Streamwood High design team takes U-46 gold medal

Courtesy of Streamwood High School

Ryan Garlish, left, and Korbin Rome, both seniors at Streamwood High School, take a gold medal in the District U-46 CAD Advisory Committee's seventh annual design competition.

Apparently the lesson in green design was well taken.

Last year's second-place finishers Streamwood High School seniors Ryan Garlish and Korbin Rome turned in a gold-medal design winning the recent School District U-46 CAD Advisory Committee Seventh Annual Design competition.

The duo captured first place with a design titled "Wired -- Coffee, Art, Cafe," a hypothetical coffee shop and community art gallery in Elgin. They placed second in last year's competition with a design for a hypothetical environmentally friendly nature center. Placing fourth in the competition were seniors Chris Colletta and Ryan Kulesza for their design, "Fueled."

The Streamwood teams were among 20 from various high schools in District U-46 as well as high schools in neighboring districts in the northern half of Kane County. Also participating from Streamwood High School were Mark Conniff, Nick Mosher and Arielle Gallione.

Judging the competition was a panel of architects led by Eric Sickbert of Dahlquist and Lutzow Architects in Elgin. Sickbert is chairman of the U-46 Drafting Advisory Committee.

Green elements were not a requirement this year, but the winners decided to include waterless urinals, a bamboo floor made of recycled wood, low E glass and fluorescent lighting.

"We still included them (green elements) because they will set the standards of future, modern buildings," Garlish and Rome said.

Among the required elements was a 42-foot building length on the Grove Avenue side of the hypothetical building, with a main entrance and a revolving door. Plans had to be worked around an existing parking lot. Outstanding elements included a glass clock tower, log window, a wall of windows, skylight ceiling over the gallery, urban mural along the ordering wall, and coffee art.

Garlish and Rome said the judges felt they had a complete design, enjoyed the focal point of a clock tower, as well as their use of windows. Even their presentation, in which they dressed in opposite color shirts -- one white, one black -- made them stand out and be noticed.

Fourth-place finishers Colletta and Kulesza did not incorporate as many green elements in their design. They designed the back of the building to blend in with old Elgin but had the front looking modern to tie in with the casino, along with an exterior art gallery.