Norwich Design+Build Studio Wins Regional Architecture Award for Montpelier Playscape

A playscape designed and built by Norwich University architecture students has earned a 2026 Citation Award from American Institute of Architects (AIA) New England, a regional honor typically given to professional architects. Students and Stonorov attended the AIA New England awards ceremony to accept the honor.

The award recognizes the Little Rapids Playscape, a permanent public play space at the Kellogg-Hubbard Library in downtown Montpelier. Students in Norwich’s Design+Build studio, led by architecture professor Tolya Stonorov, designed, fabricated, and installed the project this spring.

“It was pretty incredible for our little project to be included among the great architects of New England,” says Stonorov.

The studio took the project from early concept through construction. Students met with library leaders and community members, tracked budgets and timelines, and coordinated materials. They built the structure in the Architecture + Art program’s studio shop, using locally sourced wood, then transported it 12 miles to Montpelier. A crane lifted the largest piece above the tree line and set it in place at the library.

The playscape includes climbing walls and rotating cube panels that students laser engraved with wood-grain patterns and Vermont-inspired graphics, designed to encourage hands-on play for children, families and caregivers.

Stonorov said the project’s central lesson was accountability. Students were divided into leadership groups responsible for project management, construction coordination, community outreach, budgeting, and social media.

“You are 100% responsible and have to truly understand what the line on the page means,” Stonorov said. “It’s very easy to draw diagonals, to draw angles. It’s much harder when you go to build it.”

The recognition reflects the Design+Build program’s roots in Norwich’s tradition of developing “citizen architects,” designers who understand that their work carries responsibility to the communities it serves.

“As architects, we have a great responsibility to give back,” says Stonorov.

Photos courtesy of Julie Waggoner, MicaBlue Creative.