The 2023 Forge Prize

Three finalists are going head-to-head for the $10,000 grand prize--live on YouTube!

Will the winner be a groundbreaking idea to convert gas stations to electric charging stations? A self-sustaining micro city concept? Or a transit center built for a future that includes rideshare by electric airplane?

Only one of these visions will win the 2023 Forge Prize!

Tune in live at youtube.com/aisc on March 30 at 11:30 a.m. Central to watch the finalists present their ideas to the judges.

The Forge Prize is presented annually by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) to celebrate emerging architects who create visionary designs that embrace steel as the primary structural component while exploring ways to increase project speed.

These three finalists have each taken home $5,000 from the first round. They are working with a steel fabricator to refine their concepts before presenting them to the judges live on YouTube. At stake: the $10,000 grand prize and an invitation to present before an audience of the industry’s best minds at NASCC: The Steel Conference!

About the Designs

Masamichi Ikeda and Junior Carbajal of JR Miller and Associates are proposing a self-sustaining, vertical micro city to revitalize a small island in an industrial zone in Portland, Ore.

The building has separate zones for the fundamental parts of everyday life--spaces in which to live, work, and play--brought to life with a series of modular boxes. Steel allows for a simple design with strong bolted connections for easy assembly and disassembly in a confined space.

Ikeda and Carbajal are working with James Buchan, president and CEO of Alpha Iron, in the second phase of the competition.

Adaptive Micro Cities

Electric Oasis

Christopher Taurasi, Lexi White, and Jeffrey Lee of LVL (Level) Studio imagined Electric Oasis as a rapidly deployable concept that reimagines existing gas stations as charging hubs for electric vehicles.

Treelike steel canopies provide shade from the hot California sun at a site outside Los Angeles--and they house a bio-remediative aeration system to clean up ethanol contamination from old fuel storage tanks, too.

Taurasi, White, and Lee have partnered with Christopher Crosby, senior vice president at Schuff Steel, to refine their idea.

Then Le of Huntsman Architectural Group proposed the Trans-connect to embrace the future of transportation with a multi-modal transit center for everything from high-speed trains to electric airplanes, envisioned for a site in San Francisco.

The station features a skyport as well as terminals for bus and rail service, restaurants, and Airbnb spaces.

Le has partnered with Casey Brown, president of Zimkor, to further develop the technical aspects of the design.

Trans-connect

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