2025 ACSA/AISC Steel Design Student Competition

COMPETITION OVERVIEW

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) is pleased to announce the 24th Annual Steel Design Student Competition for the 2024-2025 academic year. Administered by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) and sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the program is intended to challenge undergraduate and graduate students, working individually or in teams, to explore a variety of design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction. Steel must be used as the primary structural material and contain at least one space that requires long-span steel structure, with special emphasis placed on innovation in steel design.

THE OPPORTUNITIES

The 2025 Steel Design Student Competition will offer architecture students the opportunity to compete in two separate categories:

Category I: Library + 
Design a Library in a community of your choice. Students are invited to submit design proposals that address how a library can contribute to the community as a more integral part of the civic fabric. For a new requirement, see the 2025 Competition Program.

Category II: OPEN
Category II offers architecture students the opportunity to select a site and building program using steel as the primary material. This competition category permits the greatest amount of flexibility for any building type other than a library.

Students may not enter both categories of the competition.

ADVANTAGES OF STEEL

Steel has a natural beauty that can be exposed to emphasize grace, slenderness and strength in space and form, as well as in building envelopes to enhance environmental performance and aesthetic character.

Resiliency
Structural steel offers a number of benefits in building design including the capacity to bear great loads in tension and compression, high resiliency and performance under harsh and difficult conditions, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, and the ability to span great distances with minimal material. Steel can be shaped by many processes, ranging from standard rolled sections to custom castings and digitally generated components. It can be prefabricated and delivered for site assembly, and it can be erected quickly under almost any weather condition to meet tight construction schedules.

Efficiency
Steel offers the greatest strength-to-weight ratio of structural materials. In addition, steel can be constructed quickly and for all project site types with the use of labor-saving prefabrication methods such as kit-of-parts, panelization, and modular construction. A building built with steel is potentially more flexible and adaptable to allow for a change in program, occupancy, and loading needs over time. Steel, if desired by the architect, can be graceful, nimble, and minimal in its bulk both in plan and section, and it integrates easily with other systems and materials.

Sustainability
Using steel is a highly sustainable option. The production of raw US structural steel involves in upwards of 93% recycled content, keeping your old cars and appliances out of landfills. At the end of a building’s life, 98% of all structural steel is recycled into new steel products, with no loss of its physical properties. As such, structural steel isn’t just recycled but “multi-cycled,” as it can be recycled over and over and over again. It is truly a cradle-to-cradle material, and few materials can claim that.  

Expression
Exposed and curved steel is an art, providing endless possibilities for architectural expression. Curved steel enhances the visibility of any building project – from the largest monumental project to that building down your street. Curved steel is one way to increase the design creativity of your next building project. And most importantly, curved steel is readily available nationally from a number of qualified AISC Associate Member Bender-Rollers.

SCHEDULE

April 9, 2025 Registration Deadline (free registration)
June 4, 2025 Submission Deadline
Summer 2025 Winners Announced
Fall 2025 Publication of Summary Book

AWARDS

The design jury will meet in Summer 2025 to select winning projects and honorable mentions. Winners and their faculty sponsors will be notified of the competition results directly. A list of winning projects will be posted on this webpage and the ACSA website

Winning students and their faculty sponsors will receive cash prizes totaling $20,000 with distribution as follows:

Category I STEEL LIBRARY +	Category II OPEN
First Prize	First Prize
Student                      $4,000	Student                       $4,000
Faculty Sponsor          $1,500	Faculty Sponsor         $1,500
Second Prize	Second Prize
Student                      $2,000	Student                       $2,000
Faculty Sponsor          $1,000	Faculty Sponsor         $1,000
Third Prize	Third Prize
Student                       $1,000	Student                       $1,000
Faculty Sponsor        $500	Faculty Sponsor        $500

A limited number of honorable mentions may also be awarded at the jury's discretion. Prize‑winning submissions will be exhibited at the 2026 ACSA Annual Meeting and the 2026 AIA National Convention as well as published in a competition summary publication.

ELIGIBILITY

Because the support of AISC is largely derived from steel companies whose markets are mainly in the U.S., the ACSA/AISC Steel Design Student Competition is open to students and/or student teams from ACSA Full and Candidate Member Schools, as well as ACSA Affiliate Members Schools from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. 

An ACSA member school faculty sponsor is required to enroll students by completing an online registration form prior to registration by April 9, 2025. All student entrants are required to work under the direction of a faculty sponsor. Entries will be accepted for individuals as well as teams. Teams must be limited to a maximum of five students. Submissions should be principally the product of work in a design studio or related class.

Competition Program written and developed by: Daniel Brown at Savannah College of Art and Design, along with ACSA and the American Institute of Steel Construction

Full competition information may be found on the ACSA Website. Additional questions on the competition program and submissions should be addressed to:

Edwin Hernández
Programs Coordinator
ehernandez@acsa-arch.org
202.785.2324

Eric Wayne Ellis
Senior Director of Operations and Programs
eellis@acsa-arch.org
202.785.2324

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Winners Announced in the 24th Annual ACSA/AISC Steel Design Student Competition

AISC and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) have selected the recipients of the 2024 Steel Design Student Competition. The competition recognizes 11 exceptional projects, in two categories, that explore a variety of design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction.

The winning projects were chosen by a panel of distinguished jurors:

CATEGORY I: INNOVATION CENTER

• Dana Gulling, North Carolina State University
  
• Maria Mohammed, Structural Focus
• Paolo Sanza, University of Oklahoma

CATEGORY II: OPEN JURY

• Genevieve Baudoin, Kansas State University
• Bruce Danziger, Danziger Engineering Collaborative, Inc.
• Jodi La Coe, Marywood University

For Category I, the jurors chose First, Second, and Third place winners, along with additional Honorable Mentions. For Category II, the jurors chose First, Second, and Third place winners, along with additional Honorable Mentions. Listed below are the names of the recipients, their project titles, and their faculty sponsor(s):

View the Winning Projects