AISC/ACSA Steel Design Student Competition Returns with $20,000 in Prizes!

August 12, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO - The Steel Design Student Competition --with $20,000 in cash prizes and a spotlight on student work--is back for the 25th time!

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. Winning designs are featured on both ACSA and AISC's websites as well as displayed to 6,000+ architects, engineers, steel fabricators, and the rest of the AEC industry at NASCC: The Steel Conference (April 2 to 4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky.).

The competition accepts entries in two categories each year: one that sets a specific challenge, and one open to all design ideas.

This year's guided challenge involves reimagining a space familiar to all students: a library. Students must come up with new ways to integrate an urban library into the local community.

"Libraries have continued to adapt to be relevant resources for each community," said AISC Senior Architect for University Relations Jeanne Homer, AIA. "This year's Library + program is a chance for students to explore the needs of a community and to design flexible programming that responds to those needs while integrating the advantages of structural steel."

CATEGORY I: LIBRARY +

The community library stands as a pillar for independent information where ideas of all can be freely exchanged and explored. While integrating new technology, expanding services, and adding space for the community to interact, libraries continue to evolve. You are invited to site your library in an urban area of your choice, and then supply the information to finish the brief's title of "Library +"? As libraries have the opportunity within a specific environment to respond to unique needs, what else could a library contribute to the community to become an even more integral part of the civic fabric? The project will include a defined program for a library, and each entry will include an added space for the community defined by you that cannot exceed 50% of the library area.

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.

Entrants' faculty sponsors must register online by April 9, 2025, with submissions due June 4, 2025. Students may not enter both categories of the competition. Steel must be used as the primary structural material and contain at least one space that requires a long-span steel structure, with special emphasis placed on innovation in steel design.

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