Corbelletti design award goes to architecture master’s degree student

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Josh Conroy, a third-year master of architecture student in the Department of Architecture, Stuckeman School, at the Penn State College of Arts and Architecture, was named the winner of the Department of Architecture’s 2024 Corbelletti Design Charrette.

More than 210 posters were submitted for the competition this year, which marked the 35th year of the architecture charrette, in which students were asked to address the ongoing and worsening issues of climate change and environmental destruction due to “human intervention” rather than natural disasters. As such, students were challenged to design an “Escape Extinction Empowerment Enclave” (E.E.E.E. Building) that is to “act as a research hub, scientific facility and information center that embodies a comprehensive assessment of the ongoing extinction phenomenon.” They were also encouraged to take a hybrid approach to the project, using hand-drawn elements as well as computer-aided components.

According to Conroy, his poster serves as a commentary on the possibility of humanities’ future self-destruction. The composition, he said, is produced as a series of fragmented rooms and artworks that centered on the E.E.E.E. Building prompt.

“The theme I worked with was primarily dystopian, including depictions of natural disasters, warning messages and many hidden references to historical events and artistic/literary works,” Conroy said.

Conroy used several digital tools to create his design, including Adobe Illustrator for the background, Midjourney to create the images and Adobe Photoshop for the text and clipart, as well as to stitch together the images to create perspectival spaces.

James Wines, retired Penn State architecture professor and founder and owner of the New York-based design firm SITE, served as the visiting architect, lecturer and juror for the competition. Joining him on the jury were architecture alumnus Alex Donahue of Michael Graves Architecture and Design and Mehrdad Hadighi, Stuckeman Professor of Advanced Studies and professor of architecture.

The jury was taken by the “architectonic” attributes of Conroy’s submission and the way in which he controlled the narrative within his poster. Jurors said although the building did not have any hand-drawn elements, upon which the competition has historically been based, the overall story it told was the most compelling of the entries received.

The jurors were particularly impressed by the message Conroy imprinted at the bottom of his design in Morse code, which translates into a piece of Hindu scripture made famous by J. Robert Oppenheimer, known as the father of the atomic bomb, after the detonation of the first nuclear weapon: “Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.”

“This piece [by Conroy] was masterfully composed and was ground-breaking, particularly in the subtlety of the quote in Morse code,” said Wines. “Once we noticed it and understood the message, it completely unraveled the puzzle and gave us a solid understanding of the intent behind his work."

When asked about his thoughts on winning the student design competition, Conroy said, “This is my final year at Penn State. It is exciting to leave behind a piece of my work, which will remain in Stuckeman for future students to see.”

“You never really know what the Corbelletti jury will be looking for,” he continued. “So walking in (to the Stuckeman Family Building Jury Space where the top submissions were on display in the front of the room) to see that my submission was 'in the running' was a fun moment."

Gavid DeVice, second-year bachelor of architecture student, was named the second-place winner, while fifth-year student and Schreyer Honors College scholar Kate Zezyus won third place. Honorable mentions went to yet another third-year student in Allison Minich, along with third-year master’s students Shruti Salokhe and Patrick Hickey.

Held during the first week of classes during the fall semester, the upper-level design competition is named for past Department of Architecture head Raniero Corbelletti, who gained international recognition for his own hand-drawing and rendering skills.

The Corbelletti Competition is open to architecture students in their second year of studies and above. To see the past winning submissions, view the Corbelletti Digital Archives or visit the first floor of the Stuckeman Family Building on the University Park campus to see the submissions in person.