April 20, 2010 – Calgary, Alberta – There’s talent and technical skills aplenty in SAIT’s first-year Architectural Technologies class.

The students had a chance to show their stuff at the reception and awards presentation held April 15 for the house design competition sponsored by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association (CHBA) – Calgary Region. All 119 student entries were on display at the event.

This is the 34th year the home builders’ group has sponsored the competition for SAIT students. The contest allows industry a glimpse of evolving design trends from the perspective of students – the next generation of designers, builders and home buyers.

The task this year was to design a 2,800 square foot home for a Bearspaw acreage property northwest of Calgary. Students could choose to design for a pair of empty-nesters, a young childless couple or a family with two children.

“The challenge was then for students to use their creativity to interpret the needs of the client while adhering to some basic requirements such as kitchen size, number of bathrooms, and amount of parking,” explains Val Veldhuyzen of the CHBA. “We saw some really interesting designs both interior and exterior.”

Marc Bussiere and his fellow instructors encourage their students to enter the competition. “It’s important for a couple of reasons. Students learn by viewing each others' work, and industry can see what is up-and-coming in our program,” Bussiere says.

Award winners shared $2,000 in scholarship money from the home builders’ association. Entries were judged by 14 industry experts and two SAIT instructors.

First place went to Christine Zevnik, followed by Derek Magill (2nd), Mark Cooper (3rd), Erin Parchoma (4th) and Kyle Proctor (5th). Another 16 students earned Honourable Mention.

SAIT Polytechnic is one of Canada’s most exciting destinations for post-secondary education, offering more than 100 career programs that position people for success in technology, trades and business. A leader in innovation, SAIT also collaborates with industry on applied research and delivers corporate training worldwide. SAIT is a member of Polytechnics Canada and one of Alberta’s Top 50 Employers for 2011.

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