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Winners Announced in the Chair Affair Student Design Competition

Architecture and package design students from 49 schools throughout North America were tasked with creating chairs constructed only of corrugated board and glue.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 7/29/2009 12:00:00 AM

Proving that there is nothing boring about board, six student designers were named winners in the fourth annual Chair Affair student design competition.

Chair Affair corrugated cardboard competition
First Place - "Hole on Hole" by Jessica Leung, Cuesta College

Tasked with creating chairs constructed only of corrugated board and glue, architecture and package design students from 49 schools throughout North America submitted designs to the American Institute of Architecture Students and the International Corrugated Packaging Foundation contest.

Chair Affair corrugated cardboard competition
Second Place - "Profile and Silhouette" by Winston Mi and Jessica Brown, Rhose Island School of Interior Design

Cuesta College's Jessica Leung took home the top prize of for her Hole on Hole chair while two teams, Winston Mi and Jessica Brown of the Rhode Island School of Design and Sarah Clement and Michael Wallace of Louisiana State University each took home $950 in a tie for second place. Another Cuesta College student, Brad Smith took home one of three $350 honorable mention prizes while five $50 merit awards were also handed out.

Chair Affair corrugated cardboard competition
Second Place - "A Corrugated Chair or a Chair Made of Corrugated" bySarah Clement and Michael Wallace, Louisiana State University

A jury, including William Hooper of Gensler and Oscar Fitzgerald selected the top six winners and five merit awards in mid-March and the winners and their designs were honored at the AIAS Student Lounge and Gallery at this year'sAIA National Convention in San Francisco. A final jury took place in May and from July 23-26, the contest's honorary chairman, Vern Yip, of TLC's Trading Spaces, showcased the winners at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.

Chair Affair corrugated cardboard competition
Honorable Mention - "Adjustable" by Keith Holman, Benjamin Shullaw, Neal Birchum, and Sean McDow, University of Oklahoma

"The corrugated industry is a multibillion dollar industry, has extensive career opportunities and is sustainable form the beginning to the end," says Yip. "The concept of utilizing corrugated board to build a functioning piece of furniture is exciting and promotes student development in structural design."

Chair Affair corrugated cardboard competition
Honorable Mention - "Caterpillared" by Brad Smith, Cuesta College

Honorable Mention - "Corrugated Board Chair" by Jonathan Coop, California State University Long Beach

Images courtesy of the American Institute of Architects Students.