The Annual Architectural Design Competition for High School Students

2023


54th Annual AFSF High School Design Competition

The 54th Annual High School Design Competition is on!

Join us for the AFSF High School Design Competition Awards Ceremony

THIS SUNDAY, May 21st, 4-5pm PDT

Join via Zoom, dial-in: (669) 900-6833

meeting ID: 845 5115 3279, Passcode: 893665

 

In this year’s AFSF High School Design Competition

students were challenged to design a Park Space and a PDR Collective next to existing wetlands along Islais Creek in San Francisco. 

‘PDR’ stands for Production, Distribution and Repair. The PDR Collective will be an opportunity to grow the local business presence and provide space for artists, makers, nonprofits, and other bedrocks of the community. The location of this new space will increase public access to the waterfront and create a new gathering space for the community.

Participants could choose one of 3 ways to enter this year’s online competition:

1) Individual Entry

2) Group Entry 

3) Design Process Entry (individual or group)

 

All deliverables (drawings, model, and design description) must be compiled in a Google Slide deck for presentation. To better explain the participants thinking to the judges, participants must also submit a brief video describing the project (2 minutes max). This as an opportunity to talk about the overall goals and aspirations for the design, the design process, and what the entrant enjoyed most about undertaking this challenge.

 

Check out this year’s design brief for more details.

 Prizes in 3 categories: 

1) Best Design (single entrant)

2) Best Group entry, and 

3) Best Digital entry.   

 

In addition to the standard prizes, the first place winner in the overall superiority category will receive a four week Summer Pre-college Scholarship at the California College of the Arts.  

 

With questions, contact: Ryan Lee of Wood Bagot” 415-277-3041, Ryan.Lee@woodsbagot.com 

 

We look forward to seeing your submissions!

Congratulations to EVERYONE who submitted original creative solutions to the 2022 ~ 53rd Annual AFSF High School Design Competition

Special congratulations to this year’s winners!  Watch the awards ceremony here:  

For this year’s challenge, students were tasked with helping San Francisco address our climate crisis while also fulfilling our urgent need for housing and resolving inequities, by designing an Equitable Transit Oriented Design Project on the city’s east side, aligned with a future underground extension of Cal Train and High Speed Rail. View the Design Brief.   

Competition Stats:

142 Participants from 13 High Schools

4 Countries:  China, South Korea, Republic of China (Taiwan), United States

5 US States: California, Florida, New York, Ohio, Texas

13 Schools:

· Affiliated High School of South China Normal University (Guangzhou, Guangdong, China)

· Burlingame High School (Burlingame, CA)

· Cupertino High School (Cupertino, CA)

· Design and Architecture Senior High (Coral Gables, FL)

· Flower Mound High School (Flower Mound, TX)

· Institute for Collaborative Education (NY, NY)

· Korea International School, Pangyo (Seongnam, South Korea)

· Lowell High School (San Francisco, CA)

· Mills High School (Millbrae, CA)

· North London Collegiate School Jeju (Seoul City, South Korea)

· Ruth Asawa SOTA (San Francisco, CA)

· Taipei American School (Taipei, Taiwan)

· Westlake High School (Westlake, OH)

77 Entries

· 29 individual

· 38 group

· 10 design process

Jurors:

Amanda Nicole Bridges – Senior Architectural Professional, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP – Lecturer, UC Berkeley

Glenn Katz – Lecturer, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University

Laudan Siahpolo, AIA – Associate – TEF Design

Isis Spinola-Schwartz – COO, Forge Development Company

High School Design Competition Chair and AuthorRyan Lee – Woods Bagot

Awards:

Best Individual Design, Overall Superiority

  1. “Mariposa Center:Eco Village”   –   Josh (Sanghyun) Park   –   Korean International School Pangyo
  2. “Pebble Center”   –   Lauren Cheng   –   Burlingame High School
  3. “The Ohlone Cultural Center”   –   Ray Wang   –   Taipei American School

Honorable Mentions

“The OX-Center”   –   Lee Taehwan   –   North London Collegiate School, Jeju

“Oasis”   –   Ming-Huei Fischer   –   The Institute for Collaborative Education

Best Group Presentation

  1. “Potrero EcoTransit Center”   –   Isaac Nystrom Rice, Emilia Burkhart   –   Ruth Asawa School of the Arts
  2. ”Waves Transit Center”   –  Toby Yee, Garvin Kwong   –  Lowell High School
  3. “Topography Center”   –  Bryanna Fisher, Angelyn Liu,

    Taylor Wong   –   Burlingame High School

Honorable Mentions

“Comfort, Efficiency, and Attractiveness”   –   Nandor Leszko, Tanner Amy, Liam Shields   –   Westlake High School

“The Tri Center”   –   Alvina Chow, Joanna Wong, Ryan Kiniris   –   Burlingame High School

“Modern Transit Oriented Development”   –   Sia Bavishi,  JP Mogyordy, Mantas Viazmitinas   –   Westlake High School

Best Design Process Presentation

  1. “Metamorphosis”   –   Brody Andrews, Leah Markell, Travis Gee   –   Lowell High School
  2. “Metro Map Hub ”   –   Lesley Anne Chua   –   Lowell High School
  3. “Under My Wing”   –   Olivia Edwards   –   Lowell High School

Honorable Mention

“Mariposa Street Station: Energy Saving Transit-Oriented Development”   –   Qinglin Ruan   –   Mills High School

Thank you again to all our participants, their families, and our jurors and sponsors!

Highlights from the 2021 ~ 52nd Annual AFSF High School Design Competition. Students in both public and private high schools in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area and globally participated in this year’s competition sponsored by Forge Development Partners.

For 2021, students were challenged to design a public waterfront “playground” at South Beach Piers 38-40 along San Francisco’s Embarcadero. As part of the Port of San Francisco’s Historic Rehabilitation Program, this part building, part park design intervention will service the greater community in an effort to establish an adaptive reuse of the piers and to introduce publicly-oriented mixed uses.

The 2021 competition had an entirely online submission process. Prizes were awarded in 3 categories: 1) Best Design (single entrant), 2) Best Group entry, and 3) Best Digital entry.   All deliverables (drawings, model, and design description) were submitted as a Google Slide deck with a brief video describing the project.  A copy of the 2021 program can be found here.

 

Ryan Lee of Wood Bagot is the Competition Chair and Author. He will be available to virtually visit classrooms and discuss the program with students. You may call him directly at 415-277-3041 or e-mail him at  Ryan.Lee@woodsbagot.com to set up a classroom visit. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call Ryan.

 

Thank you in advance for your continued interest and support of this program.

Highlights from prior years of the AFSF High School Design Competition