Akshay Sangolli wins award for his New Urban Model in America

An innovative design for a downtown Austin, Texas senior urban housing facility created by Akshay Sangolli, a Master of Architecture student at Texas A&M, earned a merit award the American Institute of Architect’s New Urban Models For Aging competition.

Sangolli was one of six Aggie architecture students recognized in the competition that tasked participants with designing a dynamic, highly functioning urban housing community for seniors of varying health care needs. The completion called for designs that encourage residents’ activity, interest, excitement and interaction with each other and the surrounding city.

Akshay Sangolli is a Belgaumite who did his schooling from St. Xavier’s High School, his PUC from RLS and Bachelors in Architecture from R V College of Engineering Bangalore. He is currently doing his Masters in Architecture.

Sangolli’s winning project, “urban CARE,” was “intended to function in Austin’s downtown as a functional home for the aged and as a symbol of the vibrancy of the city’s people and culture,” he said. “It’s a space that maximizes interaction among elderly residents and promotes their active involvement in the day-to-day activities of its urban surroundings and vice-versa.”

According to the competition sponsors, AIA’s Design for Aging Committee, participating students investigated a project type that’s part of a burgeoning market in need of innovation.

The living units in Sangolli’s urban CARE entry offer sequential progression between various levels of care: skilled nursing, assisted living and independent living. “The multitude of interactive and congregational spaces,” he said, “ensures the least possible isolation and eases the process of progression between the facility’s various care levels.”

Sangolli’s urban CARE design was recognized in Washington, D.C. during “Celebrate Age,” the Oct. 16-19 annual convention of LeadingAge, an association of more than 5,000 not-for-profit organizations dedicated to expanding the world of possibilities for aging. His design will also be exhibited at the 2011 AIA National Convention and Design Exposition, to be held May 17—19 in Washington DC.