Study Architecture 
ProPEL Eligibility
The competition is open to students from ACSA Member Schools from the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The competition is open to upper level students (third year or above, including graduate students). Students are required to work under the direction of a faculty sponsor. Submissions will be accepted for individual as well as team projects. Teams must be limited to a maximum of three students.
Students are invited to submit their studio projects. Entries must be buildings, but can be of any program, at any scale, in any location. Projects can be a remodel or adaptive re-use. Work should have been completed in a design studio or related class from January 2018 – present.
Awards + Recognition
Ten projects will be chosen for recognition at the discretion of the jury. Winners and their faculty sponsors will be notified of the competition results directly. Winning projects will be announced and displayed at the AIA National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada June 6–8, 2019. Winning projects will also be promoted on the ACSA & AIA COTE websites.
Award + Student Internship
Each of the top 10 winning projects will receive a $500 stipend to attend the AIA National Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada June 6–8, 2019. Winning students (individuals and team members) will be offered a paid summer internship at an architecture firm doing leading work in sustainable design. Students will specify their top choices from participating firms and internships will be assigned by lottery.
Building Program + Site
Students are invited to submit their studio projects. Entries must be buildings, but can be of any program, at any scale, in any location, designed to address projected climatic impacts in the year 2030 and beyond. Projects can be a remodel or adaptive re-use. Work should have been completed in a design studio or related class for the calendar year January 2018 – December 2018.
Submission Materials & Requirements
The COTE Top Ten for Students Competition seeks compelling design submissions that meaningfully address the future impacts of climate change well into the second half of this century. Emphasis is to be placed on achieving zero emissions, adapting to projected climate impacts, and designing for resilience.
The ten sustainability measures shall serve to inform the design process and guide the required graphics and written narratives/abstract. Students or student teams must submit the following materials online:
Graphics
No more than four (4) digital boards at 20” x 20” (PDF or JPEG files), to include the following:
Documentation must adequately convey the project’s relationship to topography and physical context, formal and programmatic organization, circulation patterns, and experiential qualities. All drawings should be labeled; indicate scale and orientation where necessary. At minimum, include the following:
- Site or context plan
- Floorplans
- Building / site sections
- Perspective or isometric view (digital rendering or model photograph)
Present diagrams or images that best display how the project meets the three design criteria by considering the ten measures of sustainability. Some measures may require a specific graphic or calculation; others are open-ended. Where applicable, provide labels and notes on how calculated metrics are obtained (basis, method, program used, and assumptions).
Abstract/Narrative
100 words maximum for each sustainability measure for a total of 1,000 word maximum
Project/concept statement (approach/ program/intentions/strategies). The narratives should answer questions posed in the ten measures. The specific questions for each measure are meant to be a guide; each question does not need to be answered.
*During submission, simply copy/paste this text into the text field.
Program Brief
500 words maximum
Submissions should include a brief description the building type, gross square footage, project location & climate zone.
* During submission, simply copy/paste this text into the text field.
Incomplete or undocumented entries will be disqualified. All drawings should be presented at a scale appropriate to the design solution and include a graphic scale and north arrow.
Project authorship must remain anonymous. The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear on the boards, abstract/ narrative, program or studio brief. If authorship is revealed on any submission materials the entry will be disqualified.
All metrics should include a short description of key assumptions used in the analysis and where the numbers came from and reliability.
Questions
Edwin Hernández
Programs Coordinator
ehernandez@acsa-arch.org
202.785.2324
Eric W. Ellis
Senior Director of Operations and Programs
202-785-2324
eellis@acsa-arch.org
