An undergraduate student team from Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design led by Terry Surjan, associate professor of architecture, are traveling to London in June to display a full-scale pavilion they designed and developed for the South Kensington Hub Site/Pedestrian Tunnel to Museums site at the month-long London Festival of Architecture.

The student team is the only one from the United States invited to participate in the festival.

Over the spring term, the students used both analog (traditional) and digital technologies to conceive and create stacking and interlocking components that form the pavilion’s structure. The 20 students involved will each pack two suitcases to take to London — one for their personal belongings and one to hold flattened components of the pavilion, hence the name of their transportation-themed project, Suitcase Pavilion. Upon arrival in London, the 20 sets of components will be transformed over three days into a three-dimensional structure for display and inhabitation.

The Suitcase Pavilion will be open from June 20 through July 20. After the festival, individual components will be given to London as gifts. The Virginia Tech team will give a public lecture on all the processes and technology incorporated into the Suitcase Pavilion as an exhibition specifically designed for the city of London.

The student team traveling to London includes: fourth-year architecture students Michael Allen, of Chesapeake, Va.; Shota Ban, of Zushi, Japan; Scott Campbell, of Portsmouth, Va.; Mike Holden, of Springfield, Va.; Clara Jijon, of Quito, Ecuador; Josh Lilly, of King George, Va.; Iris Liu, of Taipei, Taiwan; Tim McGuire, of Burnt Chimney, Va.; Jennifer Parsons, of Ridgeley, W.Va.; Allison Ransom, of McLean, Va.; Adriana Serrano, of San Jose, Calif.; and Marcus Wiles, of Severna Park, Md. Third-year architecture students participating are: Meredith Baber, of Cartersville, Va.; A. Taylor Greenquist, of Williamsburg, Va.; Nathan Melenbrink, of Richmond, Va.; Lexie Phelan, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Nick Ross, of Winchester, Va.; and Caroline Smith, of Arlington, Va.

This project builds on concepts and technologies Surjan, a resident of Blacksburg, has used in award-winning, similar projects in 2004 and 2005. Surjan received a master’s in architecture from Columbia University and a bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin.

The College of Architecture and Urban Studies is composed of four schools: the School of Architecture + Design, including architecture, industrial design, interior design and landscape architecture; the School of Public and International Affairs, including urban affairs and planning, public administration and policy and government and international affairs; the Myers-Lawson School of Construction, which includes building construction in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies and construction engineering management in the College of Engineering; and the School of the Visual Arts, including programs in studio art, visual communication and art history.

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