Each ACE Mentor team selects from the annual design challenge options, and works as a team to develop a solution. The team's collaborative project - including building design, interior design, cost estimates, engineering considerations, sustainable design, and construction plan - will be presented by the students at the end of the year in a live showcase.
Envision and reimagine a sustainable, net-zero, viable design/construction solution for a school of the future (elementary, secondary or college level). Balance all the competing needs with in-person and/or remote learning, as well valuable social exchanges critical for mental health and wellbeing.
Create sustainable, inviting, secure open space(s) that will provide relief and activities to a welcoming useful area. Can be designed and built with landscaping, innovative temporary structures that provide shade/shelter/seating for a wide range of public events and/or permanent buildings to facilitate and enhance the overall area.
Address the arrival of people along the US border and their humanitarian needs from health care, hygiene, food supply, and temporary housing. Create spaces and buildings to handle the multitude of needs while dealing with security, safety, language, gender, age, and comfort.
Adaptive reuse solutions for an existing area threatened by economic displacement, urban decay, and/or population flight. Innovate planning, reuse of individual structures, new/upgrade of infrastructure, neighborhood rebirth design, and tactical urbanism.
Create and/or revitalize a place or site that will be cherished, respected as a gathering place to memorialize an important event, occurrence, or chapter in the life of the local community or nation. Include structure and site elements.
Find inventive reuses/purposes and methods to capture the potential beneficial uses of cement in sustainable design. Suggest contributions to the use or re-adaptation of cement to meet buildings sustainability goals like LEED.
A. Homeless Shelter
B. Manufacturing Center
C. Retrofit a School
A. National Pavilion
B. Water Resource Management
C. Gastronomic Center
A. Playscape
B. Urban Transportation
C. Community Health Clinic