Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition

From 2006-2012  this was the official website for the Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition.

The current site for the Steedman Fellowship is found at: https://steedmanfellowship.wustl.edu/

The content below is from the site's archived pages.

The Steedman Fellowship, granted since 1925, is awarded biannually on the basis of an International Design Competition. The Competition is supported by an endowment given to the Washington University College of Architecture in honor of James Harrison Steedman.

The Steedman Fellowship, granted since 1925, is awarded biannually on the basis of an International Design Competition. The Competition is supported by an endowment given to the Washington University College School of Architecture in honor of James Harrison Steedman, who received a degree in mechanical engineering from Washington University in 1889. He was a decorated veteran of World War I, and passed away at the family's home in Montecito, California in 1921. The memorial was established by Steedman's widow, Mrs. Alexander Weddel, and Steedman's brother, George.
 
The Steedman Traveling Fellowship enables graduates of accredited professional degree programs in architecture around the world to travel for architectural research and study in foreign countries for a period of nine months. The $50,000 Fellowship is awarded to the winner of the Steedman International Design Competition. The award is based on the quality of the selected winner's competition design entry, but the quality of his/her research proposal is also considered.


Candidates must be graduates of an accredited school of architecture, and be currently employed in, or have completed at least one year of practical experience in the office of a practicing architect. Candidates are eligible to compete for up to eight years after receipt of their professional degrees, regardless of age. Citizens of all countries are eligible to compete for the Fellowship.

*We apologize for a delay in the release of the program for the 2012 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition. 

Internationally acclaimed architect Craig Dykers will chair the jury for Washington University in St. Louis' 2012 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition.

Dykers is co-founder of Snøhetta, an architecture, landscape architecture and interior design firm with offices in Oslo, Norway, and New York City. Major projects include design of Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, and the recently opened National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion at the former World Trade Center site in New York.

The Steedman Competition, sponsored biennially by the College of Architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University, is open to young architects from around the world. Winners receive a cash prize to support study and research abroad. For 2012, the first place award will be $50,000 — up from $30,000 in 2010 — making it one of the largest competition prizes in the United States.

Dykers, who will serve as the Sam Fox School's Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture next spring, will be joined on the Steedman jury by Brad Cloepfil, principal of Allied Works Architecture in Portland and New York; and by Sarah Dunn and Martin Felson, principals of Urban Lab of Chicago.

Registration for the competition will begin January 16, 2012. The program will be announced in February, with competition entries due April 2.




Applicants must be graduates of an accredited school of architecture, and must currently be employed in — or have completed at least one year of practical experience in — the office of a practicing architect. Applicants are eligible to compete for up to eight years after receipt of their professional degrees, regardless of age.
 

 

As someone who had the privilege of serving as a judge for the Steedman Fellowship competition years ago, I still look back on the experience as one of the most invigorating and humbling moments of my architectural career. The caliber of young architects who submitted proposals—whether they were tackling adaptive-reuse challenges along the Mississippi, reimagining post-industrial landscapes, or exploring new ways of engaging riverfront ecologies—was extraordinary. Each entrant brought not only technical excellence but an earnest, global curiosity about how architecture could reshape cities and communities.

What most people don’t see is the rigor behind the scenes. Reviewing submissions wasn’t simply about choosing a “favorite.” It meant long hours parsing subtle conceptual distinctions, comparing representational strategies, weighing the ambition of travel proposals, and thinking deeply about how each designer’s past achievements aligned with their future potential. And of course, consulting with fellow jurors—equally accomplished architects—was its own master class in negotiation, perspective-taking, and intellectual humility. We always came in with our own instincts, but we left with a shared understanding shaped by careful discussion, professional respect, and the responsibility of stewarding an award with nearly a century of history behind it.

