The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) have selected the recipients of the 2020 Steel Design Student Competition. The competition recognizes eighteen exceptional projects, in two categories, that explore a variety of issues related to the use of steel in design and construction.1

View all recipients of the 2020 Steel Design Student Competition at: https://www.acsa-arch.org

  • 1. The competition recognizes eighteen exceptional projects, in two categories, that explore a variety of design issues related to the use of steel in design and construction. The 2020 ACSA/AISC Steel Design Student Competition offered architecture students the opportunity to compete in two separate categories. Category I challenged students to design an Urban Food Hub. Students explored ways to incorporate food production and distribution into an urban setting. Category II was OPEN offering students the opportunity to select a site and building program using steel as the primary material.
Category I, "Urban Food Hub" — 1st Place: Food Machine by Hatem Bouassida and Antoine Hurez, Université Laval
Category I, "Urban Food Hub" — 1st Place: Food Machine by Hatem Bouassida and Antoine Hurez, Université Laval - Recognized by UNESCO, Quebec City is a major North American tourist destination. The city has an exceptional architectural heritage and offers breathtaking vistas to cruise passengers and other visitors. The wharves lining the city’s historic port area, however, have been largely filled in, accommodating various functions over time, including a marshalling yard and a public market (now demolished). In recent years, the market’s relocation and the closure of a neighbouring exhibition pavilion have combined to annihilate all commercial and tourist activity on this portion of rue Saint-André. The lack of animation and dynamism is catastrophic for an urban and maritime site with so much potential and visibility. Today, the vast deserted area lining the marina calls out for new public uses. The establishment of a Food Hub here would bring new life to surrounding streets in both summer and winter, and it would provide a lively and stimulating addition to the urban promenade between the port, the lower town and the upper town. Its location would be easily accessible to cruise passengers, tourists and residents, making it an ideal starting point for an exploration of the historic city. This futuristic and resolutely high-tech project takes an unconventional approach to the site, freeing itself from the orthogonal grid of the Old Port. Much like a machine, the building’s parts can move and pull apart – following the trajectory of the tracks in the former marshalling yard, and thus bringing back to memory the port area’s long industrial past. Boldly sheathed in steel, the building’s dynamic form blocks prevailing winds and uses them to generate energy instead, thanks to wind turbines integrated in its facades. It seems to be in constant motion, with its whirring turbines and its stacks of hydroponic trays rotating behind the greenhouse’s glass facade. When fully opened, the building takes possession of the site, revealing unexpected vistas of the surrounding city and its port. 25-meter long cantilevers beckon to visitors, providing shelter from rain and sun as well as spaces for public events, farmers’ markets and other festivities. From within, terraces that were previously invisible now open out to passers-by. From the restaurants on the top floor, diners in the restaurants enjoy a spectacular view of the cantilever below. Faculty: Jacques Plante and Richard Pleau, Université Laval
Category II, "Open" — 1st Place: “W” for Will by Rui Li and Fei Hu, Syracuse University
Category II, "Open" — 1st Place: “W” for Will by Rui Li and Fei Hu, Syracuse University - This project evaluates the waste to energy industry by inserting a new program to enhance and respond to the industrial process. With a media center of collective layers of comprehensive propaganda space, we can convert industrial power into spiritual power inspired by the traditional waste to energy process. To accomplish the goal, we designed a successive of circulative space to mediate the industrial process from more hazardous to experimental. The stacking form has taken the advantage of gravity and horizontal stretch to greatly reduce the by-products generated by the burning process, and turning the building into layers of different industrial happenings. The middle part houses a large experiencing tunnel to collect the waste heat and steam water, as it also benefits to remove the chimney which was traditionally considered to press the incineration substance. The industrial waste (noise, heat, etc.) is utilized for artistic effect and interior conditioning, etc.    To reflect our waste-to-will-power philosophy into real life, many interior programs such as the performance studios are connected to the great walkable rooftop looking at the scenic sector of the city. Using the grand staking forms, the rooftop is crafted into a continuation of the scenic promenade, also the stage platform emitting the power of talented wills.   The translucent facade on the urban sector showcases the interior in colorized programs. Different languages of industrial process and architectural expression are stacked in grammatical tenses, echoing the history of our attitude towards the Waste-to-Energy industry. Faculty: Fei Wang, Syracuse University