Contact: Christie McNeal

STARKVILLE, Miss.— Mississippi State University architecture student Zachary Henry is among seven students recently recognized by the 2017 HERE+NOW: A House for the 21st Century Residential Student Design Competition.

A partnership between The American Institute of Architects, Custom Residential Architects Network and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, the annual competition challenged students to submit projects that explore residential architecture and residential architectural practice.

Henry, a fifth-year student from Powell, Tennessee, received honorable mention for his project, “Affordable Housing for the 21st Century: A Housing Solution for Poverty in the Neglected Mississippi Delta.”

“This international competition drew hundreds of entry applications; receiving this award speaks volumes to the quality of work produced here in MSU’s School of Architecture studios,” said F.L Crane Professor and Director of the School of Architecture Michael Berk.

“Zachary is one of our most gifted students; the rigor and commitment to his ideals are unsurpassed,” he said.

Henry’s winning submission was completed last fall in his fourth-year studio. The assignment was to design a house for the residents of the Eastmoor Estates community near Moorhead in the Mississippi Delta. Henry described Eastmoor as a neglected low-income housing development from the 1960s.

“In addition to keeping the house construction affordable, we had to think about the 21st century family,” said Henry. “The nuclear family still exists, but isn’t as common as it once was,” he said, explaining his design, which includes two master bedrooms in case a grandparent or other family member needs to live in the house.

Henry also was proud of his design’s energy efficiency, which helped him explain another requirement for the competition – sustainability in new housing developments.

“I think I got total utilities down to $80 or $90 per month,” he said.

A Shackouls Honors College student, Henry’s current research also focuses on sustainability.

“Without the support I have received from the university for my research, I wouldn’t have been able to complete the competition’s mission,” he said.

The jury for the HERE+NOW Housing Competition included Aaron Bowman, Liollio Architecture (Charleston, South Carolina); Patricia Seitz, Massachusetts College of Art and Design (Boston, Massachusetts); and Emily Roush-Elliott, Delta Design Build Workshop (Greenwood).

The winning projects may be viewed at http://bit.ly/housing-comp.

Mississippi State’s School of Architecture offers the only curriculum in the state leading to a professional degree in architecture. Read more at www.caad.msstate.edu/sarc.

MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.