Have an idea for a design-build project that will expand student engagement with materials? Let us help you bring it to life--with steel!

Faculty members and students with faculty sponsors can propose projects to our Steel Design-Build Grant Program, and AISC will fund one or a handful of them every year. Besides project funds, we want to give architecture students the opportunity to engage with steel--that's why we'll pair them with fabricators who can collaborate at various stages of the project.

Photo credit: Patrick Peters, University of Houston, Gerald D. Hines College of Architecture Graduate
Design/Build Studio, Alief SPARK Park and Nature Center Solar-powered Outdoor Classroom/
Butterfly Pavilion, 2013.

Grant Program

This grant program, funded by the AISC Education Foundation, provides monetary support for various educational steel-related activities in architecture schools to benefit student learning, including but not limited to full-scale inhabitable builds or built prototypes, furniture, or studies of steel details in precedent buildings. Parameters are flexible to accommodate a wide range of classroom design-build activities and approaches, as well as different scheduling situations.

Don’t know a steel fabricator to partner with? We can help! Just contact us a month before the application is due, and we can put you in touch with a fabricator. We suggest a funding range for each proposal between $10,000 and a maximum of $30,000.

Eligibility

AISC accepts proposals from faculty or students with a faculty sponsor from any architecture program in the U.S.

Schedule

• The application deadline is January 13, 2025. Applicants are notified by March 7, 2025.
• Grant awards, payouts, and construction deadlines are determined by each applicant and are finalized in collaboration with AISC. These will vary depending on the project and school year schedules, but the project should begin no later than May 2026.

Application Requirements

Please include all of the below items in one PDF, 8½ x 11 portrait orientation. Email the PDF to Jeanne Homer, AIA at homer@aisc.org.

Applicants should provide a description of:

• The location of the school and the project; both should be in the U.S.
• The course and/or research it is related to (studio, materials, structures, etc.)
• The number of students involved and the number of builds; for example, are there several teams within one class, or one studio build? If it is more of a research project that will only involve a small number of students, you might also check out the Forge Prize, due November 2024.
• The project: its function, scale, site, need for a permit, need for a foundation, etc. (1000 words max)
• How the project focuses on steel, including the use of W-section, angles, channels, HSS, plates, angles, sheets, bolting, and welding (200 words max)
• The learning objectives, related to NAAB, for example (200 words)
• The method of construction; is it fabricated and erected by students, fabricators, or erectors? (25 words max)
Available workshop facilities, equipment, and safety plan, if applicable (500 words max)

Other items to include:

• Letters of support outlining a commitment to the project from each of the project’s relevant partners, including clients, engineers, the city, the university, etc.
• Outline of a proposed schedule of the project with separate design and building phases, including deliverables for each phase and interactions with AISC, including periodic check-ins.
• Outline of the proposed budget integrated with the project schedule. Indicate the dates of the requested payouts within the schedule. Note that the earliest payout date in 2025 is May 1. Include the cost for items like student travel. The budget should not include indirect costs and overhead from the university; it is considered an educational project for students. Include equipment, rentals, or the cost of finishing the steel with coatings, for example. You may need to consult with your fabricator if applicable. State whether this grant would be your only source of funding, and if not, what your plans are for the remainder of the funding, even if they are not confirmed yet.
• Potential contingencies, such as an unreliable time frame to obtain a building permit.

Judging Criteria

• The potential for steel expression
• Spirit of the project--is it community-focused and forward-thinking?
• Consideration of schedule and process logistics--is it reasonable?
• The value to students and AISC
• Consideration of the number of architecture students involved and their involvement in the design, fabrication, and erection of the project

Requirements upon award

• Periodic reports and check-ins
• Attendance at NASCC: The Steel Conference with support from the NASCC: The Steel Conference Travel Award: up to $1,500 travel reimbursement for the grant awardee covered by the Education Foundation. The conference for this award cycle will be in Atlanta, April 22-24, 2026.
• AISC access to photos and AISC permission to use the photos.

If you have questions or concerns about any of the submittals or requirements, please contact Jeanne Homer, AIA at homer@aisc.org.

Meet the 2025 Jury

Photo credit: Rod Underwood, Ball State University R. Wayne Estopinal College of Architecture
and Planning, The Loop, Hands-On-Steel 2021-2022.