Announcing the Recipients of the Spring 2025 Carnegie Mellon Architecture Awards
Carnegie Mellon Architecture is proud to announce the student recipients of our spring 2025 awards program. This spring’s awards provide over $56,000 of funding support to undergraduate, Master's and PhD students. Awards recognize student work in design and representation, public interest design and sustainability, as well as professional promise. We extend our thanks to the juries, and to EPIC Metals for sponsoring the reception following the ceremony.
Please join us in congratulating the recipients on their tremendous accomplishments, and thanks to all of those who applied. We appreciate the generous support of our donors for making these awards available to our students.
DESIGN & REPRESENTATION AWARDS
EPIC Metals Competition
Third-Year B.Arch Student Award
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. The project brief for the 20th annual competition in 2025 was “Forbes Avenue Pedestrian Bridge: a pedestrian bridge to unify the north and south sides of campus.”
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
First Place: Simon Han, B.Arch ’27 & Kiki Kuang, B.Arch ’27
Title: “Tartan Connection”
Award: $3,000
Jury Comment: This entry stood out as the most believable submission — an elegant balance of ambition and realism. It hits a sweet spot in showcasing EPIC Metals products in a way that is modest yet highly effective. The structure feels genuinely buildable, with noteworthy detailing. The design features compelling graphics, a strong structural concept, and thoughtful site integration. It distinguishes itself through a commendable synthesis of concept, structure and material application. Jurors especially appreciated the network configuration, which encourages natural pedestrian interaction, subtly guided by a floating beam element. More than just a passage, this bridge is envisioned as a destination — a meeting place with integrated seating and gathering areas. The inclusion of CMU branding and signage creates a clear, welcoming threshold to the university, making this not only a functional piece of infrastructure but a meaningful and memorable place.
Second Place: Tom Shen, B.Arch ’27 & Leo Wu, B.Arch ’27
Title: “Carnegie Gateway”
Award: $2,600
Jury Comment: This project impressed the jury with its clear graphics, compelling structural expression, and thoughtful use of EPIC Metals products. Strong site integration further elevated the proposal, making it a stand out among the submissions. The design is a simple yet elegant response to its context, particularly commendable in how it incorporates the adjacent bus stop. Jurors appreciated the clarity and restraint of the scheme, which manages to feel both grounded and refined. The integration of structural elements, a walking deck, and a floating canopy results in a composition that is both cohesive and well-balanced. Each component retains its individual identity while contributing to a unified whole, demonstrating a high level of design discipline and sensitivity.
Third Place: Lisa Chun, B.Arch ’27 & Catalina John-Melendez, B.Arch ’27
Title: “Arete”
Award: $2,200
Jury Comment: This project was recognized as the most buildable. The final design captures its core intent: to create a suspended place of rest, an elevated moment of pause for the campus community. The scheme demonstrates an understanding of the site and its challenges, thoughtfully addressing pedestrian circulation by linking areas beyond the limits of conventional sidewalks. Rather than treating the bridge as merely a connector, the designers reimagined it as a destination — a social space that blends effortlessly into the surrounding architectural context. The jury found the structural solution both ambitious and feasible, with a span that was particularly compelling in its scale and impact. In a close deliberation, this project stood out as a strong contender — well-executed, conceptually rich, and technically grounded.
John Knox Shear Award
Fourth-Year B.Arch Student Award
This award recognizes exceptional design and representation as demonstrated through studio work.
Spring 2025 Jury: Doug Cooper (Chair), Gloria Chang, Jimmy Wei-Chun Cheng, Jackie Joseph Paul McFarland
First Place: Angela Yang, B.Arch ’26
Award: $4,000
Jury Comment: Angela's project for roosting birds was presented in clear detail. Her overview of her project for the Strip District was presented with astonishing and legible detail. Her interior renderings showed a masterful use of color.
First Place: Henry Youngren, B.Arch ’26
Award: $4,000
Jury Comment: All members of the review team were impressed by the boldness of Henry's portfolio. Though often unconventional in style and system of projection, he found unique ways of presenting urban contexts in understandable ways. We were all impressed by his expert use of collage.
Runner-up: Leyi Han, B.Arch ’26
Award: $3,000
Jury Comment: Leyi makes excellent use of section perspectives and presents well composed interior views. Her view of the Herr's Island co-op community was universally praised by all the reviewers.
