At a glance
Alfred State College (ASC) architecture major AJ Gartland (Irondequoit) has won the Edward Allen Student Award given annually by the Building Technology Educators’ Society (BTES).
Alfred State College (ASC) architecture major AJ Gartland (Irondequoit) has won the Edward Allen Student Award given annually by the Building Technology Educators’ Society (BTES).
Professors in his department nominated Gartland based on his fifth-year thesis work on biophilic design and its potential to create resilient smart cities. He has researched best practices and is currently in the design phase of integrating fourteen types of biophilic design into downtown Rochester, NY. He has been in active communication with local Rochester design firms, integrating their expertise into his work and ensuring the project is in concert with initiatives already occurring in Rochester.
He is also testing the limits of building information modeling and geographic information system technology which is not inherently equipped or designed to manage or document organic or naturalistic building forms, materials, or techniques. It is possible that his work will help foster expansion of the BIM toolkit to further explore the possibilities of urban ecology and its relationship to built environment.
Alan Vlakancic, an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture and Design, expressed the excitement the whole department had for Gartland’s recognition. “We are immensely proud to celebrate AJ’s accomplishments over his five years here at Alfred State. The presentation of this award is testament to the hard work and dedication to the craft of building technology that AJ has shown. Specifically, the research facility we nominated shows the ability of architecture to shape the world we want to create by encouraging development of green technology such as battery production.”
BTES serves the community of academics and professionals who are involved most directly with the construction and structure of the built environment.
