2025 Forge Prize

Do you have a visionary idea that pushes the boundary of what's possible? The Forge Prize from the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), challenges architects, educators, and students to create design concepts that embrace innovations in steel as the primary structural material--and $25,000 in prizes.

The Forge Prize, co-administered by AISC’s brand-new Architecture Center and AISC University Relations, challenges emerging architects, architecture educators, and architecture students to create design concepts that embrace innovations in steel as a primary structural material--with up to  $15,000 on the line. 

“The Forge Prize is the Architecture Center’s flagship design competition--and it’s just one way that the Center sparks creativity to inspire great designers,” said AISC Director of Architecture Nima Balasubramanian, AIA, NOMA. “The basic questions are simple: What will the future look like? What will people build with? Where will they live, work, and play? And how could steel make it happen?”

Three finalists will each win $5,000 (plus free registration and travel support to attend the Architecture in Steel conference) and work with a steel fabricator to refine their design before presenting it live to the judges and the world in a live YouTube stream on March 6, 2025. The winner will receive a $10,000 grand prize and a showcase at the 2025 Architecture in Steel Conference (part of NASCC: The Steel Conference, April 2-4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky.).

Some previous concepts have gone even further. The Spin-Valence concept created by the University of Arkansas’s Emily Baker was featured at the national AIA convention, and her work will be exhibited at the National Museum of Industrial History in September.

The competition is open to designers, teams of designers, or interdisciplinary teams led by an architect based in the U.S. who are:

• Emerging practicing architects (those licensed for less than 10 years or on the path to licensure);

• Tenured or tenure-track educators who have taught for less than 10 years in a university-level architecture program in the U.S.;

• Adjunct architecture educators who have taught for less than 10 years and have been licensed for less than 10 years or are on the path to licensure;

• Graduate-level architecture students enrolled in a university-level, U.S.-based architecture program.

The design community has embraced the challenge since the competition’s inception, creating concepts for jaw-dropping pedestrian bridges in San Diego and New York, a revitalized public housing community in Harlem, and a revolutionary space-frame system that is as beautiful as it is functional.