Welcome to the Young Architects Studio Competition 2024! Now in its 14th year, the goal of this competition is to engage young architects, emerging design professionals, and students to find new and innovative ways to approach a regional design challenge.
To commemorate the 125th anniversary of AIA Pittsburgh, this year’s YASC theme is the Pittsburgh’s unique confluence of topography, urbanism, and architecture. Your challenge is to design a circulation path that links a higher elevation point to a lower one, considering the obstacles and opportunities presented by the site’s natural and built environment. As you design this path, think about how it can activate the spaces it traverses, creating opportunities for social gathering, interaction, and community building among residents. Your design should not only facilitate movement but also enhance the experience of those moving through it.
Your circulation path should not only connect different elevation points within a site, but also foster a sense of community and interaction along the way. Pittsburgh’s unique topography, with its many city stairs and vertical changes, serves as a rich context for this exploration. Your intervention can be a specific site or your choice, or an abstract site condition.
Vertical Connection: How does your path navigate the change in elevation? What architectural elements can you introduce to ease the transition and make it an engaging experience?
Community Integration: How does your design connect the various programs along the route, creating a cohesive and vibrant community?
Social Activation: How can the path encourage social interactions and gatherings? Think about incorporating spaces where people might pause, gather, or engage with one another.
Accessibility: How can you design a path which is accessible to all ages and abilities?
Historical Context: How does your design relate to Pittsburgh’s past, present, and future?
Enter the competition as an individual or create a design team!
Entrants are welcome to submit individual entries or design team entries. Individual entries must come from either an architecture graduate, or undergraduate/graduate student.
Architecture Graduates:
Individual architecture graduates, who have been out of school for no more than ten years, are eligible to enter this competition. Entrants may or may not be licensed to practice architecture. AIA membership is not required, however, entrants must be located within AIA Pittsburgh’s 11-county chapter area.
Architecture Students:
Individual architecture undergraduate or graduate students, who are currently enrolled in an architecture program, are eligible to enter this competition. AIAS membership is not required, however, entrants must be currently studying in or have a home address within AIA Pittsburgh’s 11-county chapter area.
Design Teams:
The teams must be led by an architecture graduate and/or student. Teams can include graduates, who have been out of school for no more than ten years, or undergraduates/graduate students in a design industry related field which can include, but is not limited to, engineers, landscape architects, or artists. All team members must be located within AIA Pittsburgh’s 11-county chapter area.
1: City Steps of Pittsburgh (Purchase required, but a must have for any lover of Pittsburgh steps)
3: Precedents
All judging will be completely anonymous.
Judges will consider the following:
The YASC entries will be judged by measuring the architect’s performance against each project’s potential and not in competition with each other. Thus, each project will be assessed based on the designer’s skill in optimizing their unique design opportunity.
The winner (or winning team) will receive a check for $300
All project entries will be submitted via DropBox.
Note: If you do not have a DropBox account, you will be prompted to create one when you receive the invitation. Those who submit a proposal per the submission requirements below will receive a complimentary ticket to the Design Awards ceremony.
Deadlines
Monday, October 21st, 2024- 4:00PM: Submission Request Forms must be submitted to the AIA Pittsburgh office by 4PM. Please submit by email to info@aiapgh.org with subject “2024 YASC Submission Request”
Sunday, October 27th, 2024, 11:59PM: Project submissions must be received by AIA Pittsburgh via DropBox by midnight to be eligible for judging.The winner will be announced at the Pittsburgh Design Awards (November 7th).
For each project entry, please include the following items in your electronic submission folder via DropBox.com:
Design Submission: For Jury Use. There should be no reference to the author’s identity in any of the Design Submission files.
Publication & Print Images: Images used for print, web, and exhibit publication should be the best representation of the designer’s solution to the design challenge. These may be shared with media outlets, shown in an AIA digital gallery, or shown in AIA social media channels.
AIA Pittsburgh assumes no liability for original drawings and other submission materials or loss or damage to any part of the submission. AIA Pittsburgh retains the right to reproduce any of the submission materials in its publications, educational programs, and web site, and guarantees that credit will be given to the designer. Please check all information for correct spelling and accuracy since it will be used for publication. By making a submission, the entrant agrees that the information contained in this form is correct and complete, and that the entrant will hold harmless AIA Pittsburgh for any and all damage arising out of the use of the information contained herein. Any errors or omissions are the complete responsibility of the entrant. The entrant further certifies that permission has been obtained from the owner, developer, and photographer of the project to publish photographs, drawings, and other information included in the submission (and releases and authorizes AIA Pittsburgh to use all such materials).