EPIC Metals Competition

The next round of the competition takes places in spring 2026.

The EPIC Metals Corporation sponsors the EPIC Metals Competition for third-year Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) students in the Praxis II Studio to design an innovative project incorporating metal deck systems. Students compete for up to three prizes – first, second, and third place. The first-place team may be invited to tour EPIC Metals’ manufacturing plant in Rankin, PA.

2025 Project Brief: "Forbes Avenue Pedestrian Bridge: a pedestrian bridge to unify the north and south sides of campus"

Students, working in teams of two, are charged with developing design proposals that address the stated requirements through the use of EPIC Metals’ architectural products. Proposals should seek to leverage the spanning capabilities of EPIC Metals' products. 

Spring 2025 Jury: Michael Schuyler, AIA (Manager of Estimating, EPIC Metals Corporation); Praxis II Studio Faculty: Jeremy Ficca (coordinator), Kristina Fisher, Maryam Karimi, Jongwan Kwon, Joel McCullough; Structures Faculty: Juney Lee

Spring 2025 Award Amounts: $3,000 (first place), $2,600 (second place), $2,200 (third place)

This competition is open to third-year Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch) students in the Praxis II Studio.

The next round of the competition takes places in spring 2026.

• 2025: Project Brief: "Forbes Avenue Pedestrian Bridge: a pedestrian bridge to unify the north and south sides of campus"
  First Place: Simon Han (B.Arch ’27) & Kiki Kuang (B.Arch ’27); Project: “Tartan Connection”
  Second Place: Tom Shen (B.Arch ’27) & Leo Wu (B.Arch ’27); Project: “Carnegie Gateway”
  Third Place: Lisa Chun (B.Arch ’27) & Catalina John-Melendez (B.Arch ’27); Project: “Arete”
• 2024: Project Brief: "Margaret Morrison Corridor Campus Improvements"
  First Place: Benni Guo (B.Arch ‘26) & Patrick Zheng (B.Arch ‘26)
  Second Place: Tina Han (B.Arch ‘26) & Angela Yang (B.Arch ‘26)
  Third Place: Zoe Liu (B.Arch ‘26) & Jack Zhu (B.Arch ‘26)
• 2023: Project Brief: "The Packaged Library: A Temporary, Disaster Relief Library and Community Hub"
  First Place: Graham Murtha (B.Arch '25) & Jackie Yu (B.Arch '25); Project: Step Binding 
  Second Place: Michael Bi (B.Arch '25) & Jason Shao (B.Arch '25); Project: Disaster Relief Library
  Third Place: I Lok U (B.Arch '25) & Norman Situ (B.Arch '25); Project: Hawkers Library
  Honorable Mention: Brody Ploeger (B.Arch '25) & Ashley Su (B.Arch '25); Project: GCL: Global Community Library
• 2022: Project Brief: "SoA Assembly and Prototyping Pavilion (SoAPP)"
  First Place: Brian Hartman (B.Arch '24) & Colin Walters (B.Arch '24); Project: SoAPP Gateway 
  Second Place: Tory Tan (B.Arch '24) & Jerry Zhang (B.Arch '24); Project: EP Pavilion
  Third Place: Jai Bhatnagar (B.Arch '24) & Shenyuan Li (B.Arch '24); Project: Fine Arts Pavilion
• 2021: Project Brief: SoftSensory Play Pod for The Children’s Institute of Pittsburgh
  First Place: Seyoung Choo (B.Arch '23) & Susie Kim (B.Arch '23); Project: Tangendi
