A team of University of Miami School of Architecture students has been recognized for its measured drawings of a historic Roman Catholic Church that predates the city in which it is located.
The ten students, who studied in UM Professor Ricardo Lopez’s Measured Drawing course, received honorable mention accolades in the 2013 Charles E. Peterson Prize competition. Announced by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) of the National Park Service, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, and the American Institute of Architects, the Peterson Prize annually recognizes the best set of measured drawings prepared to HABS standards.
The prize honors Charles E. Peterson, founder of the HABS program, and is intended to increase awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of historic buildings throughout the United States while adding to the permanent HABS collection of measured drawings at the Library of Congress.
The students’ measured drawings depict Gesu Church in accurate detail, showing many of the architectural features of the downtown Miami house of worship that was built in 1896 several months before Miami was incorporated as a city. On July 18, 1974, the church was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
This marks the second time students from the UM School of Architecture have submitted drawings and been recognized at the Peterson Prize competition.
The winning architectural team includes: Matthew Cohen, Brendan Kollar, Shefali Lal, Carolina Madureira, Sarah McGee, Ariana Ragusa, Simi Varhese, Jose Vela, Francela Veliz, and Mara Wine. Many of the students have already graduated and are now working in various architecture positions around the world. Two of the team members, Vela and Ragusa, will accompany Lopez in October to the AIA Taliesin Colloquium on the Practice of Historic Architecture in Scottsdale, Arizona, where they will be honored.