Runner-up: Patrick Zheng, B.Arch ’26
Award: $3,000
Jury Comment: Patrick shows great skill in reducing the apparent distortion of wide-frame perspective sections, which is no small feat! He uses a reduced color palette to great effect, and he presents constructional details with great clarity.
Runner-up: Mingyang Zhu, B.Arch ’26
Award: $3,000
Jury Comment: Mingyang's interior renderings are very well composed to lead the eye into the view. His sheet showing a pairing of perspectives of his Herrs Island proposal is masterfully composed with a gorgeous color palette.
PROFESSIONAL PROMISE AWARD
Stewart L. Brown Memorial Scholarship
Fourth-Year B.Arch Student Award
This scholarship recognizes professional promise in terms of attitudes and scholastic achievement. A jury convened by the Pittsburgh AIA evaluates the applications and selects the recipients.
Spring 2025 Jury: Pittsburgh AIA Chapter leadership: Bob Shelton (President), Sean Sheffler (Immediate Past President), Rebecca Schwartz (First Vice President)
First Place: Patrick Zheng, B.Arch ’26
Award: $7,000
Jury Comment: The jury was extremely impressed with the breadth of Patrick’s work, which displayed mastery of several different media including physical models and hand sketches, both of which are rapidly becoming lost arts in an increasingly digital-based industry such as ours. Patrick’s work with bamboo for the Sankofa Village Greenhouse project — a project that will begin construction later this year — not only will be a welcome addition to a community, but also pushes the envelope in digital fabrication of rapidly renewable materials in construction, which we believe will have a profound influence on this portion of the industry. The fact that Patrick expressed an interest in using the award to further digital fabrication studies at CMU, giving back to the institution and helping to move it forward, indicated a level of selflessness that we found very humbling.
Runner-up: Ella Moon, B.Arch ’26
Award: $3,000
Jury Comment: While the jury was extremely impressed with Ella’s design work, her involvement beyond just architecture and her passion with connecting people and communities through architecture and nature was equally as inspiring.
Runner-up: Mingyang Zhu, B.Arch ’26
Award: $3,000
Jury Comment: Mingyang’s mastery of his craft was evident in every aspect of his portfolio. More importantly, the jury appreciated his willingness to identify as a true team player and pinch hitter in group environments, a collaborative mindset that the jury felt exemplified the spirit of modern practice.
PUBLIC INTEREST DESIGN AWARDS
George W. Anderson, Jr. Award
Master's & PhD Student Award
This award recognizes graduate students who demonstrate through their work an exceptional level of attention to detail or dedication to beneficially impacting the community. The nine finalists presented Pecha Kucha presentations of their work to fellow students and faculty on March 31.
Spring 2025 Jury: Jonathan Kline (Chair), Kristen Kurland, Yiqun Pan, Azadeh Sawyer
First Place: Clara Martucci, M.Arch ’25
Title: “FLORAL RITUALS: weaving local village stories through craftmaking & performance”
Award: $3,000
Jury Comment: Clara’s winning project combined a close reading of community needs and culture, incredible attention to detail at multiple scales, and clear and precise narrative. The project proposes a floral handicraft and performance compound for Chiang Mai, Thailand, communicated through an exquisite and diverse array of drawings and models.
Runner-up: Sakshi Aparajit, MUD ’25 & Nakshatra Menon, MUD ’25
Title: “Braddock Reimagined: Designing a Sustainable and Inclusive Community”
Award: $2,000
Jury Comment: Sakshi and Nakshatra’s project proposes a multilayered revitalization strategy for North Braddock’s Kirkpatrick Avenue. The project includes ideas for new shared community uses, green infrastructure and tactical transformations of public space generated through conversations with residents.
Runner-up: Ifrah Asif, PhD-Arch
Title: “Cultural Ecologies: Community-Based Strategies for Climate Resilience in Cultural Heritage Preservation”
Award: $2,000
Jury Comment: Ifrah’s work seeks to reposition historic preservation efforts in Pakistan connecting architectural heritage with environmental justice and sustainability. The project stands out for its deep community engagement employing participatory mapping and a variety of documentation techniques to document sites and the preservation and generational transfer of vernacular knowledge and climate-adaptive indigenous practices.
