2023 Contest Winners
“Congratulations to Jamie Jang and his advisor Stephen Schreiber on earning the top prize in the 2023 MBMA Student Design Competition,” says MBMA General Manager Tony Bouquot. “This year’s competition had 33 entries from six schools across North America, with a total of 46 students and 8 faculty sponsors participating. Faculty sponsors play a large role in the competition, and we thank them for their work.” Scroll down to view presentations from the 2022 award winners.
“This is the third year of our design competition,” says MBMA Director of Research and Engineering Lee Shoemaker, PhD, PE. “It’s exciting to see it grow and introduce metal building systems to students across the country, The creativity, insight and enthusiasm of these students is wonderful to see and inspiring for our industry.”
The competition took place during the 2023 fall semester, with entries due January 5, 2024. The contest for undergraduate and graduate architecture students challenged each participant to create an innovative metal building design for a new nature center and environmental research facility.
The five-member panel of judges included: Eric Pros, AIA, director of design for DS Architecture in Cleveland, Ohio; Terri Meyer Boake, LEED AP, professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, Cambridge, Ontario; Lauren Gwaltney, AIA, senior associate with Williams Blackstock Architects in Birmingham, Alabama; John Underwood, consultant to Behlen Mfg. Co., Columbus, Nebraska; and Robert Tiffin, national accounts manager with Silvercote in Greenville, South Carolina, and chair of the MBMA Architecture Committee.
Video montage featuring 2023 entries
Graduate Division
Jamie Jang - Overall Winner
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Jamie Jang, of the University of Massachusetts – Amherst earned the overall prize of $5,000. Faculty Advisor: Stephen Schreiber
Jamie’s Design:
Ian Tibbetts - 1st Place Graduate
University of New Mexico
First place in the graduate group, with a prize of $4,000, was awarded to Ian Tibbetts of the University of New Mexico.
Faculty Advisor: Kristina Yu
Ian’s Design:
Mohamed Ashik Mubarak Ali - 2nd Place Graduate
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
The second-place honor and $2,500 prize went to Mohamed Ashik Mubarak Ali, a student at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. Faculty Advisor: Stephen Schreiber.
Ashik’s Design:
Undergraduate Division
University of Utah Team - 1st Place Undergraduate
University of Utah
The 1st place undergraduate award of $4,000 went to a team consisting of Parker Zollinger, Alex Proctor, and Pete Vawdrey of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City.
Faculty Advisor: Jörg Rügemer
The Team’s Design:
Maya Westbrock - 2nd Place Undergraduate
California State University
Maya Westbrock, from California State University, Sacramento won the $2,500 undergraduate second prize.
Faculty Advisor: Mark Roddy
Maya’s Design:
Kent State Team - 3rd Place undergraduate
Kent State University
A team from Kent State University in Kent, Ohio was awarded third place and $1,500. The team consists of Cade McCue, Charlie Leonardi, Aaron Rombach, Ashley Aarund and Miko Novakovic. Faculty Advisor: Adam Yaracs
The Team’s Design:
Honorable Mention, Graduate and Undergraduate Divisions
Xiaoyan Lang
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Xiaoyan Lang of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, who was also advised by Professor Schreiber, earned an Honorable Mention in the Graduate Division.
Xiaoyan’s Design:
Michelle Brown, Honorable Mention in Undergraduate Division
California State University
An Honorable Mention award was presented to Michelle Brown from California State University, Sacramento. She was advised by Professor Roddy.
Michelle’s Design:
2022 Contest Winners
The contest for undergraduate and graduate architecture students challenged each participant to create an innovative metal building design for a fire station and department headquarters. Scroll down to view presentations from the 2022 award winners.
“We congratulate Bobby Buttrick and his advisor Stephen Schreiber on earning the top prize in the 2022 MBMA Student Design Competition,” says MBMA General Manager Tony Bouquot. “We had 48 entries from eight schools, including one from Guatemala. It’s exciting to see a variety of schools and students submitting such impressive entries, and we thank all of the faculty sponsors for their work as well.”
