CHICAGO – Parke MacDowell, AIA, sits at the intersection of architectural practice and fabrication–right where people who design innovative structures meet the people who know how to put them together in the real world.
Also at that intersection? The American Institute of Steel Construction’s Forge Prize, which challenges emerging architects, educators, and graduate students to dream big and envision how structural steel will help people live, play, and work in the future.
In the second phase of the competition, three finalists will work hand-in-hand with a steel fabricator to refine their concepts. The winning design will take home a $15,000 cash prize and bask in an industry spotlight.
“Steel fabricators bring a unique perspective to an architect’s design, and both need to collaborate closely to bring a project to completion,” said AISC Director of Architecture Nima Balasubramanian, AIA, NOMA. “Parke is one of very few people who are true experts in both specialties, and I look forward to his insights on this year’s entries.”
MacDowell currently serves as an associate principal and director of fabrication at Payette. As an architect, Parke leverages his background in the trades to inform design and project management. Committed to embedding fabrication within architectural practice, Parke uses models, prototypes, and full-scale mock-ups to help all parties understand the problem and have a voice in its resolution.
With a special interest in the community-building potential of architecture, Parke leads many pro-bono initiatives, positioning design as a powerful tool for outreach, community engagement, and building for the future.
Parke established Payette’s fabrication group, which elevates design process and communication across the breadth of the firm’s work. His design-forward projects have recently garnered two AIA 2021 Regional and Urban Design Awards and a 2021 American Architecture Award, among other accolades. Parke is the 2021 BSA Earl R. Flansburgh Young Architects Award recipient and is an adjunct professor of practice at Virginia Tech. Parke received the 2022 AIA Young Architect Award for his contributions to the profession.
He holds degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan.
2024 Forge Prize winner Emily Baker of the University of Arkansas and Matthew Marani of Architectural Record are also serving on the 2025 jury.
About the Forge Prize
The Forge Prize, co-administered by AISC’s brand-new Architecture Center and AISC University Programs, challenges emerging architects, architecture educators, and architecture students to create design concepts that embrace innovations in steel as a primary structural material–with up to $15,000 on the line.
Three finalists will each win $5,000 (plus free registration and travel support to attend the Architecture in Steel conference) and work with a steel fabricator to refine their design before presenting it live to the judges and the world in a live YouTube stream on March 18, 2025. The winner will receive a $10,000 grand prize and a showcase at the 2025 Architecture in Steel Conference (part of NASCC: The Steel Conference, April 2-4, 2025, in Louisville, Ky.).
The competition is open to designers, teams of designers, or interdisciplinary teams led by an architect based in the U.S. who are:
- Emerging practicing architects (those licensed for less than 10 years or on the path to licensure);
- Tenured or tenure-track educators who have taught for less than 10 years in a university-level architecture program in the U.S.;
- Adjunct architecture educators who have taught for less than 10 years and have been licensed for less than 10 years or are on the path to licensure;
- Graduate-level architecture students enrolled in a university-level, U.S.-based architecture program.
The design community has embraced the challenge since the competition’s inception, creating concepts for jaw-dropping pedestrian bridges in San Diego and New York, a revitalized public housing community in Harlem, and, of course, Emily Baker’s space-frame system that is as beautiful as it is functional.
Submissions are due by 11:59 p.m. Central on November 22, 2024.
About the American Institute of Steel Construction
The American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), a not-for-profit technical institute supported by the steel industry, partners with the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) community to develop safe and efficient steel specifications and codes while driving innovation to make steel the most sustainable, economic, and resilient structural material. For more than a century, AISC has been a reliable resource for information and advice on the design and construction of domestically fabricated structural steel buildings and bridges.
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