Runner-up: Valeria Duque-Villegas, MUD ’25
Title: “Community Infrastructures of Resilience: from mutual care to sustainable cities”
Award: $2,000
Jury Comment: Valeria’s project seeks to bring sustainable infrastructures to the flood prone waterfront communities of Cali, Colombia. The project proposes forming new collaborative networks between existing community based kitchens allowing them to create and manage a range of new green infrastructures in the community.
Runner-up: Lora Marks, M.Arch ’26; Nicholas Thies, M.Arch ’26; Tai Le, M.Arch ’26 & Sharvi Shah, M.Arch ’26
Title: “PLAY PLANT: Praxis I – Design for Just Transitions”
Award: $2,000
Jury Comment: Lora, Nicholas, Tai and Sharvi’s project proposes new hybrid water sanitation and processing infrastructure for Pittsburgh’s Chateau neighborhood. Communicated through amazing drawings and models, the layered formal playful proposal connects community members to processes of water management by layering a park and community support services onto a distributed ecological water treatment plant.
David Lewis Community Engagement Design Scholarship
Undergraduate, Master's & PhD Student Award
This award provides financial support to students who demonstrate a commitment to working within diverse communities through participatory architectural design processes and who demonstrate commitments to social justice and community service.
Spring 2025 Jury: Diane Shaw (Chair), Vicky Achnani, Stefan Gruber, An Lewis
First Place: Sakshi Aparajit, MUD ’25 & Nakshatra Menon, MUD ’25
Title: “Braddock Reimagined: Designing a Sustainable and Inclusive Community”
Award: $3,000
Jury Comment: The jury commends the work of Sakshi and Nakshatra for demonstrating a commitment to community engagement. Their careful response to context was quite thorough as well as exploratory.
Runner-up: Nathan Cottrell, B.Arch ’27
Title: “Project Management with the CMU Chapter of Freedom by Design”
Award: $500
Jury Comment: The jury recognizes Nathan for this application based on his project management with the CMU chapter of Freedom by Design, as well as his involvement in the Chiang Mai, Thailand project. The committee commends his personal engagement with community outreach and his commitment to be actively “doing with” and not only “designing for” people.
SUSTAINABILITY AWARD
Payette Prize in Building Science
B.Arch & Master's Student Award
This award recognizes the accomplishments of a student who has achieved exceptional performance by integrating the fundamentals of building science in their design work.
Spring 2025 Jury: Dana Cupkova (Chair), Vicky Achnani, Yiqun Pan, Louis Suarez
Recipient: Ella Moon, B.Arch ’26
Award: $4,500
Jury Comment: Ella’s work demonstrates an artful integration of technology with architectural spatial and formal language across multiple projects. The jury appreciated her thoughtful approach to integrating building science in design, particularly her focus on balancing technical performance with human experience. Her work stood out for its design rigor and creative approach to sustainable solutions.
TRAVEL AWARDS
Master of Architecture (M.Arch) Travel Awards
The Master of Architecture program grants travel awards each spring for selected students to support work grounded in architectural design research as it relates to a range of diverse contexts, practices and cultures. Students are encouraged to take on research projects in areas of their choice that will be further developed through research papers, a thesis or independent study.
Sanjana Bandaru, England (London): “London Public Architecture”
Emmaline Hubbs, Costa Rica: “Constructing Communities of Synergy”
Tai Le, France (Paris): “Claude Parent's Architecture”
Lora Marks, Netherlands (Amsterdam) & Norway (Oslo, Brumunddal): “Pine-ing for the skies”
Sarah Meronek, France (Paris) & Netherlands (Amsterdam): “Sociology & Architecture of Communal Spaces”
Reece Posey, Argentina (Buenos Aires): “Brutalist Buenos Aires”
Sparsha Reddy, Finland: “Timber and Tradition”
Siddhant Salvi, USA (New York City) & Norway: “Reimagining Public Space: Snøhetta”
Anoushka Sethi, Italy (Venice): “Temporary Installations Venice Biennale”
Sharvi Shah, Netherlands, Belgium & Denmark: “Shifting Material Systems: RAU, Rotor, MVRDV”
Rupal Singh, Japan: “Ecology of Repair”
Ishanesu Tendayi, Denmark: “Evolving Design Futures: Digital Twins”
Joanne Zeng, Finland: “From Wood to Biomaterials: Alvar Aalto”