Architecture Student Wins First Prize in International Competition

Architecture graduate student Christina Slotkowski was recently awarded First Prize in the Re-imagining the Artefact student competition for her entry ” Re-imagining the Southern Porch, The Infinity Porch: A Gathering of Community.” Hosted by the Architectural Humanities Research Association (AHRA) at the 2021 annual conference at Loughborough University in London, the international competition attracted more than 70 student submissions.

The competition prompt asked for “provocative and speculative design proposals that reimagine a regional artefact into an architectural proposition.” Slotkowski’s project examined the social/cultural/architectural role of the front porch in the American South and proposed a porch-like structure that would extend across the country, becoming a permeable border that both draws people out and welcomes people in.

“The Southern Porch is one of the defining artifacts of the South,” Slotkowski wrote in her project description. “The porch is a place of gathering, but also a place of privacy. It is a place of activity and a place of observation. The porch defines both the entrance and exit.”

Slotkowski imagined the “Infinity Porch” as a site that would join divided cultures and communities: “It acts as a coming together and sharing of cultures as not just the regions of North and South, but the regional culture of the United States.”

Slotkowski graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2020 with a BA in Architecture and will earn her Master of Architecture in 2022. She plans to become a licensed professional architect and specialize in residential architecture.