The selection of eleven winners for this year’s AISC/ACSA Steel Design Student Competition has just been announced by the American Institute of Steel Construction and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture.
For the contest's 2024 edition, students were given the choice between two sites and project types. Category I called for the design of a new Steel Innovation Center in St. Louis, Missouri, while the open-ended Category II allowed for the selection of a site and building program to be selected at their discretion.
Each winner was chosen for their demonstrated creativity in employing structural steel as a design solution, along with their proposals' response to site conditions and the surrounding architectural context.
First, Second, and Third-place winners were given in either category, along with multiple Honorable Mention proposals. Compliments should be given to student designers and their faculty sponsors from Woodbury University and Louisiana Tech, who were particularly well-represented after placing first in each respective category for the second year in a row.
Category I: Steel Innovation Center
1st Place
The Exploration of Expression
Students: Russell Tong & Porter Watson
Faculty Sponsor: Carlo Sturken
Institution: Woodbury University
Juror Comments: "The Exploration of Expression provides a clear and concise program with great detailing in the sophisticated graphics. A playful design using the structure as part of the architecture in a poetic way. The extension of the existing Mural Mile wall is inventive and playful."
2nd Place
Infinite Innovation
Student: Eric Duenser
Faculty Sponsor: Randall Deutsch
Institution: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Juror Comments: "Infinite innovation designs a creative round-space steel frame that provides efficiency in the structure. The building appears to levitate over the river wall is a novel way to engage the site."
3rd Place
Gateway South Innovation Center
Student: Sulaima Salim
Faculty Sponsor: Osman Attmann
Institution: University of Colorado Denver
Juror Comments: "Gateway South Innovation Center is a design with a focus on adaptability (expansion and contraction based on innovation center needs), which is the key to this beautifully detailed building. The building has an industrial elegance with excellently rendered drawings, creative use of daylight, and clear steel structure."
Honorable Mention
Skyforge/Steel Horizon
Students: Kevin Bui & Garrett Gudmundson
Faculty Sponsor: Gerard Smulevich
Institution: Woodbury University
Juror Comments: "Skyforge/Steel Horizon grounded in the St. Louis location connecting the site to the sky. The simple steel design used in the cantilever harkens back to the industrial surroundings."
Overlapping Illumination
Students: Cristian Gomez & Mo Zaina
Faculty
Sponsor: Osman Attmann
Institution: University of Colorado Denver
Juror Comments: "Overlapping Illumination is a playful project with a strong well-developed building section. The round-diagrid steel design creates a beautiful building that appears as an object."
Category II: Open
1st Place
![O.P.C.S. T-157 [Garbage Monster] by Logan Jacobs, Jude Bell & Christian Salazar of Louisiana Tech University. Image: courtesy ACSA](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/v1/v1jmop4so3zh27gk.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat "O.P.C.S. T-157 [Garbage Monster] by Logan Jacobs, Jude Bell & Christian Salazar of Louisiana Tech University. Image: courtesy ACSA")
![O.P.C.S. T-157 [Garbage Monster] by Logan Jacobs, Jude Bell & Christian Salazar of Louisiana Tech University. Image: courtesy ACSA](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/mi/mi35883qt4v657zg.jpg?auto=compress%2Cformat "O.P.C.S. T-157 [Garbage Monster] by Logan Jacobs, Jude Bell & Christian Salazar of Louisiana Tech University. Image: courtesy ACSA")
O.P.C.S. T-157 [Garbage Monster]
Students: Logan Jacobs, Jude Bell & Christian Salazar
Faculty Sponsors: Pasquale De Paola & Kevin Singh
Institution: Louisiana Tech University
Juror Comments: "O.P.C.S. T-157 [Garbage Monster] is a provocative well-executed design of infrastructure as architecture. The students created ocean architecture that appears as a vessel for recycling plastics."
2nd Place
Liminal Library
Student: Collin Rohr
Faculty Sponsors: Lee Su Huang & Sarah Gamble
Institution: University of Florida
Juror Comments: "Liminal Library uses a variety of structural systems that feels innovative and beautifully detailed. There is a marriage between the building and the steel forms that addresses sustainability in an effective way."
3rd Place
Almaraz Cross-Creation Hub
Student: Benjamin Shapiro
Faculty Sponsor: Inés Martín-Robles
Institution: University of Virginia
Juror Comments: "Almaraz Cross-Creation Hub is a provocative design with convincing diagrams and a thorough steel plan. The porous diagrid structure works within the neighborhood allowing for art creation and gathering spaces at many scales."
Honorable Mention
Spires Mendenhall Research Center
Students: Noah Berryhill & Alex Klocek
Faculty Sponsors: Pasquale De Paola & Kevin Singh
Institution: Louisiana Tech University
Juror Comments: "Spires Mendenhall Research Center has captivating images and renderings that provoke the mind. The natural surroundings of the Alaskan frontier is an unexpected location for such a large steel structure."
Performing On The Cliff
Students: Lucas Peiyu Luo & Adrian Suciu
Faculty Sponsor: Fei Wang
Institution: Syracuse University
Juror Comments: "Performing On The Cliff is an incredibly thorough project with a complex program that celebrates steel. The project is a catalyst for cultural preservation and community revitalization."
P.R.S.M
Students: Nathan Bucy & Alfredo Avendano Salcedo
Faculty Sponsors: Pasquale De Paola & Kevin Singh
Institution: Louisiana Tech University
Juror Comments: "P.R.S.M is an exuberance of the steel structure that is both innovative and impactful. The building appears to have a light tough on the site as seen in the beautiful renderings and drawings."
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