Novice student designers put their creativity to the test to redesign the Ames power plant into an Ames landmark.

The design, pitting 150 freshmen against each other in group competition, is a precursor to an international competition to be sponsored by the city of Ames in the spring. The College of Design students’ redesigns, however, were confined to paper and judged only on creativity.

“This project is to help the students get started when they are trying to get a job, internship or apply for a resume,” said Genevieve Borich, the competition’s coordinator.

It is vital for students to get their art exhibited early, said Borich, senior in community and regional planning.

“It is something to get your feet wet,” said participant Beth Carton, freshman in pre-landscape architecture.

Two groups tied for the $1,500 first-place prize. One group included Anne Marker, Ted Martens, Adrienne Lane, Dave Gilbertson and Danielle Ausen – all freshmen in art and design – and Vicki Richardson, freshman in pre-architecture.

The group combined high-polished angular sheets of metal with glass to redesign the power plant. Their design was inspired by Guggenheim and the Weisman Art Museum buildings.

The other first-place group included Brett Bacon, freshman in art and design; Tanner Patrick, freshman in pre-architecture; and Katie Gyarmaty, freshman in art and design.

The group’s theme was an industrial cathedral with modern stained glass, and an organ placed next to a smoke stack combining smoke and music on the hour.

All of the entries will be on display in the College of Design atrium until noon today.

Borich chose Bill Boon, landscape architecture professor emeritus and creativity guru, to be grand marshal of the competition.

“The thing about creativity is that you have to come up with lots of ideas,” he said.

Creativity is all about attitude, Boon said.

“Those who think they have it, do, and those who do not think they have it, do not,” he said.

Josh Pommier, freshman in pre-landscape architecture, said his group went through about 20 ideas.

“A lot of them were pretty crazy,” he said. “We narrowed them down to what was feasible.”

Although the main criteria for judging the competition is creativity, Boon said, the real judging is what the students are learning by going through the process.

“Being creative means doing things other people have shied away from because you are putting yourself open to ridicule and failure,” he said.

These participants will go far beyond anyone’s expectations, Boon said.

“I think you’ll be surprised,” he said. “They are freshmen, so no one expects much. They will rise to the occasion.”