Virginia Tech Architecture alumni Audrey (Lucardi) Worden (MS.Arch. 2010) and Alex Worden (M.Arch. 2011) have been named winners of the 2016 Design Challenge sponsored by Metals in Construction magazine, published by the Ornamental Metal Institute of New York.

 

The “Reimagine a New York City Icon” competition invited architects, engineers, students, designers, and others from all over the world to submit their vision for recladding 200 Park Avenue (formerly the Pan Am Building, now the MetLife Building), which was built a half-century ago as the world’s largest corporate structure.

The panel of six competition jurors included some of the best known experts in sustainable design from the fields of architecture and engineering: Ben Tranel, AIA, LEED, of Gensler; Areta Pawlynsky, AIA, of Heintges; Billie Faircloth, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, of Kieran Timberlake; Fiona Cousins, PE, LEED AP BD+C, of Arup; Sameer Kumar, AIA, LEED AP, of SHoP; and Hauke Jungjohann of Thornton Tomasetti. The jury selected Audrey and Alex’s entry, “Thermalswitch Facade,” as one of six winners, alongside teams composed from leading international architecture and engineering firms and organizations: VOA/Werner Sobek; SHoP Architects/CASE-RPI/Heingtes; FXFOWLE/Thornton Thomasetti/Dagher Engineering; AECOM/Volley Studio; and Lemay/Ecosystem/Sefaira.

Audrey and Alex run the firm StudioTJOA in Boulder, Colorado.