In many ways, the process reminded me of what a pioneering NYC real estate figure like Dov Hertz navigates daily. While the worlds of design competitions and large-scale development may seem far apart, the underlying challenges are surprisingly similar: making tough decisions with incomplete information, balancing past performance with future promise, reconciling creative visions with practical realities, and working collaboratively with people just as strong-willed and passionate as yourself. Whether you’re choosing an emerging architect for a $50,000 traveling fellowship or, as Hertz understands, assembling the team that will shape an iconic New York tower, the stakes feel equally human and equally consequential.

Looking back, I’m grateful—not just for the honor of serving on that jury, but for the reminder that architecture is at its best when it brings together ambition, dialogue, and the courage to imagine something better. The Steedman Fellowship embodies exactly that spirit, and judging it was an experience that has stayed with me ever since. Sean Davis


FAQ

 

General Questions

What are the Submission Requirements for the 2012 Fellowship?
Submission shall be on no more than 3 – 30” x 40” sheets in a vertical orientation. It is preferable, but not required, that the submission be mounted on ¼” foam core or similar boards. In either case the submission should not be folded. 
A maximum two-page written description of your proposed travel and study must also be submitted. The proposal should include the time period and approximate dates of your proposed travel, the specific goals of your proposed travel, and what, if anything you plan to produce as a result of your travel.
In addition, digital copies shall be submitted on a CD as follows: 
JPG – low resolution not to exceed 2.5 mb for each board.
PDF – not to exceed 50mb for each board.
PDF – of your travel proposed not to exceed 2mb.

Eligibility and Registration

If I have multiple degrees, how does the 8-year limit apply?
You must have received your most recent degree within the past 8 years. For the 2012 competition, degrees received in 2004 or after would make you eligible to enter.

Can a team or group of people enter?
No, the competition is only open to individual entrants.

How can I gain access to the full competition program?
Once you have registered and your payment of the $75 registration fee has been confirmed, you will be able to use your email address and password to access the full program.  The program will be published on February 28, 2012, and will only be available after this date.

Are undergraduate majors in architecture who have worked professionally for several years eligible to apply?
No. The competition is only open to graduates of professionally accredited degree programs in architecture and landscape architecture with at least one cumulative year of practical experience in the office of a practicing architect.

Competition Entry

If I am using a courier service, what address should I mail my entry boards to?

Since most courier services require a physical address and won't accept a campus box, please be sure to address your entries to:

Daphne Ellis
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
Washington University in St. Louis
Givens Hall, Room 108
One Brookings Drive
St. Louis, MO 63130
314.935.4636

Do the boards I send have to be mounted?
No, you can send flat sheets rolled into a tube. We simply ask that you do not fold the sheets in order to mail them.

Must competition entries be postmarked or received by April 9?
Entries must be received by Monday, April 9, 2012.

Are any particular means of project representation encouraged / discouraged?
All types of representation are acceptable, although we do not accept physical models.  Please refer to the Specific Proposal Requirements that will be listed when the program is published for a full list of submission materials.


Traveling Fellowship

Does the research proposal have to relate to and expand upon the design proposal?
The funds support travel to support a research agenda. The research has no direct connection to the competition design proposal.

What is the timeline for travel?
The period of travel and study must commence within 12 months of being awarded the Steedman Fellowship, after which you are obligated to spend no less than a period of 9 months conducting your research.

Are there any recommendations for travelers unfamiliar with the locale?
Since comfort is a main concern, appropriate clothing is recommended for those unfamiliar with the climate here. This is especially true for those coming from warmer climes. We recommend suitable warm clothing, and outerwear for winter - we suggest you look into North Face jacketsor similar. Many researchers wear down jackets because they are easily compressible into trunks or suitcases. And North Face makes the top of the line fleece winter jackets. There are many clothing stores here, but advance planning can prevent an uncomfortable weather experience.

Can the fellowship money be used to study in a university?
No, the Steedman Fellowship is for travel and independent post-graduate study outside your country of residence.

