Tyler Stanley, a Ball State senior architecture major, has won the Modular Building Institute's (MBI) student green building design competition.

He will receive a $2,500 scholarship, a crystal trophy and formal recognition at MBI's World of Modular, its annual trade show and convention held March 28-31 at Red Rock Resort in Las Vegas. Ball State will receive a $5,000 grant as the result of Stanley's first place finish in the competition.

Architecture and engineering students competing in the contest from four-year colleges and universities across the country entered designs for modular buildings that met eight specific criteria: thermal comfort, indoor air quality, day lighting, acoustics, energy efficiency, resource strategy, architectural excellence and economic practicality.

The competition included a real-world client, Piedmont Housing Alliance (PHA). PHA wants to improve The Meadows, a senior community in Crozet, Va. The Meadows provides low income housing to its residents and needs a new community center, which the contestants designed.

"This was a very competitive event at the national level that provides our school with international presence," said Guillermo Vasquez de Velasco, dean of the College of Architecture and Planning.

MBI is the only international, nonprofit trade association serving nonresidential modular construction. Regular membership includes wholesale manufacturers, direct manufacturers and dealers of commercial modular buildings.

By Chanel Richards