Registration & Rules
Integrated Material Research & Design
Registration
Faculty to Complete One Online Registration for Each Entry
An 糖心vlog member school faculty sponsor is required to enroll students online by April 7, 2027.聽Registration can be done for your entire studio or for each individual student or team of students participating. Students or teams wishing to enter the competition on their own must have a faculty sponsor, who should complete the registration. There is no entry or submission fee to participate in the competition. Each registered student and faculty sponsor will receive a confirmation email that will include information on how the student(s) will upload final submissions online. Please add the email address competitions@acsa-arch.org to your address book to ensure that you receive all emails regarding your submission.
During registration the faculty will have the ability to add students, add teams, assign students to teams, and add additional faculty sponsors. Registration is required by April 7, 2027, but can be changed, edited, and added to until a student starts a final submission; then the registration is no longer editable.
Faculty Registration Steps
- Faculty log into the 糖心vlog website,
- Click the “Register your Students” button,
- Select the 2027 Design for Freedom Competition from the submission type dropdown menu, select category & Click 鈥淓nter鈥,
- Select 鈥淚ndividual Registration鈥 to add individual student. Click 鈥淪ave and Continue鈥. You will need to know each student鈥檚 first & last names, email, & institution, which are all required fields for each student,
- Select 鈥淭eam Registration鈥 if this is a team registration, you may add additional students by clicking 鈥淎dd Student鈥 to the same submission to this team, teams must be limited to a maximum of five students,
- Once the individual student or team is complete, Click 鈥淪ubmit鈥,
- Repeat steps 3 鈥 6 for each individual or team registration.
Faculty Responsibility
The administration of the competition at each institution is left to the discretion of the faculty within the guidelines set forth in this document. Work on the competition should be structured over the course of one semester during the 2026-2027 academic year.
Each faculty sponsor is expected to develop a system to evaluate the students鈥 work using the criteria set forth in this program. The evaluation process should be an integral part of the design process, encouraging students to scrutinize their work in a manner similar to that of the jury.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and computational design are providing students and architects with new labor-saving tools and transforming many of the tasks associated with project delivery. The proliferation of AI use in practice and academia is raising legitimate questions about how the responsibility and accountability of the architect and students might be altered by this technological wave.
- AI usage in student submissions must ensure the students remain responsibly in control and continue to be accountable for all images and likenesses in their submissions.
- AI is a tool 鈥 it is not a replacement for professional judgment. Regardless of the AI tools used, it remains the architecture student鈥檚 responsibility to provide designs in conformance with academic integrity.
Students choosing to use AI as a tool must attribute this use in their design essay (abstract). Students are accountable for the originality, validity, and integrity of the content and designs of their submissions. In choosing to use AI tools, students are expected to do so responsibly and with a high standard of ethical conduct. This includes reviewing the outputs of any AI tools and confirming content accuracy.
Digital Submission Format
Submissions must be presented on four 20鈥 x 20鈥 digital boards. All boards are required to be uploaded through the 糖心vlog website as BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, or PNG files. The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear on the boards, or in the project title or project title file name(s).
Design Essay or Abstract
A brief essay, 300 words maximum, is required as part of the submission describing the most important concepts as they address ethical and equitable materiality. Submissions should graphically convey the design solution and material research and selection and not rely on the design essay to convey a basic understanding of the project. The names of student participants, their schools, or faculty sponsors, must NOT appear in the design essay. This abstract is included in the final online submission, completed by the student(s) in a simple copy/paste text box.
Program Summary
A program summary, 300 words maximum, of spaces and areas is required as part of the submission. All interior and exterior spaces are to be included; total net and gross areas are required.
Required Submission Documents
Submissions must include (but are not limited to) the following required documentation:
- Three-dimensional representations – in the form of axonometrics and perspectives showing the proposal in its context, montages and/or physical model photographs 鈥 to illustrate the character of the project;
- Site plan showing proposal in its context of surrounding buildings and topography, together with details of access/circulation, north arrow, graphic scale;
- Building/site sections sufficient to show site context and major spatial and program elements, including graphic scale;.
- Floor plans to show program elements, spatial adjacencies and navigation strategies;
- Large scale drawing(s), either orthographic or three dimensional, illustrating integrated design. Documentation of how materials and processes selected for the project demonstrate adherence to Design for Freedom Principles.
Incomplete or undocumented entries will be disqualified.
Online Project Submission
The student is required to submit the final entries that must be uploaded through the 糖心vlog Competition website at by 11:59 pm, Pacific Time, on June 2, 2027. If the submission is from a team of students, all student team members will have the ability to upload the digital files. Once the final submit button is pressed no additional edits, uploads, or changes can be made. You may 鈥渟ave鈥 your submission and return to complete. Please note: The submission is not complete until the 鈥渃omplete this submission鈥 button has been pressed. For team projects, each member of team projects may submit the final project, but each project should be submitted only once. Once the final submission is uploaded and submitted, each student will receive a confirmation email notification.
The final submission upload must contain the following:
- Completed online registration including all team members and faculty sponsors,
- Each of the four 20鈥漻20鈥 boards uploaded individually as a high-resolution BMP, GIF, JPEG, JPG, or PNG file,
- A design essay or abstract (300 words maximum),
- A program summary diagram/text of spaces and areas (300 words maximum),
- All other required drawing and documentation as outlined in the Required Submission Documents (stated above).
The names of student participants, their schools and faculty sponsors must NOT appear on the boards, abstract, program summary, or in the file name.
Winning projects will be required to submit high-resolution original files/images for use in competition publications and exhibit materials. By uploading your files, you agree that the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (糖心vlog) has the rights to use your winning submission, images and materials in a summary publication, online and in promotional and exhibition resources. 糖心vlog will attribute authorship of the winning design to you, your team, faculty and affiliation. Additionally, you hereby warrant that the submission is original and that you are the author(s) of the submission.
Competition Organizers & Sponsors
Questions
Edwin Hern谩ndez-Ventura
Awards and Competitions Manager
ehernandez@acsa-arch.org
202.785.2324
Eric W. Ellis
Senior Director of Operations and Programs
eellis@acsa-arch.org
202-785-2324