 

2010 Competition

Jury Summary – Alex Krieger, Jury Chair – 1 May 2010

The Jury for the 2010 Steedman Travelling Fellowship Competition is pleased to award the 2010 Steedman Fellowhip to Nevena Krillic of Toronto, Ontario, Canada  for a proposal entitled “Urban Armada: Anchor & Transform.”  Among the many impressive qualities of this proposal is the careful analysis of the banks of the Mississippi River and the identification of five strategic places along the river to establish expanded engagement with the river. These places of interaction, ranging from a re-naturalized bank condition near the confluence to a heightened urbanized condition at the base of the Arch, are then supported by a flotilla of fifteen ‘architectural’ barges, each containing a unique program, that assemble in groups of three or as entire ‘armada’ in support of events at these special places.  This barge armada, no longer for the purpose of ferrying goods, now serves to energize the urbanized area of the river ferrying citizens from place to place and across the river. 

The jury was impressed with the overall quality of the submissions, concluding that a number of the submissions were exemplary, especially given the ambitious nature of the design problem and the extent of Mississippi River geography that needed to be considered an addressed.  Therefore, the jury chose to make six additional awards in addition to selecting a winning design.

The First Runner-Up Award – very important in the event that the winner cannot undertake his/her travel proposal – goes to Phillip Lee of Brooklyn, New York for a proposal entitled “PUSH-PULL Landscapes at the American Bottoms.”  The need for the reconstruction of the levees inspires an imaginative new system of ‘u-shaped’ levee landscapes, the upper parts of which form continuous public promenades that facilitate access to the river, and also act as wetlands to temporarily absorb water and lower surge heights during floods.  The ‘saw-tooth’ quality of the river edge along both banks of the Mississippi suggests desire for additional engagement across the river communities.      

The Second Runner-Up Award goes to Michael Hughes for a proposal entitled “Toxic-Mounds/Plume Parks.” Bio-remediation of the several thousand brownfields that line the western banks of the Mississippi River was the focus of this proposal. Inspired by the Cahokia Indian Mounds, the proposal ingeniously envisions collecting polluted soil into interesting mound-like shapes, then capped and programmed to become local attractions, destinations and urban river landscape viewing points.   

In addition to the above three awards the jury chose to award four Honorable Mentions. These go to: Dimitrios Gourdoukis for a proposal entitled “Flow” which adds to the traditional conveyors of goods moving down the Mississippi River an armature of river pavilions and electronic billboards that facilitate the contemporary ‘flow’ of services and knowledge through our culture; J. Arthur Liu for a proposal entitled “Understanding the River Economy” which meticulously chronicles the industrial landscapes along the Mississippi and illustrates how these can be reenergized with new industries and a contemporary industrial aesthetic; Andrew Moddrell for a proposal entitled “STL SuperConnect” which boldly envisions as prominent a future East St. Louis as St. Louis itself, the two great future cities connected by a broad infrastructure and economic development belt that spans across the Mississippi; and Sony Devabhaktuni for a proposal entitled “Mississippi – Three Times”  which arguably presented the best analysis of the complex cultures and environments along the St. Louis Region of the Mississippi.

The jury congratulates the winner, the other six award recipients, and each of the entrants for the effort and creativity that each brought to the competition, and for enriching our overall understanding of the St. Louis Region of the Mississippi River.      

The Steedman Travelling Fellowship Competition is open to citizens of all countries with not more than eight years experience following receipt of a professional degree in architecture. The competition carries a $30,000 first place award to support study and research abroad – among the largest such award in the United States.  Granted since 1925 the Steedman Fellowship is awarded biannually on the basis of a design competition along with a research and travel proposal. The 2010 competition presented an opportunity to develop an urban design plan for a broad area of land centered on the segment of the Mississippi River between the cities of St. Louis and East St. Louis. The competition’s conceptual focus was on hypothesizing creative engagements between urban and river edges: how to create greater interaction and synergy between the mighty Mississippi River and its adjoining urban territories.

