. Architecture students Semira Greene, Nia Bishop, and 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 Godfrey Proctor and 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 per cent timber and 15 per cent concrete and the remaining in streel supporting members, dorm rooms for males and females, laundry, kitchenette, TV and study rooms, sick bay, visitor and staff parking, and utilised strategies for biophilic design, passive cooling, rainwater 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 our students to design buildings of a high calibre, in this case, a dormitory.
