PRESS RELEASE


Parsons graduate architecture students were recently awarded an AIA New York State Design Award for the 2006 Design Workshop project, 39571 Infowash.

In 2006, Parsons was invited to join New York-based SHoP Architects in the reconstruction of DeLisle, Mississippi, a small town in the Gulf Coast region that was devastated by the storms following Hurricane Katrina.

To complement a larger complex designed by SHoP to house small businesses and community services, Parsons students designed an information center and laundromat, which they called 39571 InfoWash.

The intent was to draw community members to the information center through its proximity to much-needed laundry facilities, thereby providing citizens with valuable information needed to navigate the long and complicated process of reconstruction.

The Design Workshop, Parsons acclaimed design-build program is now in its ninth year. The program has two missions: to provide free services to nonprofit organizations and to give graduate architecture students the opportunity to work with real-world clients on the design of a project.

Community based nonprofit organizations usually lack the funds to contract with architects and builders, the pro bono services of Parsons' graduate students help them realize their projects and goals.

Since its inception in 1998, the Design Workshop has worked with a wide range of nonprofit organizations and public agencies.

David J. Lewis, principal of Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis, has overseen the program since 2002. An exhibition about the current Design Workshop project, the Margaretville Pavilion, is on display through October 26, 2007 at Parsons at 25 East 13th Street, 2nd floor.

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