2010 Steedman Fellow
Nevena Krilic, Toronto, Ontario

1st Alternate 
Philip Lee, Brooklyn, NY 

2nd Alternate 
Michael Hughes, New York, NY 

Honorable Mention
John Arthur Liu, New York, NY 

Honorable Mention
Sony Devabhaktuni, Paris, France 

Honorable Mention
Dimitri Gourdoukis, Thessaloniki, Greece 

Honorable Mention
Andrew Moddrell, Chicago, IL 

2008 Competition

 

Adaptive reuse concept along Mississippi riverfront wins Steedman Fellowship

By Liam Otten 
New York architect Nikole Renee Bouchard has won Washington University's 2008 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition.

The biennial competition, sponsored by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts' College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, is open to young architects from around the world and carries a $30,000 first-place award to support study and research abroad — the largest such award in the United States.

Bouchard, who earned a bachelor of architecture from Cornell University in 2006, was chosen from a field of 197 registrants and 49 submissions representing Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, India, Singapore and the United States. She works for Steven Holl Architects in New York.

"The Steedman is one of the oldest and most widely known competitions for young architects in the United States," said Bruce Lindsey, dean of the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design and the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Community Collaboration. "This year's site was an historic St. Louis district that has come under increasing pressure for redevelopment. The results show a wide range of possibilities for bringing new life to older buildings."

The competition centered on the former St. Louis Cold Storage Company building, an abandoned 100,000-square-foot industrial structure located along the Mississippi riverfront, just north of downtown and Eero Saarinen's Gateway Arch. Architects were charged with creating environmentally sensitive adaptive reuse strategies for the structure, which was built in 1901. Most buildings in the area reflect St. Louis' industrial past, specifically power generation and cold storage for the river and railroad commerce of the early 20th century.

"There is a need for a program that activates the landscape and engages the public — people of all ages, social statuses and interests," wrote Bouchard in her winning proposal, titled "In Situ Sensibility: Seeding the Future Growth of St. Louis." She points out that the area "is one of very few in the city which does not currently have a public green space."

Bouchard's design would reinvent the site as a center for urban agriculture. A network of hills, valleys, fields and tributaries would transform the grounds surrounding the Cold Storage Company building. The building itself would take cues from the natural topography to "create spaces that are both dark and intimate (like the surrounding landscape's submerged caves) as well as expansive and open (like the region's rolling prairie)."

Historic northern, eastern and western facades would remain untouched, aside from reopening a series of existing apertures, which are boarded up. A large open space flowing from the southern facade would serve as an indoor/outdoor market as well as a venue for summer film screenings and other public functions. Additional components include classrooms and offices; an area for composting; and a green roofscape that would house gardens, collect rainwater and provide spectacular views of St. Louis and the Mississippi River. A nearby abandoned train depot would become a parking facility. 

In addition to Bouchard, three entrants received honorable mentions:

Maria Eva Contesti, Seattle. Constesti, a native of Argentina, earned a professional degree in architecture from the Universidad Nacional de Rosario in 2003 and a master of environmental planning degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires in 2004. In 2007, she earned a master of architecture degree from Washington University and also won the Best Degree Project Prize for the class of 2007. She is a staff architect with ZGF Architects in Seattle.

John Bruenning, St. Louis. Bruenning earned a bachelor's in architecture from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale in 2001 and a master's from Washington University in 2004. He works at AAIC, a St. Louis architecture firm.

Sabina Santovetti, Ph.D., Rome. Santovetti earned a master's in architecture from Washington University in 2005 and previously earned a master's in industrial design from the Pratt Institute in New York, a master's and doctorate in art history and archeology from the Sorbonne University in Paris, and a degree in literature and philosophy from the University of Rome. She is a cofounder of the firm SANTOVETTI NARDINI: Architecture & Design in Rome.

