Design Showcase 2022 Presents Creativity, Practicality, Innovation and Design Process
Hillier College signature fundraising event Design Showcase 2022 will be held on Thursday, April 7 from 4:30 to 7:30pm in Weston Hall at NJIT. As always the event will present top students and alumni work. In its 16th year now, the idea of a fundraising event was percolated from a conversation between the Alumni and the College Administrators about an effective venue for connecting the alumni and the students. Since its inception, the event has grown in profile and size, and became the main source of support for the Hillier College students.
“The Hillier College at NJIT is a major institution within the NYC and NJ tristate areas for the education of architects and designers,” says Jonathan Ninnis ‘04, Principal & CEO at OC Construction Management and a Co-Chair of this year’s Design Showcase. “Our companies and community rely on NJIT year after year to provide the talented, entry level team members we need to both advance our fields and remain competitive. It is very much in our interest to support the university,” says Ninnis.
Donald E. Henry, Jr. ‘80, Managing Principal at Urbahn Architects, is a Co-Chair of this year’s Design Showcase. He has been involved with the event for a while and has always thought of it as a great way to stay in touch with the school. “It's a way for us to give back to the university, but also a way to support the university. Beyond the informational and learning aspects of the school, having us, everyone coming from the business side and adding that aspect into the life of students, I think is important. It gives them an idea where they're heading after school, and how we make it happen.”
The Design Showcase gives Hillier College students an invaluable experience and an opportunity to network with alumni and industry professionals who represent both small and large architectural firms, government agencies, builders, real estate developers, entrepreneurs, designers, and innovators. It is a great opportunity for these groups to network together.
Juan Ordonez, student of architecture whose project ‘C^3 Theater’ will be featured at the Design Showcase, is excited about the opportunity to network. "My expectations are to hopefully have people interested in my work, and my being able to explain it. However, what I most want is the opportunity to personally talk to some of the architects and to gain knowledge and advice about the professional field, whilst making new connections with professionals. It's all about networking.”
“It's exciting, it's getting back to what we were doing before the pandemic. It’s also a chance to start to do new things. Bring new members into the Design Showcase Committee and get fresh new ideas. Working with Dean Branko (Kolarevic), and the ideas that he's putting forward for the school, I think it's very exciting. It's almost like this is a new design showcase for us in many ways, because we've been away for that two-year period,” says Henry.
The Design Showcase will feature a cocktail reception with food and music, as well as an exhibition area for the sponsors, providing a great opportunity for students, alumni, and professionals to network in a relaxed atmosphere. For Samuel Roberts, student of architecture, besides networking, good/interesting conversations, the food… it is: “Also just a fun opportunity to dress up.”
Ninnis shares how the committee is working hard to make this year’s event more successful than it has been in the past. “We have to remember; we have not had an in-person showcase in nearly 3 years. So just being in person and on campus and in Weston Hall is a big deal,” says Ninnis and adds: “I do think we have a great event planned starting with a lecture from Andrew Whalley.”
Andrew Whalley, Chairman and Partner at Grimshaw, is the keynote speaker. His award-winning projects include the International Terminal at Waterloo, the Eden Project in Cornwall, the redevelopment of the historic Paddington Station in London and the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center in Troy, New York.
Design Showcase will feature the work by alumni and top Hillier College students of Architecture, Interior Design, Industrial Design, and Digital Design. Lemmuel Escalona, industrial design student, will display his project ‘Foldn.’ In his project Escalona tried to address the common issues related to shipping and delivery. “One of Foldn’s main features is its ability to convert into different forms and sizes. This allows the shopping bag to expand its capacity as well as tightly secure delicate items like produce. The design behind this project was greatly inspired by the Japanese art of paper folding or “Origami,” explains Escalona.
The student projects exhibited will be judged by the Design Showcase Committee based on their creativity, practicality, constructability, innovation, and design process. The depth of knowledge and how far the students explored the solution will also be considered: “We're not hemmed in with just one way or another. We're looking for creative solutions that really have a depth,” Henry says.
Casey Crown, student of architecture, whose project ‘Synergist Shenzhen’ will be featured at the Design Showcase, says that her project rethinks what a convention center should be. She credits Professor Taro Narahara for her ingenuity: “This is one of my favorite projects I have completed while in school. This project was part of an options studio, and my professor, Taro Narahara, really let me take the reins in this project. I had a lot of fun designing this project, and then modeling it in TwinMotion was also a lot of fun. I had a lot of freedom in this studio, and I'm really happy with the final product. I'm really excited to be able to share this project with the school."
Ninnis’s goals, for the future events, are to raise more funds for the students and use the Showcase to drive alumni engagement. “My vision is to make this an alumni driven event. We have already started on these efforts. We have new alumni on our committee, and we have new donors who have never participated before.”
Henry’s vision for the Design Showcase is to expand beyond architecture. “The School of Design in the College of Architecture and Design is more than just architecture: the industrial design, graphic design, digital design and interior design are important aspects of the college. And we'd love to see that aspect of the showcase began to expand and gain more participation from folks who are in those fields of work to contribute to the design showcase.”
The success of the event has raised funds to support enhancement of the fabrication facilities, including animation and 3D print labs, a motion capture studio, a digital fabrication lab featuring a robotic arm and VR technology to enrich interactive design. It remains an important source of funding for educational and experiential improvements at the Hillier College of Architecture and Design.
“In terms of the Design Showcase, it is the only fundraising event specifically for Hillier. It provides funds that go above and beyond the abilities of the schools operating budget for the sole purpose of enhancing the student’s experience. We are directly impacting the students,” says Ninnis.