“In its second year, the design competition continues to introduce metal building systems to students across the country and beyond,” says MBMA Director of Research and Engineering Lee Shoemaker, PhD, PE. “It’s exciting to see the creativity and enthusiasm of these students from schools large and small.”
The five-member panel of judges included: Eric Pros, AIA, director of design for DS Architecture in Cleveland, Ohio; Terri Meyer Boake, LEED AP, professor at the University of Waterloo’s School of Architecture, Cambridge, Ontario; Lauren Gwaltney, AIA, senior associate with Williams Blackstock Architects in Birmingham, Alabama; John Underwood, consultant to Behlen Mfg. Co., Columbus, Nebraska; and Robert Tiffin, national accounts manager with Silvercote in Greenville, South Carolina, and chair of the MBMA Architecture Committee.
Video montage featuring 2022 entries
Bobby Buttrick - Overall Winner
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Bobby Buttrick of the University of Massachusetts – Amherst earned the overall prize of $5,000. Faculty Advisor: Stephen Schreiber
Bobby’s Design:
Pranav Amin - 1st Place Graduate
University of Massachusetts - Amherst
First place in the graduate group, with a prize of $4,000, was awarded to Pranav Amin of the University of Massachusetts – Amherst. Faculty Advisor: Stephen Schreiber
Pranav’s Design:
Samantha Spitzer - 2nd Place Graduate
University of New Mexico
The second-place honor and $2,500 prize went to Samantha Spitzer, a student at the University of New Mexico. Faculty Advisor: Kristina Yu
Samantha’s Design:
Tree City Team - 1st Place Undergraduate
Kent State University
The 1st place undergraduate award of $4,000 went to the Team Tree City (Harris Cheifetz, Sarah Joseph, Jaret Lesure, Aaron Muth & Gunnar Norberg) of Kent State University. Faculty Advisor: Robert Kobert
Tree City’s Design:
Brianna Westbrook & Elias Vasquez - 2nd Place Undergraduate
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University’s Brianna Westbrook & Elias Vasquez won the $2,500 undergraduate second prize. Faculty Advisor: Marcel Erminy
Brianna & Elias’ Design:
Miguel Alecio - 3rd Place Undergraduate
Universidad del Istmo
The third-place honor and $1,500 prize went to Miguel Alecio, a student at the Universidad del Istmo. Faculty Advisor: Hans Schwarz Bassila
Miguel’s Design:
2021 Contest Winners
The contest for undergraduate and graduate architecture students was to create an innovative metal building design for a one- or two-story elementary school to house approximately 200 students. Scroll down to view presentations from the 2021 award winners.
“I am pleased to congratulate Brittney Sawyer and her advisor Kristina Yu on winning first place in the inaugural MBMA Student Design Competition,” notes Tony Bouquot, MBMA’s general manager. “With a total of 64 entries, the contest was a great success. All of the nine finalists had impressive designs to the extent that we added two awards of merit to recognize these students and their faculty advisors.”
Judges for the contest were Eric F. Pros, AIA, Director of Design for DE Architecture in Cleveland, Ohio; Terri Meyer Boake, LEED AP, Professor, School of Architecture, University of Waterloo, Cambridge, Ontario; Lauren Gwaltney, AIA, Senior Associate with Williams Blackstock Architects in Birmingham, Alabama; John Underwood, Behlen Manufacturing Company, Columbus, Nebraska; and Robert Tiffin with Silvercote in Greenville, South Carolina.
“Our goal with this competition was to introduce architecture students to metal building systems,” said Lee Shoemaker, MBMA Director of Research and Engineering. “But we at MBMA were introduced to how creative, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic all of the students were with their designs.”
Video montage featuring all 64 entries.
Brittney Sawyer - First Place
University of New Mexico (UNM)
Brittney Sawyer of the University of New Mexico (UNM) earned the first-place prize of $5,000. She was advised by Professor Kristina Yu of the School of Architecture + Planning at UNM.
Brittney’s Design:
Jade Altheide - Second Place
University of New Mexico (UNM)
Jade’s Design:
Quinton Frederick - Third Place
University of North Carolina (UNC) – Charlotte
Quinton’s Design:
