UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Josh Karban, a second-year master of architecture student in the Department of Architecture, Stuckeman School, in Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, was named the winner of the Department of Architecture’s 2025 Corbelletti Design Charrette.
Every year, more than 100 entries are submitted by upper-level architecture students to be considered for the Corbelletti prize.
“It’s special to me now that my work will be hanging up in the building forever,” Karban said.
Alexandra Waller, an assistant professor in the David R. Ravin School of Architecture at the University of North Carolina Charlotte and a co-founder and principal of Teltta, attended this year’s competition as a visiting architect and guest juror. Nathaniel Elberfeld, a designer and co-founder of Teltta, also was a visiting architect. The two authored a brief presented on Monday, Aug. 25, that centered around the theme of “Embodied Descriptions.”
“Choreographers, industrial designers, artists and computer programmers have all developed notational systems in order to document and establish the structure of their work, define its characteristics, and relate its parameters to space, sequence and human or mechanical action,” said Waller and Elberfeld in their presentation. “It is through the symbolic nature of these descriptions that complexity can be made clear and concise, understanding facilitated, and meaning constructed.”
They were joined by Delphine Lewandowski and José Ibarra, two new Department of Architecture faculty members, as internal jurors for the competition on Friday, Aug. 29, to announce winners and the exhibit.
“That first day I was thinking about a million activities to choose from but then I realized it doesn’t matter what activity I choose, it more matters what notational system I use,” said Karban about his design. “I spent a lot of time working on it and kind of changed from a few different ideas and then it morphed into the final result over time.”
Matthew Yen, a third-year bachelor of architecture student, was named runner up and Evelyn Tang, also a third-year bachelor of architecture student, received third place. Juliet Michalec, Connor Nafziger and Reed Hinkle each earned honorable mentions.
The Corbelletti Design Charrette, named after former Department of Architecture head Raniero Corbelletti, is an annual tradition that ushers in the new academic year for Penn State architecture students. The event highlights the art of hand-drawn design. Past winning entries can be explored through the Corbelletti Digital Archives or viewed in person as framed originals displayed in the Stuckeman Family Building on the University Park campus.