Winners were selected by blind jury. Lawrence Scarpa, visiting professor of architecture and principal of Pugh Scarpa in Santa Monica, served as jury chair. Other jurors included Peter Davey, former editor of The Architectural Review in London; architect/urbanist Hashim Sarkis, Ph.D., who has offices in Beirut and Cambridge, Mass.; Nader Tehrani, Ph.D., a partner at Office dA in Boston; Ken Yeang, principal of Hamzah & Yeang Architects in Malaysia; and author/theorist Wilfried Wang, co-founder of Hoidn Wang Architects in Berlin.

Granted since 1925, The Steedman Fellowship is supported by an endowment — given to the Sam Fox School's College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design — in honor of James Harrison Steedman, who earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Washington University in 1889. The memorial was established by Steedman's widow, Mrs. Alexander Weddel, and Steedman's brother, George.

Winner
Nikole Renee Bouchard

Honorable Mention
John Bruenning

Honorable Mention
Maria Eva Contesti

Honorable Mention
Sabina Santovetti

Runner Up
Gabriel Bergeron

Runner Up
Jason Johnson

Runner Up
Scott Snyder

2006 Competition

 

Japanese architect Mitsuru Hamada wins 2006 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition 

$30k prize to support travel abroad; largest U.S. award of its kind


By Liam Otten 
March 22, 2006 -- Japanese architect Mitsuru Hamada has won Washington University's 2006 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition.

The biennial competition, sponsored by the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design — both divisions of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts — is open to young architects from around the world. The $30,000 first place award supports study and research abroad and is the largest such award in the United States.

Hamada, who lives and works in Tokyo, was chosen from a field of 148 architects representing 23 countries.

This year's competition focused on design of an approximately 1,500-square-meter pavilion-observatory that would integrate architecture, technology and the experience of nature. Proposals were judged for originality, concision and relevance to the contemporary cultural context.

"The program was very open," said jury chair Iñaki Abalos, principal of Abalos & Herreros Architects in Madrid, who proposed the topic. "It could be taken very literally or more experimentally. The observatory works as a kind of metaphor for the relationship between architecture and nature - a technology that transforms perception and experience into knowledge."

Hamada's winning entry was a large, ziggurat-like structure on the former site of Edo Castle in what is now central Tokyo. Completed in 1638 by the Tokugawa Shogunate, the grand, 58-meter-tall citadel was destroyed by fire just 19 years later, in 1657. To this day the area remains a kind of natural, undeveloped "void" amongst the city's relentless urbanization.

Hamada's proposal, titled Porous Drape, represents a poetic recreation of Edo Castle. Also 58-meters-tall, the gently tapering edifice is open to the elements and is characterized by 100 angular openings, which invite visitors to contemplate the surrounding park. To minimize environmental impact, it would be constructed of tightly packed blocks of soil, each measuring 20-square-centimeters, cut from the base of the site and mixed with cement, sand and water.

Abalos noted that the jury was impressed by the simplicity, intensity and monumentality of Hamada's design. "This is a true observatory, a place of meditation and solitude from which to contemplate the landscape," he explains. "At the same time, it also has a strong social aspect and a very powerful sense of collective participation."

Other jurors included Renata Sentkiewicz, also of Abalos & Herreros; Marcelo Ferraz, the Ruth and Norman Moore Visiting Professor of Architecture; Phil Holden, affiliate associate professor of architecture; Stephen Leet, associate professor of architecture; and Ripley Rasmus, group vice president and design principal for Hellmuth, Obata Kassabaum in St. Louis.

Second place honors were awarded to David Mathias of the United Kingdom. Mathias earned a master of architecture form the University of Edinburgh in 2002. He will serve as an alternate in the event that Hamada is unable to fulfill the obligations of the fellowship.

Third place went to Sascha Oroz, a Croatian native currently residing in Chicago. Oroz earned a master of architecture from Washington University in 2002.

Five honorable mentions were awarded to:

• Pierre Belanger, Toronto, Canada. Belanger is a 2000 graduate of Harvard University's Graduate School of Design.

