Two Rice Architecture students got their due for what can fairly be described as a towering achievement.
Two Rice Architecture students got their due for what can fairly be described as a towering achievement.
Masters student Beixi Zhu and recent alumnus Xi Luo won the top student award for their design of an observation tower for Kurgi Farm, a horse-breeding farm located in a nature conservation area in Latvia.
The competition organized by Bee Breeders called for a tower no more than 35 meters (about 115 feet) in height, with four open observation floors and a top landing with an enclosed space and outdoor balcony.
From the tower, visitors could observe the farm’s pride, rare Latvian Ardennes horses, as well as the local landscape of lakes, rolling plains and forests. “Appearing in sudden outline, the humble silhouette guides the visitors from afar,” the students wrote in their submission. “The light travels through the body of the tower rendering wooden structure light and transparent.”
See the team’s full entry here.
Grey Peterson, who earned a master’s of architecture at Rice in 2019, won an honorable mention in the competition.
