Robert Alexander Wins 2013 Rotch Travelling Scholarship

Robert K. Alexander of San Pedro, California, an adjunct faculty member of the architecture department at California State Polytechnic Institute University, Pomona’s College of Environmental Design, has been named the 2013 Rotch Travelling Scholarship recipient. Alexander will receive a $37,000 stipend to spend eight months traveling and studying architecture around the world.

As first runner-up, Julie Kaufman Assoc. AIA of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is invited to compete in next year’s competition without reentering the preliminary stage and is the 2013 alternate if Alexander declines the scholarship. 

The Rotch Travelling Scholarship is administered by the Boston Society of Architects (BSA).

Alexander was one of 38 competitors who took part in the preliminary competition. They were asked to design multigenerational housing by creating a 2,000-st unit to accommodate six people, a typical family of four plus an elder couple. 

Six finalists then moved forward to the second stage of the competition. They were challenged to create a new water transit station on a site in Boston's Fort Point Channel adjacent to the Northern Avenue Bridge.

Alexander’s winning scheme proposed a folded volume fixed above the water that would contain public facilities including an indoor pool and an observation deck. Below this, a floating platform would house transit facilities, a public plaza, and a retail space that would rise and fall with the tides. The jury was taken with the way the building promoted both a large-scale enclosing gesture to the water as well as invigorating spaces for the facility’s various functions.

The final jury and reception was at M2L furniture studio in Boston and included Peter Wiederspahn AIA (Wiederspahn Architecture/Northeastern University School of Architecture); Steven Foote FAIA (Perry Dean Rogers); Kris Carter (City of Boston); Natasha Espada AIA (Leers Weinzapfel Associates); Mark Klopfer AIA (Klopfer Martin Design Group/Wentworth Institute of Technology); Mark Pasnik (over,under); and Jackie Douglas (LivableStreets Alliance).

Robert Alexander is an adjunct member of the Architecture Faculty at Cal Poly Pomona's College of Environmental Design where he has taught since 2007. In addition to his teaching Robert is a principal of the design firm bobCAT. which he founded along with his partner Catherine Burce in 2007. Robert received his Master in Architecture from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2005 and his Bachelor of Architecture from Cal Poly Pomona in 2001 where he was awarded the architecture department's Dean's Medal for outstanding graduating design students.

Robert Alexander’s Winning Scheme:

Problem:

Create a new water transit station on a site in Fort Point Channel adjacent to the Northern Avenue Bridge.

Solution:

Alexander's winning scheme proposed a folded volume fixed above the water that would contain public facilities including an indoor pool and an observation deck. Below this, a floating platform would house transit facilities, a public plaza and a retail space that would rise and fall with the tides. The jury was taken with the way the building promoted both a large-scale enclosing gesture to the water as well as invigorating spaces for the various functions of the facility.