Former BED student needs
votes for tent design contest

Voting is open through Sept. 15 in a contest featuring a tent design by former Texas A&M environmental design student Giancarlo Perossa ’01.

No login or personal information is needed to vote for Perossa’s entry, among three finalists in the H-E-B Birthday Tent Design Competition, an opportunity for artists to enhance a tent the grocery store chain sponsors for children's birthday parties in Houston and win $2,500.

The winner will be announced Sept. 16 at Discovery Green, a 12-acre park in downtown Houston that is co-sponsoring the contest. The tent will be completed and in use by December 2011.

Perossa said his design, covered with illustrations of children dancing in front of an event stage, was inspired by his family’s experiences the past two years attending free summer music events at Discovery Green. 

“It always brings me great joy to see my toddler and his friends dance without any inhibitions right in front of the stage,” he said. “It's moments like these that bring deep meaning to a place that serves a community. By the time we leave, exhausted children in hand, we find ourselves under a canopy of night sky and a matrix of lighted skyscraper windows that give us another glimpse of Houston's beauty and uniqueness.”

Perossa, a project manager at Houston’s Smith & Company Architects, has also contributed to productions at The Julliard School in New York and the Alley Theater in Houston as a scenic artist.

In addition to raising two boys, Perossa paints and illustrates in his studio or kitchen table; he’s had one solo exhibition in College Station and been included in many group exhibits in New York, Houston and College Station.

- Posted: Sep. 8, 2011 -

Contact:   Phillip Rollfing, prollfing@archone.tamu.edu or 979.458.0442.