Waukesha, Wis. - The Spancrete Group, Inc., announces four UW-Milwaukee student teams swept the 2007 PCI (Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute) Architectural Student Design Competition. The students were recently enrolled in The Spancrete Studio at UW-Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning (SARUP).

"The entries submitted by the UW students were truly impressive," said Michael Potts, director of education at PCI. "The collaborative interactions between UW-Milwaukee's students of architecture and the Spancrete engineers and plant personnel showed in the level of depth and sophistication of student designs. They've significantly raised the bar for this competition, and their work is a tribute to the collaborative efforts of everyone involved with The Spancrete Studio."

Thirty-four entries were submitted from North America to the 2007 competition which asked students to design a new PCI headquarters. In addition to designing a total precast concrete structure, this year's competition also considered sustainable building practices. The 2007 winning entry impressed judges by creatively integrating the gathering of rain water into oversized gutter elements, which then reclaimed the rain water for future use.

UW-Milwaukee SARUP students taking top honors include:

First Place: Team comprised of David Vanden Avond, Justin Wagner, Matt Martin

Second Place: Bryan Finnegan

Third Place: Jasenko Badic

Honorable Mention: Adam Flickinger

Nearing its third year, The Spancrete Studio is focused on precast concrete fabrication and construction for architectural students. By exposing students to technical information from a range of industry sources, the course explores the role of precast technology and its relationship to today's architectural design standards.