Academy

Help spread the word on the Architectural Foundation of San Francisco's 55th Annual High School Design Competition. All High School students in both public and private schools in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area and globally are encouraged to participate.

This year students are challenged with designing a Community Resilience Center in Greenville, CA. Greenville is an unincorporated community in Plumas County, California located 150 miles north of Sacramento, the state's capital.  Surrounded by rugged mountains, the largest community in Indian Valley totals 8 square miles (21km²) of land area with a population of 785 as of the 2020 census. About 75% of Greenville's buildings were destroyed in 2021 by the Dixie Fire, including its fire department, library and most downtown homes. While the town rebuilds and heals from the traumatic 2021 wildfire season, a number of special community spaces have popped up. Frequented by community members, these have become places for residents to naturally gather, talk, eat, socialize and celebrate. The proposed Community Resilience Center will incorporate program tackling three areas of use: daily life, emergency event and communal recovery.  Proposed by community members, spaces within the Center should emphasize youth activities, community-building and gathering. As part of Greenville's Town Center Site Plan, the Center should be a primary anchor that both supports and celebrates the community, ushering Greenville into its new future.

This year's competition will have an online submission process. There are three ways in which participants may choose to enter the competition: as an Individual Entry participant, as a Group Entry participant or as a Design Process Entry participant. Design Process category entrants may choose to enter as either an individual or as a group. All deliverables (drawings, model, and design description) must be captured in a Google Slide deck for presentation. To better explain the participants thinking to the judges, we are also requiring the submission a brief video describing the project (no more than 2 minutes maximum). This as an opportunity to talk about the overall goals and aspirations for the design, the design process, and what the entrant enjoyed most about undertaking this challenge.

The link for the 2024 High School Design Competition program Google Drive folder is here. We ask that you duplicate and distribute as needed. Teachers, please note that this PDF includes live links to the resources listed throughout the document as well as to the email contacts listed prior so it is to your students' advantage to distribute a soft copy to them. There is a lot of linked material in there that could really benefit the students if they click through.

Final entries must be submitted on FRIDAY, May 17th at 6:00pm PST.  The awards presentation reception will take place on SUNDAY, May 19th. Details for a virtual Awards Ceremony will be communicated to all when we get closer to the date and will be posted on AFSF's website (www.afsf.org).

Please e-mail me at alan@afsf.org so I will have your e-mail address to send you program updates.

This year we are awarding prizes in 3 categories: 1) Best Design (single entrant), 2) Best Group entry, and 3) Best Digital entry.   Please note that depending on which option your students choose to enter, they will only be eligible for certain awards.  In addition to the standard prizes, the first place winner in the overall superiority category will receive a four week Summer Pre-college Scholarship at the California College of the Arts.  

Ryan Lee of Wood Bagot is this year's Competition Chair and Author. He will be available to visit your classroom and discuss the program with your students. You may call him directly at 415-277-3041 or e-mail him at Ryan.Lee@woodsbagot.com to set up a classroom visit. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call Ryan.