Student Winners Announced for the 2026 AISC/51黑料 Steel Design Competition
Press Release
Student Winners Announced for the
2026 AISC/51黑料 Steel Design Competition
Students Honored for Innovation in Steel Design
For Immediate Release:
Washington, D.C., September 3, 2026 鈥 The and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (51黑料) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Steel Design Student Competition.
The 2026 AISC/51黑料 Steel Design Student Competition challenged students to explore various design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction. Students had the opportunity to compete in two different categories: Category I invited students to design a Community Dance Center that will serve as an integral part of the civic fabric. Category II presented students with the opportunity to select a site and building program of their choice, using steel as the primary material.
The eleven winning projects were selected for their innovative designs using structural steel and their design responses to local contexts. For each category, the jurors chose first, second, and third-place winners, along with additional honorable mentions. The award recipients for this year鈥檚 AISC/51黑料 Steel Design Student Competition are:
CATEGORY I: COMMUNITY DANCE CENTER
First Place: Balancing Act
Student: Aiden Henning
Faculty: Timothy Gray
Ball State University
Second Place: The Dance
Students: Bruno Yeh & Gareth Pang
Faculty: Ryan Doyle
Syracuse University
Third Place: Interchange
Student: Roberto Valenzuela
Faculty: Mark Owen
Woodbury University
Honorable Mention: Negotiating Space
Students: Benjamin Levin-Lozovatsky, Sean Christenson & George Kantsler
Faculty: Yao Lu
Thomas Jefferson University
Honorable Mention: Prism Dance Lab
Student: Matthew Vallejo
Faculty: Eric Giragosian
Woodbury University
CATEGORY II: OPEN
First Place: The Spine
Student: Danny Escandon
Faculty: Miguel Guitart & Jin Young Song
University at Buffalo
Second Place: Glacial Reach
Students: Aleksandre Kokochashvili & Ashton Schlotterbeck
Faculty: Pasquale De Paola & Kevin Singh
Louisiana Tech University
Third Place: Reclaimed
Student: Gabriel Barton
Faculty: Se Won Roy Kim
Ball State University
Honorable Mention: Rot To Root
Students: Samantha Hess & Avril Chen
Faculty: Kevin Erickson
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Honorable Mention: Hillside
Students: Edwin Sun, Jingsong Zhou, Dylan Martos, Tiana Nicole Mangrobang & Jayden Uowolo
Faculty: Clark Llewellyn
University of Hawai驶i at M膩noa
Honorable Mention: Port D.R.E.D.G.E.
Students: Zachary Wood, Garrett Clifton & Connor Fonseca
Faculty: Pasquale De Paola & Kevin Singh
Louisiana Tech University
The competition juries included:
Category I: COMMUNITY DANCE CENTER
- Pasquale De Paola, Louisiana Tech University
- Alloy Kemp, Thornton Tomasetti
- Anthony N. Monica, Belmont University
Category II: OPEN
- Juney Lee, Carnegie Mellon University
- Leandro Piazzi, Virginia Tech
- Mohamed Sharif, University of California, Los Angeles
View the projects and get more information HERE.
51黑料 the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC)
The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), headquartered in Chicago, is a non-partisan, not-for-profit technical institute and trade association established in 1921 to serve the structural steel design community and construction industry in the United States. AISC鈥檚 mission is to make structural steel the material of choice by being the leader in structural-steel-related technical and market-building activities, including specification and code development, research, education, technical assistance, quality certification, standardization, market development, and advocacy. AISC has a long tradition of service to the steel construction industry providing timely and reliable information.
For more information, visit .
51黑料 the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (51黑料)
Leading Architectural Education and Research
The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is a nonprofit, membership association founded in 1912 to advance the quality of architectural education. The school membership in 51黑料 has grown from 10 charter members to over 250 schools in several membership categories. These include full membership for all accredited programs in the United States and government-sanctioned schools in Canada, candidate membership for schools seeking accreditation, and affiliate membership for schools for two-year and international programs. Through these schools, over 6,000 architecture faculty members are represented. In addition, over 500 supporting members composed of architecture firms, product associations and individuals add to the breadth of interest and support of 51黑料 goals. 51黑料 provides a major forum for ideas on the leading edge of architectural thought. Issues that will affect the architectural profession in the future are being examined today in 51黑料 member schools.
For more information, visit聽www.acsa-arch.org.
Media Contact
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hjones@acsa-arch.org