Student architecture team wins design competition

Winning team members Zayra Rico, Mauricio Garza, Rachel Henkes and Jesus Alfonso Hernandez.

Oct. 29, 2019 — UTSA architecture students Mauricio Garza, Rachel Henkes, Jesus Alfonso Hernandez and Zayra Rico, led by faculty adviser Armando Araiza, have won the Texas Society of Architects student design competition for their proposal, Emerging Galveston.

UTSA competed against student teams from Texas A&M, Rice, Texas Tech and Del Mar College. They were asked to engage the future challenges to resilience for the city of Galveston. 

All four UTSA team members graduated with B.S. in architecture degrees from UTSA in May and are now in their first year of the university's master's program.

Galveston has endured many events throughout its history that caused rapid changes, redefining the prevailing discontinuities represented by its coastline, economic development, gentrification, historic structures and historic neighborhoods. Yet the city remains remarkably resilient. Competitors were asked to demonstrate architectural contributions that could ensure the city remains resilient. To facilitate the two-day charrette, climate, economic and demographic data on Galveston was provided to the students. 

Each team developed a single 20-by-30-inch poster of their project [click image at left to enlarge] and made a 20-minute presentation at the conference, allowing 10 minutes for questions by the jury. 

The UTSA project engaged with the reality of rapid climate change, noting that Galveston will inevitably be under water at some point in time. Due to the extensive grid layout of Galveston’s existing streets, the UTSA students decided that modular design would be the best approach because it allows for quick construction in emergency scenarios. 

The first phase of their design proposal introduced floating modular palettes to Galveston before significant flooding occurs, allowing residents to familiarize themselves with this future construction for the city through an observation bridge made from the floating palettes that also offers recreational activities for people. 

In 30 to 40 years water will start to enter the city from a bay side where there is no sea wall currently. To adapt to this standing water, phase two of the proposal reintroduced the floating modular panels that will become the new streets. Students demonstrated how the modules can be assembled quickly and customized for the neighborhoods affected, so that people who have strong ties to Galveston are given an opportunity to remain. 

Phase three of the students’ proposal looked at the near future for the next generation, in which streets and the use of cars will become obsolete in Galveston as water levels continue to rise along with the modules. First floors on pre and post 19th-century construction will be uninhabitable, and second floors of buildings will become the new first floors. New construction will form with the help of the floating modules, allowing both the people and the city to live on. 

The winners of the competition were announced on Oct. 25 at the TxA annual conference, “Immersion,” held in Galveston.

— Nicole Chavez

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