AutoDesSys presented the 16th annual form•Z Joint Study Student Awards at the ACADIA (Association of Computer Aided Design in Architecture) conference held at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis this past October. In the established tradition, the recipients of the awards of Distinction were invited to attend the awards dinner that drew a crowd of two hundred this year. Four of the six winners were able to break away from work or school to join the president of AutoDesSys, Chris Yessios, and receive their awards in person. I had the distinct pleasure of having lunch with the award winners that day and spend a very enjoyable time with budding young designers that rock. It was exciting to feel the vitality and enthusiasm they brought along with their dreams for the future and their desire to make an impact on design. Their projects are testimony to what they may achieve as they enter the work force and contribute to the design industry.

Farzam Yazdanseta worked on the design of an internationally charged building, Public Radio International, located in Washington DC. At a time electrified with politics, the US presidential election of 2008, the role of the media during this process, as well the global issues that surround us, the design of the building takes into consideration these elements and tries to bridge multicultural differences that exist and conflict. It is built around the premise that “news conglomerates force their biases by filtering the truth and as a result, heighten the chaos and conflict in the world of