Study Architecture 
ProPEL 2023 AISC/ACSA Steel Design Student Competition
Students and Faculty Awarded for Steel in Design and Construction
For Immediate Release:
Washington, D.C., August 31, 2023 – The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 Steel Design Student Competition.
The competition recognizes 11 exceptional projects, in two categories, that explore a variety of design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction. The 2023 ACSA/AISC Steel Design Student Competition offered architecture students the opportunity to compete in two separate categories. Category I challenged students to design “A Place for the Spirit” on a campus, welcoming to all, where members of the campus community and visitors can learn about and express spirituality. Category II was open, offering students the opportunity to select a site and building program using steel as the primary material.
For Category I, the jurors chose First, Second, and Third place winners, along with three Honorable Mentions. Listed below are the names of the recipients, their project titles, and their faculty sponsor(s):
CATEGORY I: SPIRITUAL SPACE
First Place: The Sylvan Hideaway
Student: Ludwig Rodriguez
Faculty Sponsor: Gerard Smulevich
Woodbury University
Second Place: The Structural Grove
Student: Grahm Mapes
Faculty Sponsor: A. Katherine Ambroziak
University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Third Place: Luminae Sanctum: Bend, Diffuse, Self-Reflect
Student: David Covarrubias
Faculty Sponsor: Gerard Smulevich
Woodbury University
Honorable Mention: Along the Spine – Using Recycled Materiality to Induce Spiritual Splendor
Student: Julia Goodman
Faculty Sponsor: A. Katherine Ambroziak
University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Honorable Mention: Gridded Minutia
Student: Becca Northey
Faculty Sponsor: Timothy Gray
Ball State University
Honorable Mention: The Steel Collector: Reclaiming Landscapes
Student: Elsie O’Connell
Faculty Sponsor: A. Katherine Ambroziak
University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Category II, the jurors chose First, Second, and Third place winners, along with two Honorable Mentions. Listed below are the names of the recipients, their project titles, and their faculty sponsor(s):
CATEGORY II: OPEN WINNERS
First Place: Coastal Canvas
Students: Nolan Courville & YunIn Jeung
Faculty Sponsor: Pasquale De Paola
Louisiana Tech University
Second Place: La Bella Vita
Student: Maiten Rodriguez
Faculty Sponsors: Awilda Rodriguez, Paolo Sanza & Blake Mitchell
Oklahoma State University
Third Place: Back to the Nature
Students: Chunya Wu, Siwei Su, Yiwei Liu, Jiaqi Xu & Matthew Lawson
Faculty Sponsor: Clark Llewellyn
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Honorable Mention: Sigillum
Student: Ana Krekman
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Brown
Savannah College of Art and Design
Honorable Mention: Ampelos Winery
Student: Biming Liu
Faculty Sponsor: Daniel Brown
Savannah College of Art and Design
See renderings of the projects and get more information HERE.
The winning projects were chosen by a panel of distinguished jurors:
Category I: Spiritual Space
Cristobal Correa, Buro Happold
Michael J. Crosbie, University of Hartford
Dr. Anat Geva, Texas A&M University
Category II: Open, Jury
Parbi Boodaghian, John A. Martin & Associates, Inc.
Nesrine Mansour, South Dakota State University
Maria Isabel Oliver, American University of Sharjah
About 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’s 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 www.aisc.org.
About ACSA
Founded in 1912 by 10 charter members, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is an international association of architecture schools preparing future architects, designers, and change agents. ACSA’s full members include all of the accredited professional degree programs in the United States and Canada, as well as international schools and 2- and 4-year programs. Together, ACSA schools represent 7,000 faculty educating more than 40,000 students. The mission of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture is to lead architectural education and research. ACSA seeks to empower faculty and schools to educate increasingly diverse students, expand disciplinary impacts, and create knowledge for the advancement of architecture. For more information, visit www.acsa-arch.org.
###
Requests for press materials, including high-resolution images, can be obtained from our media contact.
Media Contact
Heather Albarazi
Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture
202-785-2324
halbarazi@acsa-arch.org
