Study Architecture 
ProPEL Winners Announced for the
2025 AISC/ACSA Steel Design Student Competition
Students Awarded for Innovation in Steel Design
For Immediate Release:
Washington, D.C., September 16, 2025 – The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2025 Steel Design Student Competition.
The 2025 AISC/ACSA Steel Design Student Competition challenged students to explore various design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction. Participating students were offered the opportunity to compete in two separate categories. In Category I, students were challenged to design a library and illustrate its role as an integral part of a community’s civic fabric. Category II presented students with the option to select a site and building program of their choosing, using steel as the primary material.
CATEGORY I: LIBRARY +
First Place: Steel Harvest
Student: Laura Murguía
Faculty: Alice Guess
Collaborator: Melanie Parker Dameron
Savannah College of Art and Design
Second Place: Nexus Library +
Students: Shunta Abe & Kimberly Yan
Faculty: Katrin Terstegen
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Third Place: Urban Incline
Student: Ayush Singh
Faculty: Leandro Piazzi
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Honorable Mention: Books and Building Blocks
Students: Jo Herendeen, Ty Pierce & Ivy Smith
Faculty: Daisy-O’lice Williams
University of Oregon
Honorable Mention: Fletcher Library
Students: Agustin Ochoa & Wiame Rabbaa
Faculty: Dylan Bachar
Woodbury University
Honorable Mention: Steel Cyclone
Students: Mikayel Sargsyan & Vahe Shahnazaryan
Faculty: Paul Chiu
Glendale Community College
Honorable Mention: Urban Ensemble – From Module Systems To Chelsea Jenga
Students: Bennard Amponsah & Qi Han Zheng
Faculty: Arta Yazdanseta
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
CATEGORY II: OPEN
First Place: The Still Armada
Students: Ethan Edington & Josue Ventura Vasquez
Faculty: Genevieve Baudoin
Kansas State University
Second Place: Nor-Cal 101 Fire Station
Students: Blayne Springer, Leyton Spencer & Matthew Wright
Faculty: Pasquale De Paola & Kevin Singh
Louisiana Tech University
Third Place: Cloud-81: Syracuse Urban Incubator
Students: Zilin Jing & Jingxiang Zhang
Faculty: Lauren Scott
Syracuse University
Honorable Mention: Royal Naval Archives: Within the Vessel
Students: Shane Gallagher & Noah Kotlinski
Faculty: Genevieve Baudoin
Kansas State University
Honorable Mention: Dubai Flow
Students: Zhirun Huang & Weixia Luo
Faculty: Fei Wang
Syracuse University
Honorable Mention: The Interstate Viewing
Student: Ta’riq Abdul-Rahman
Faculty: Se Won Roy Kim
Ball State University
The competition juries included:
Category I: LIBRARY +
- Daniel Brown, Savannah College of Art and Design
- Cathleen Jacinto, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
- Camille Sherrod, Kean University
Category II: OPEN
- Robert Clarke, Cal Poly Pomona
- Awilda Rodriguez, University of Oklahoma
- Jade Yang, Kennesaw State University
View the projects and get more information HERE.
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 the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA)
ACSA is the voice of architectural education. We convene and advocate for our field – for the benefit of our members and for the built environment. Founded in 1912 by 10 charter members, ACSA 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.
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.
Media Contact
Requests for press materials, including high-resolution images, can be obtained from our media contact.
Hanifah Jones
202-785-2324 x 5
hjones@acsa-arch.org
