Design Learning, Designs Futures

Connecting youth with professionals to provide skills, inspiration and a deep understanding of what it takes to create and build the environment of our future.

Our Mission

The mission of the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco is to enhance the awareness and appreciation of architecture and the design process in the local community.

Key Programs

52nd Annual AFSF High School Design Competition

The AFSF High School Design Competition puts students’ design skills, creativity, spatial and analytical thinking and craftsmanship to meet real-world challenges. With the guidance of instructors, high school students design a building or site and communicate their design solutions through drawings, renderings, and physical and 3D digital models. Recent challenges have included designing a performance space for the America’s Cup, a pavilion for the Super Bowl, and a Maker Space for a new city park.

The AFSF High School Design Competition is open to high school students globally at no cost.

Summer Design Institute

In a fun and fast-paced 3-week summer program, the Summer Design Institute offers students an opportunity to develop design skills and create a portfolio of work that they can use for college entrance requirements and career opportunities. In this unique program, students learn drawing techniques, 3D modeling, photography and video and work with a range of computer-aided design tools including the Autodesk family of drawing, modeling and animation software.

Session 1: June 14 – July 1, 2021
Session 2: July 12 – 30, 2021

"The critical thinking and software skills you learn with AFSF will take you really far in this profession, or help you in many others."

"My daughter learned a lot. I was amazed by how comfortable everyone was with the technology and working online together. It gives me hope for more learning opportunities online in these new challenging times."

"Who knows if these students will go on to become architects, landscape architects or designers, but I think having the exposure, will lend them an appreciation of building design as they navigate through life. To be honest, I wish there were workshops like this in all disciplines to give our youth exposure to everything that is out there."

"Build-SF is such a great program for high school students who have a passion for architecture, engineering or design. I see job applications today in architecture and interior design that require learning software programs like Revit that we learned with AFSF. AFSF definitely gives a leg up for high schoolers who want to get into the field and also apply to colleges for a major in architecture or engineer or design."

"Thanks to my experience at AFSF, I was able to get an awesome job working at the SF International Airport. The computer skills are particularly useful to me because I use them all the time."

Ready to Get Involved?

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