Three undergraduate students from different tertiary institutions in the country have emerged the winners of the first Design Genre/ Ife Architectural Students Association (IFASA), OAU, Design Competition for students of Architectural Design in Nigerian Institutions.

The competition which was organised as part of the IFASA Week 2016, is being sponsored by Design Genre. Gabriel Adeoluwa of the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA) won the first prize while Gbemedio Ejakpovi of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ife and Ajegbile Oladimeji of The Bells University, Ota won the 1st and 2nd place runners up prizes respectively.

Presenting the prize money of the N100,000, N75,000 and N50,000 respectively to the first, second and third place winners at the Obafemi Awolowo University last week, Mr. Anthony Okoye, Principal Partner, Design Genre, a Lagos based architectural firm, explained that his company decided to sponsor the competition to encourage sustainable architectural designs among future practitioners in the country. “This platform is focused on horning talents of students of architecture in Universities and Polytechnics across the country on sustainable designs for our environment".

According to the brief for the competition, mixed-use developments play vital roles in creating neighbourhoods where people can walk between homes, work, shopping and recreation. “The primary design issue related to mixed-use project is the need to successfully balance the requirements of residential uses, such as the need for privacy and security with the needs of commercial uses for access, visibility, packing, loading and possibly extended hours of operation” explained Mr. Okoye.

The candidates as consultant Architect for the mixed-use project, were tested on these while they were expected to work with a team of architects to produce presentation drawings that will address all the issues associated with mixed-use developments in Nigeria.

Apart from being an alumnus of depart of Architecture, Ife, Mr. Okoye is a LEED Accredited Professional and Chartered Member, US Green Building Council, RIBA. “There is no gain saying the need for a social and environmentally conscious building design in today’s world, it is therefore our objective to actively aid the realization of this global goal by helping to shape the career of future Architects to be complaint to global green building requirements”, he said adding that Design Genre intends to sponsor the initiative on an annual basis as a social responsibility initiative and a way of promoting green and sustainable design amongst young architects.

Mr. Okoye who holds his first and second degrees in Architecture from the University of Ife and practices architecture and urban planning with firms in the USA, UK and Nigeria in various capacities is a member of the jury made up of top professionals that graded the entries. According to him, being the first edition of the Design Genre/IFASA Design Competition, the results are encouraging but expects the submissions by candidates to nudge higher in number and quality in subsequent editions.

To feature in the competition, candidates were required to submit a site plan, floor plans, roof plan, four sections, four elevations, 3D drawings and other supplementary drawings for the mid mixed-use complexes. Full presentation designs were required in either of autocard, revit or sketch up while the final presentations held at the Department of Architecture, Obafemi Awolowo University.



The Bells University’s Ajegbile Oladimeji, 2nd runner-up; FUTA’s Gabriel Adeoluwa, Winner; Mr. Anthony Okoye, CEO, Design Genre; Dayo Oduleye, Business Development Manager, Design Genre and OAU’s Gbemedio Ejakpovi, 1st runner-up at the presentation of prizes to winners of the Design Competition for Students of Nigerian Tertiary Institutions sponsored by Design Genre as part of the 2016 Ife Architectural Students Association (IFASA) Week at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife recently.

this is wonderment

kudos, thumbs up to the winners esp the one who took the first place, luv u