Internal Student Prizes

Each year, students in every level of the program have opportunities to win prizes for their studio work. This is a comprehensive list of the competitions and prizes offered to undergraduate and graduate students in architecture through external support and sponsorships, including images from recently awarded student work.

Richard F. Hansen Lectures in Architecture – Student Prize

Third-year student prize.  Student competition based on their studio design project.  Competition is done in conjunction with the Richard F. Hansen lecture.  The guest lecturer will serve on the jury.

Project selection: One project from each of the 301 studios will be selected for competition entry. Project selection is made by studio professor and final project jurors

Level:  Third Year 301 Fall studio

Jury: Hansen Lecturer, Chair and invited reviewer | Spring in conjunction with Richard F. Hansen Lecture

BWBR Prize

Third-year student prize.  This rigorous competition is awarded in the spirit of developing architects as the total professional.  Finalists are invited to present their work at BWBR’s office in St. Paul, MN, to a jury of firm members.  The firm’s emphasis is on a comprehensive and mature understanding of aesthetic, technical, regulatory, and human factors that shape the design of an architectural project.  Evaluation criteria are organization/thoroughness, design, and presentation skills.

Project selection: the process is similar to the one firms follow when pursuing projects. Faculty invite students to participate in the BWBR Prize. Two projects from each of the 302 studios will be selected for competition entry by students or chosen faculty. The 10 pre-selected projects are presented by the students in an open review setting with two BWBR firm representatives on the jury.  Based on those presentations, the reviewers select 5 finalist projects to travel to St Paul later in the semester for live interview-style presentations.  The winner is chosen by a jury of firm members. 

Level:  Third Year 302 Spring studio

Jury: Firm members @ BWBR office St. Paul MN | Spring semester

DLR Group Prize

Fourth-year student project prize for the student project best exhibiting a rigorous examination of how buildings participate sustainably in socio-political and environmental systems. Student projects that consider in a comprehensive proposal how issues of physical site, socio-economic context, programming, structure, form, materiality, and building systems are interconnected through the design process and within the built environment. Projects typically focus on a smaller scale urban public building that is closely connected to its physical, environmental, and social context.

Project selection: One project from each of the 401 studios will be selected for competition entry. Project selection is made by studio professor and final project jurors.

Level:  Fourth Year Fall 401 Studio

Jury:  DLR Group representative(s), AAC members & Dept. Chair or Faculty | Fall semester

Nathan and Lisa Kalaher Award

Fourth-year student project award for research and critical thinking in research and design.

This award recognizes the importance of the relation between design practice and critical, theoretical discourse. It acknowledges studio projects that incorporate research and critical thinking in approaching the complex issues that intersect in architectural design today. In particular, it looks for projects that develop a well communicated, conceptually and theoretically rigorous architectural response to a clearly formed problématique. It seeks to reward students who take risks in proposing pioneering and intellectually provocative architectural design.

Project selection: One project from each 401 studio will be selected for competition entry. Project selection is made by studio professor and final project jurors.

Level:  Fourth Year Fall 401 Studio

Jury:  Nathan or Lisa Kalaher, AAC members & Dept. Chair or Faculty | Fall semester

Central Iowa Chapter – Construction Specifications Institute (CSI)

Arch 403/603 student project prize.  Each studio can send two projects into the competition.  How these two projects are selected is up to the instructor.  Winners are selected based on technical aspects of the project and the clarity of its representations.

Project selection: One to two projects from each of the 403/603 studios will be selected by studio professor and final reviewer for competition entry.

Level:  Fifth Year Undergrad & Third Year Graduate | Fall 403/603 Studio

Jury:  Panel of CSI board members | Competition pin-up and jury review during the week following final review

Recognition: Announced at Spring Awards Ceremony

H. Kennard Bussard Award presented by RDG Planning and Design

Fifth-year student project prize for outstanding ability and creativity in the architecture design process.  Competition within the Department of Architecture with the winner being selected by a judging team of a combination of guest critics within the architecture field and/or faculty, including the Chair of the Department of Architecture. 

Project selection: One to two projects from each of the 403/603 studios will be selected by studio professor and final reviewer for competition entry.

Level:  Fifth Year Undergrad & Third Year Graduate | Fall 403/603 Studio

Jury: RDG Planning and Design representatives, Chair or Faculty | Competition pin-up and jury review during the week following final review

Recognition: Announced at Spring Awards Ceremony

Substance Design Forum

Final year of both undergraduate and graduate programs project prize.  Held in early spring and judged on the previous fall semester projects. One or two members of the professional architecture community are invited to judge the competition and share their work and experiences with the students.  Substance will assist in selecting the jurors and planning the annual event.

Level:  Fifth Year Undergrad & Third Year Graduate | Fall 403/603 Studio

Jury: Substance Architecture representative, & two nationally recognized architecture professionals| Spring

Recognition:  College Awards: Spring

Wells Concrete Competition

Arch 445 student project prize to promote the utilization of architectural and structural precast

concrete components. The scope should include the use of insulated wall panels that incorporate window systems on the exterior of the shell and the creative and responsible integration of use structural precast for the spanning and support elements. Competition criteria will include: Performance to Form, Structural Optimization, and Aesthetic qualities and Innovative Use (see below)

From the submission of the ARCH 445 eight student teams will be selected (2 from each lab section). The submission is at the end of the Fall term as per ISU Registrar scheduling and selection will be done over the winter break by faculty with input from Teaching Assistants.

Level:  Capstone Building Technology | Fall 445

Semester:  Fall course | Spring project presentations and review

Jury: Wells Concrete representative, Dept.  Chair or Undergraduate Coordinator, and/or invited jury member | Spring

Shive-Hattery Design Studio Competition

Arch 601 student project prize. Shive-Hattery Architecture + Engineering established the Shive-Hattery Architecture Studio to support second-year graduate architecture students in their challenge to create a net zero/energy efficient building design through the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. The studio focuses on integration advanced systems technology and sustainable design to reflect and explore in a critical manner, the relationship between buildings and environmental forces.

Special focus in sustainability and energy efficiency in Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape. The challenge of sustainable and net zero energy / energy efficient building design for the adaptive reuse of existing buildings in a reflective and critical manner.

Design projects must investigate the impact of carbon emissions, solar energy, airflow, building materials, passive and active systems, wall assembly impact on spatial quality, as well as validate decisions quantitatively through energy modeling and performance simulation and life-cycle analysis. There is a strong interdisciplinary approach to research, focusing on regional sites and incorporating adaptive reuse strategies for sustainability and energy efficiency in Architecture, Urban Planning and Landscape.

Level: Second year Graduate students | Fall 601 Studio