Benedictine Architecture Students Sweep Design Competition for Louvre Entrance
Students from all across the country come to Benedictine College for the Architecture Department and its classical architecture program. Now, these undergraduate students are involved in several international competitions, engaging with institutions that showcase their skill sets. One of these organizations is the Institute of Traditional Architecture (ITA), which recently held an international architectural competition suggesting designs for a new entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris.
Benedictine’s Architecture Department had numerous students enter the competition, and the Ravens swept the results, taking first, second, third and honorable mention. Since the competition focused on one of the world’s most iconic museums, it required mastery of traditional architectural principles, urban planning, and classical drawing and rendering. You can view the results from ITA’s post online. (Click on the arrow on the image to scroll through the entries.)
Winning entries were all Benedictine College seniors:
- Dominic Haug – First Place
- Ian Brown – Second Place
- Peter Zuzolo – Third Place
- Christina Piche – Honorable Mention
“I loved this project. It was an opportunity to not only explore the French style of the Beaux‑Arts, but also design with the epic tradition of the Louvre,” said Haug.
“A professor shared a quote my sophomore year, something that has stuck with me: ‘If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the vast and endless sea.’ (Antoine de Saint‑Exupéry) This has taught me a lot about work and life,” he said. “I can’t toil for something I don’t believe in, and I must work for something I love. I love everything beautiful, and I desire to bring architecture to life in it.”
Chair and Associate Professor of Benedictine’s Architecture Department, John Haigh, RA, NCARB, spoke about the students and their design prowess.
“Our senior architecture students are both technically proficient and genuine artists,” said Haigh. “The depth of hand-rendering craft, historical literacy, and design sensitivity they bring to their work is on its way to being competitive with the best in the field of practicing professionals. That is our intent. Seeing students like Dominic and Ian compete on an international stage and rise to the top is a testament to the extraordinary talent developing in our program.”
Beating out international competitors, these architecture students demonstrate the results of an architecture education based on a unique interdisciplinary blend that focuses on the timeless principles of classical design while reflecting the foundations of liberal arts.
“Competitions like this one are transformative,” said Haigh. “When a student sits down to reimagine the entrance to the Louvre, one of the most visited and revered cultural institutions in the world, it is one thing to be working for a grade. But they work for more: they are making a real argument about beauty, place, and tradition. That shift in stakes in the studio changes everything about how they think and create.”
The Architecture Department is equipping students to go forth and bring tradition and beauty back into societal spaces. This ties into the overall Benedictine vision to transform culture in America.
“Our curriculum is built around the conviction that architecture is a discipline with millennia-deep roots, and that the best way to prepare students for the profession is to connect them first to traditions before challenging them with today’s problems,” Haigh said. “Competitions like the ITA’s Louvre contest put our students in the same arena as designers worldwide and, as the results showed, our students are prepared.”
Founded in 1858, Benedictine College is a Catholic, Benedictine, residential, liberal arts college located on the bluffs above the Missouri River in Atchison, Kansas. The school is honored to have received a top 10 ranking by U.S. News & World Report, the nation’s 10 most-recommended The Wall Street Journal, and one of the top Catholic colleges in the nation by the Newman Guide. It prides itself on outstanding academics, extraordinary faith life, strong athletic programs, and an exceptional sense of community and belonging. Benedictine College is dedicated to Transforming Culture in America through its mission to educate men and women within a community of faith and scholarship.
