Huckabee interns tackle sustainable design
Not many high school students can say they spent a portion of their summer fashioning grass product to a specially designed roof pitch for good water flow, but thanks to a local architecture firmÂ’s effort, six North Texas students can say just that.
The local high school students attended this yearÂ’s Next Generation Design Institute, a 10-day internship program created and hosted by Fort Worth-based Huckabee architecture, engineering and management firm.
The 2009 Next Generation Design Institute, which ran from June 15–24, was Huckabee’s seventh annual program, but was the first to include sustainable design.
Jennifer Clariday, director of marketing and public relations at Huckabee, said applications are open to any interested student in North Texas, though the program generally accepts juniors and seniors. Applications are sifted through and students are interviewed by Huckabee staff. There is no cost for the program.
Clariday said staff chooses a different focus each year and this yearÂ’s sustainable design focus was a natural choice.
“It’s definitely a buzz word in newspapers and in our industry,” she said. “It’s a very important thing, I think, for us to be aware of. They’re going to hear it a lot, especially if they pursue [architecture] as a career and this is giving them a vision for it now.”
The students met at HuckabeeÂ’s Fort Worth office on Hulen Street for instruction. On the first day, Clariday said students are paired, given their project and told they have 10 days to complete a building design.
For this yearÂ’s project, Clariday said students had no preconceived ideas about sustainable design.
“They knew zero about it coming in,” she said. “But they thought it was very cool and they had a lot of fun researching different design elements – and they loved the grass roofs, of course.”
Huckabee reached out to corporate partner Habitat for Humanity for this year’s challenge: students had to create a 1,600-square-foot sustainable single-family home that included at least five ‘green’ elements such as green roofs, day lighting, renewable resources, xeroscaping, energy efficient systems or natural ventilation for their faux client, Habitat for Humanity.
But not all the learning was done indoors, Clariday said.
The students visited a construction site, met with a landscape architect, learned the business of architecture and met with Huckabee executives all while being taught by a LEED Accredited Professional. The students also traveled to Texas Tech University for a two-day visit to the College of Architecture, where they had a ‘day in the life of an architecture student’ experience, Clariday said, including a tour and time in the development labs to work on their home models.
Kate Tickner, an intern architect at Huckabee currently, came through the Next Generation program as a senior at Pilot Point High School. Tickner said she decided she not only liked the industry, but also Huckabee and interned every summer while earning her bachelorÂ’s degree in architecture. Today, she works full-time for Huckabee and will take over the Next Generation Design Institute next year as program director.
“This year was great. The kids were great and the project was a wonderful venture into sustainable design,” Tickner said. “The kids had some really interesting approaches to sustainable design” such as roof angles, unique water drainage and orientation of the building to capture the best sunlight.
Tickner said the students were not only passionate about
architecture, but also about sustainable design.
At the end of the 10 days, the students presented their floor plans and residence models at HuckabeeÂ’s lecture hall in front of their parents, Huckabee personnel and school principals. Clariday said a winning team was chosen based on creativity and design by an unaffiliated panel of judges and the winners each were given a $2,000 scholarship. The other four students also received scholarships totaling $1,600 each, Clariday added.
The scholarships were a combination of Huckabee employee donations and donations from company clients.
“They were surprised to get the scholarships. They didn’t know that would be a part of it until after they were selected,” Clariday said.
The students in the 2009 Next Generation program were Josh Giles from All SaintsÂ’ Episcopal School in Fort Worth, Aaron Whiting and Angela Garcia from Crowley ISD, Jackson Eudy and Austin Jones from Mansfield ISD, and Taylor Lynn from White Settlement ISD. The winning team included Garcia and Lynn.
Tickner said that while the focus for next yearÂ’s program might shift, sustainability will likely be a facet of future projects.
“It’s a growing thing and something that’s important for buildings now and in the future,” she said.
Using Tickner as an example, Clariday said the program not only provides a positive experience for the students, but also for Huckabee personnel.
“It’s selfish for us too,” she said. “We have the opportunity to bring these students back as they enter the industry, students like Kate, and it also helps us every year to fall in love all over with what we do.”
