Conceptual Architecture Hits YouTube Live March 18
CHICAGO – A pedestrian bridge that draws inspiration from a Möbius strip. A plan to turn neglected rear yards into thriving communities. A system that diverts the scrap metal stream to help vertical gardens thrive.
These three projects are finalists for the American Institute of Steel Construction’s 2025 Forge Prize. One of these projects will win $10,000.
But which one? No one knows yet–including the judges. They’ll make their decision during final presentations streamed live on YouTube from noon to 2 p.m. Central on March 18!
The Forge Prize, established by AISC in 2018, recognizes visionary emerging architects, architecture educators, and graduate students for design concepts that embrace innovations in steel as a primary structural component.
The three finalists have already won $5,000 each from the first round of the competition. They are currently working with AISC full-member steel fabricators to refine their concepts for the final presentation.
“These three finalists bring fresh ideas to some of today’s most pressing challenges in architecture,” said AISC Director of Architecture Nima Balasubramanian, AIA, NOMA. “From innovative technology to material reuse and new housing solutions, each proposal offers a unique approach to shaping the way we live. I’m excited to see which vision wins the top honor.”
“All three designs highlight the full potential of how architecture can change the way we interact with our environments,” said AISC Architecture Education Manager Jeanne Homer. “Housing and sustainability challenges require urgent solutions, and who doesn’t need a calm place to slow down these days?”
The finalists are:
Pedestrian Bridge for Echo Lake Park, Los Angeles
Continuity and fluidity drive a dynamic, sinuous bridge for a natural setting in Los Angeles. One segment of the bridge serves as the crossing, while others provide space for busy Angelenos to stop and enjoy the park.
Architect Kaikang Shen of K2SA is partnering with Phil Schlosser and Barry Gossler of Schlosser Steel in Hatfield, Pa., to optimize the design for the final presentation.
Growing Rowhouses, New York
This concept taps into the potential of rear yards, frequently intended for single-family use, to meet the Big Apple’s housing demands. A modular system based on the average rowhouse lot width could bring duplex units with semi-private outdoor areas.
Architect Ho-gyeum Kim of CZS is working with Ralph Barone of Barone Steel in Brooklyn, N.Y. to optimize the design.
Transforming Galvanized Sheetmetal Waste Streams into Modular Living Wall Planter System
Automotive production generates a steady stream of galvanized sheet metal scrap. This wall planter concept folds scrap like that to bring a circular economy to life–literally.
Educator Ahmed K. Ali of Texas A&M University leads the Resource-Based Design Research Lab (RDR/Lab) team, which also includes Bruce Dvorak, Panwang Huo, Karishma Joshi, and Niti Tataria. Tony Baffone of MSI Fab, LLC in Newark, Del., is helping them optimize their design for the second phase of the competition. Nat Killpatrick of Basden Steel has also provided local insight to the team.
About the Jury
Emily Baker, University of Arkansas
Baker is an inventor, fabricator, architect, and associate professor of architecture–and the 2024 Forge Prize winner. She has focused on self-structuring material systems and experimentation in her creative practice, research, and teaching. In addition to the AISC Early Career Faculty Award and Forge Prize, Baker has received an ACSA Design Build Award for the Audi-Fab design/build studio sequence, which also received an AIA Design Merit award. She’s currently collaborating with researchers from MIT, UVA and Princeton University on novel structural and construction systems, Zip-Form and Spin-Valence. Baker holds degrees in architecture from University of Arkansas and Cranbrook Academy of Art. She teaches studios, structures, and fabrication at the University of Arkansas, and she previously taught at the American University of Sharjah and Tulane University.
Matthew Marani, Architectural Record
Marani serves as Architectural Record’s special sections editor, which gives him a bird’s-eye perspective of architectural trends. Prior to that, Marani was program manager at The Architect’s Newspaper. He also has several years of experience as a freelance writer specializing in urban planning, historic preservation, and architectural technology. Marani is a born and raised New Yorker. He holds a bachelor’s in history and political science from Skidmore College and a Masters in Science degree in architectural conservation from the University of Edinburgh (a passion that has informed his work with the New York Landmarks Conservancy).
Parke MacDowell, AIA, Payette
MacDowell currently serves as an associate principal and director of fabrication at Payette. As an architect, Parke leverages his background in the trades to inform design and project management. Parke established Payette’s fabrication group, which elevates design process and communication across the breadth of the firm’s work. His design-forward projects have recently garnered two AIA 2021 Regional and Urban Design Awards and a 2021 American Architecture Award, among other accolades. Parke is the 2021 BSA Earl R. Flansburgh Young Architects Award recipient and is an adjunct professor of practice at Virginia Tech. Parke received the 2022 AIA Young Architect Award for his contributions to the profession. He holds degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan.
About the Forge Prize
The Forge Prize, co-administered by AISC’s brand-new Architecture Center and AISC University Programs, challenges emerging architects, architecture educators, and architecture students to create design concepts that embrace innovations in steel as a primary structural material–with up to $15,000 on the line.
Three finalists will each win $5,000 (plus free registration and travel support to attend the Architecture in Steel conference) and work with a steel fabricator to refine their design before presenting it live to the judges and the world in a live YouTube stream on March 18, 2025. The winner will receive a $10,000 grand prize and a showcase at the 2025 Architecture in Steel Conference (part of NASCC: The Steel Conference, April 2-4, 2025, in Louisville).
The competition is open to designers, teams of designers, or interdisciplinary teams led by an architect based in the U.S. who are:
- Emerging practicing architects (those licensed for less than 10 years or on the path to licensure);
- Tenured or tenure-track educators who have taught for less than 10 years in a university-level architecture program in the U.S.;
- Adjunct architecture educators who have taught for less than 10 years and have been licensed for less than 10 years or are on the path to licensure;
- Graduate-level architecture students enrolled in a university-level, U.S.-based architecture program.
The design community has embraced the challenge since the competition’s inception, creating concepts for jaw-dropping pedestrian bridges in San Diego and New York, a revitalized public housing community in Harlem, and 2025 judge Emily Baker’s revolutionary space-frame system that is as beautiful as it is functional.
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CHICAGO – A pedestrian bridge that draws inspiration from a Möbius strip. A plan to turn neglected rear yards into thriving communities. A system that diverts the scrap metal stream to help vertical gardens thrive. These three projects are finalists for the American Institute of Steel Construction’s 2025 Forge Prize. One of these projects will…