Christopher Miles Astillero Is Headed To MTV's Engine Room

Web Design & Interactive Media student Christopher Miles Astillero (pictured) has been picked by MTV to live in a New York City loft with three other members of MTV's Engine Room North American Team. His team will compete against design teams assembled in Europe, Asia and Latin America. At the end of it all, one of the teams will win $400,000 in cash and HP products.

Chris left for New York on July 18 to start living in the Engine Room. He'll be back at The Art Institute of Philadelphia before the show, hosted by SuChin Pak, starts airing on MTV in September. (mtvengineroom.com)

Chris was prompted to apply because of his creative background, which includes experience in graphic design and fashion (he worked as a graphic designer for Akademiks clothing line in New York).

When he arrived at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, Chris decided to pursue a degree in Web Design & Interactive Media to expand the scope of his creativity. "I like to teach myself stuff," Chris jokes, but the results are evident in an impressively creative portfolio Web site at chris.fenixdesignlab.com. In addition to showcasing his photography, graphic design and interactive projects, the portfolio site allows visitors to navigate using motions captured by the webcam on their computer, a feature Chris has submitted for award consideration to FlashForward 2008.

And while all of this was going on, Chris has managed to take home 4 Best of Quarter awards, one 4.0 Award and was an "extra" in Transformers 2 which was filming recently in Philadelphia.

In the future, Chris sees himself heading to California to open his own design studio. He had always thought he would have to start out by working first for somebody else, but a month in MTV's Engine Room and a chance at sharing in that $400,000 prize might make the dreams of a creative 21-year-old New Jersey native come true much more quickly.

About MTV's Engine Room
Engine Room is a new MTV series which will be seen around the world. The show will follow teams competing for a chance to win $400,000 in cash + HP gear by creating animations, websites, short films, sound mixes and more.