  Second Place: Brendan Bogolin (B.Arch '23) & Nicholas Coppula (B.Arch '23); Project: Release 
  Third Place: Thomas Chen (B.Arch '23) & Meghan Pisarcik (B.Arch '23); Project: Push and Pull
• 2020: Project Brief: "Mobile Air Quality Eco-Lab for the Neighborhood Environmental Learning Center (ELC)"
  First Place: Ammar Hassonjee (B.Arch '22) & Paul Greenway (B.Arch '22); Project: Breath Mobile Air Quality Lab
  Second Place: Zeyin (Steven) Fei (B.Arch '22) & Xiaotian (Adam) He (B.Arch '22)
  Third Place: Shariq Shah (B.Arch '22) & Mohammed Rahman (B.Arch '22)
• 2019: Project Brief: "Mobile Eco-Labs"
  First Place: Christoph Eckrich (B.Arch '21) & Gil Jang (B.Arch '21)
  Second Place: Rachel Lu (B.Arch '21) & Brandon Smith (B.Arch '21)
  Third Place: Alex Wang (B.Arch '21) & Longney Luk (B.Arch '21)
• 2018: Project Brief: "Portable Farm Stand for Environmental Charter School (ECS)"
  First Place: Hugh Lee (B.Arch '20) & Fon Euchukanonchai (B.Arch '20) 
  Second Place: Christina Brown (B.Arch '20) & Scarlet Tong (B.Arch '20); Project: FLOO︵P
  Third Place: Xin Chen (B.Arch '20) & Christine Zhu (B.Arch '20)
• 2017: Project Brief: "Self-Sufficient Shelter for Environmental Charter School (ECS)"
  First Place: Timothy Khalifa (B.Arch '19) & Gunn Chaiyapatranun (B.Arch '19); Project
  Second Place: Jakob Uhlenhopp (B.Arch '19) & Irfan Haider (B.Arch '19); Project 
  Third Place: Zain Islam-Hashmi (B.Arch '19) & Kelly Li (B.Arch '19); Project
• 2016: First Place: Sophie Nahrmann (B.Arch '18) & Kyle Wing (B.Arch '18) 
  Second Place: Mason Sofia (B.Arch '18) & Elle Bai (B.Arch '18) 
  Third Place: Fan Yang (B.Arch '18) & Ai Fukuda (B.Arch '18)
• 2015: First Place: Mark Terra-Salomao (B.Arch '17) & Bobby Esposito (B.Arch '17)
• 2014: First Place: Gloriana Gonzalez (B.Arch '16) & Avanti Dabholkar (B.Arch '16) 
  Second Place: Hsienshin (Richard) Chou (B.Arch '16) & Jae Min (Max) Park (B.Arch '16) 
  Third Place: Jacqueline Yeung (B.Arch '16) & Alexander Huseman (B.Arch '16)
• 2013: First Place: Tony Zhang (B.Arch '15) & Kevyn McPhail (B.Arch '15) 
  Second Place (tie): Jason Kim (B.Arch '15) & Peter Salim (B.Arch '15) 
  Second Place (tie): Harris Mazur (B.Arch '15) & Chris Chan (B.Arch '15)
• 2012: First Place: Matthew Adler (B.Arch '14) & Rohan Rathod (B.Arch '14) 
  Second Place: I-Ting Wang (B.Arch '14) & Yifan Xu (B.Arch '14) 
  Third Place: Lingnan He (B.Arch '14) & Abigail Mitchell (B.Arch '14)
• 2011: not awarded
• 2010: First Place: Ryan Ralston (B.Arch '12) & Sara Gotschewski (B.Arch '12)
  Second Place: Ming Ming Lin (B.Arch '12) & Alex Greenhut (B.Arch '12)
  Third Place: Joseph Koon (B.Arch '12) & Arthur Notaro (B.Arch '12)
• 2009: First Place: Lowell Day (B.Arch '11) & Ben Lehrer (B.Arch '11)
  Second Place: Kaitlin Miciunas (B.Arch '11) & Matthew Z. Huber (B.Arch '11)
  Third Place: Giacomo Tinari (B.Arch '11) & Josiah Haskell (B.Arch '11)
• 2008: First Place: Craig Rosman (B.Arch '10) & Misha Varshavsky (B.Arch '10)
  Second Place: Rachelle Roll (B.Arch '10) & Ryan Bottini (B.Arch '10)
  Third Place: Niko Triulzi (B.Arch '10) & Jeff Choi (B.Arch '10)