An interdisciplinary team of students from the Masters programs in Architecture and Building Sciences at Auburn University have won a competition to design a pedestrian bridge to be installed as part of the new Volkswagen manufacturing plant in Chattanooga, TN.

Volkswagen Group of America, along with RiverCity Company and the Chattanooga Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, created the competition to seek out a design that would be "functional and memorable" and serve as a symbolic connector to the Chattanooga community.

Over forty teams from architecture schools all over the southern United States entered, but the innovative tower design by the Auburn team, which not only houses stairs, elevators and a conference room but can also be used as a billboard for company advertisements, impressed the jury enough to take first prize.