Kossman Design Thesis Reviews 2020 winner announced

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Xavier Leonard King, a fifth-year architecture student in the Stuckeman School at Penn State, was named the winner of the 2020 Kossman Design Thesis Reviews for his project titled “Tremé: Life with the Mississippi.”

An excerpt from Xavier Leonard King's thesis project: "Stemming from the frequent flooding of the Mississippi River, the futuristic Capital city of Tremé, Louisiana created a resilient architecture that allows it to rise above the far-reaching floodwaters of the Mississippi and harness its floods as a ways and means of migration. Embracing the dynamism of the Mississippi floodplain, Louisiana's State Capitol building assembles and reassembles at locations across the state as the landscape changes around it. It expresses the collective disorder of the area, while also embodying the freedom of the people of Louisiana."

Fifth-year student Audrey Buck earned Honorable Mention for her project titled “Indigenous Knowledge and Displacement.”

The reviews, held on May 2, were hosted virtually for the first time in the event’s storied history. More than 150 viewers logged in to view the nearly eight-hour webinar, in addition to current students and faculty.

Jurors of the 2020 reviews were: Ashely Bryan, a 2010 Penn State architecture alumna and senior strategist at WeWork; Cem S. Kayatekin, assistant professor at IE School of Architecture & Design (Spain); and Enrique Ramirez, writer, architectural historian, educator and critic.