Elizabeth Leidy, 2006 Rotch Scholar

Elizabeth Leidy of CBT in Boston has been named the 2006 Rotch Travelling Scholar. As winner, Leidy received $35,000 to travel.

As first runner-up, Neil Stroup of ADD Inc. in Boston is invited to compete in next year’s final competition without re-entering the preliminary stage and is the 2006 alternate if Leidy declines the scholarship.

This year’s finalists also included Derek Johnson of Machado and Silvetti Associates in Boston, Michael Kilkelly Assoc. AIA of Gehry Partners in Los Angeles and Marc Moura of Tappé Associates in Boston.

Thirty-six competitors participated in the preliminary competition. They were asked to design a center for the arts in Boston’s Fort Point Channel neighborhood.

Five finalists then moved forward into the second stage of the design competition, where they were charged with considering the creation of a new science building as the first step toward Harvard University extending its campus to Boston’s Allston neighborhood. Although the site and size of the first science facility had not been finalized by Harvard, for the purpose of this competition, a program was developed for the new science initiative and a site selected south of Western Avenue.

In her winning scheme, Leidy presented a solution featuring a a building constructed from the inside-out around a major nucleus: the courtyard.