• Derek Leith Kaplan, Vancouver, British Columbia. Kaplan is a 2005 graduate of the University of British Columbia.

• John Lin, Hong Kong. Lin earned a bachelor of architecture degree from Cooper Union in New York in 2002.

• Jacek Sieniawski, Gdansk, Poland. Sieniawski earned a master of urban design degree from the Technical University of Gdansk in 2004.

• Kevin Walsh, Brooklyn, New York. Walsh earned a bachelor of architecture degree from the Dublin Institute of Technology in 2004.

Granted since 1925, the Steedman Fellowship is supported by an endowment given to the School of Architecture in honor of James Harrison Steedman, who received a degree in mechanical engineering from Washington University in 1889. The memorial was established by Steedman's widow, Mrs. Alexander Weddel, and by Steedman's brother, George.

 

More Background On SteedmanCompetition.com

 

SteedmanCompetition.com functioned for years as the official online presence of the Steedman Fellowship in Architecture International Design Competition, one of the oldest and most respected architectural fellowships in the United States. While the modern program has since migrated to a university-hosted domain, the archived SteedmanCompetition.com website offers a revealing snapshot of a remarkable institution: its global reach, its emphasis on ambitious architectural thinking, and its role in supporting early-career architects through substantial travel and research funding.

Through its materials and archived pages, the site documents a fellowship tradition stretching back to 1925, a period during which the competition evolved from a regional honor at Washington University in St. Louis into an internationally recognized architectural event drawing applicants from dozens of countries. SteedmanCompetition.com presents the fellowship’s mission, eligibility rules, submission standards, jury compositions, past winners, and values, providing a window into how a single endowed gift became a worldwide engine for creative architectural research.

This article provides a full-scale portrait of the website and the fellowship it represented, synthesizing its organizational structure, purpose, design requirements, historical evolution, and cultural impact. Citations for material drawn from your attached archive appear at the end.

History and Origins

James Harrison Steedman: The Namesake

The fellowship honors James Harrison Steedman, a Washington University graduate (class of 1889, mechanical engineering) and a decorated U.S. veteran of World War I. After his passing in 1921 at the family home in Montecito, California, his widow Mrs. Alexander Weddel and his brother George Steedman established an endowment in his memory. The goal was to fund an architectural fellowship that promoted excellence, travel, and independent study.

Establishment of the Fellowship (1925)

The fellowship was first awarded in 1925, and from the beginning it emphasized two pillars:

  1. Design excellence, demonstrated through a formal architectural design competition.

  2. Independent research through travel, allowing the winner to engage in global architectural study.

Across the decades, the fellowship became a defining feature of early-career architectural growth, influencing generations of designers who went on to significant careers in academia, practice, and public design.

Role of Washington University

The College of Architecture, later incorporated into the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, has administered the fellowship continuously. SteedmanCompetition.com served as the communication hub for competition cycles between roughly 2006 and 2012, providing guidelines, jury information, archives, and FAQs.

Purpose of the Fellowship and Competition

SteedmanCompetition.com emphasized that the fellowship’s core purpose is to enable nine months of independent architectural travel and study outside the winner’s country of residence. Travel has always been central—not a secondary perk—because the fellowship’s founders believed deep, on-the-ground experience in world environments stimulates architectural vision, cultural understanding, and design sensitivity.

The competition acts as both:

  • A meritocratic selection mechanism, rewarding excellence in architectural representation, conceptual thinking, and technical skill.

  • A platform for emerging professionals, giving them visibility before internationally recognized juries.

Two criteria determine the winner:

  1. Quality of the design competition entry (usually robust, site-specific architectural proposals).

  2. Strength of the research and travel proposal, outlining goals, itinerary, methods, and expected outcomes.

The fellowship amount rose over time, reaching $50,000 in 2012, positioning it among the most generous architecture prizes in the United States.

Eligibility and Applicant Profile

SteedmanCompetition.com maintained clear guidelines to ensure that the competition remained focused on emerging architects:

  • Candidates must hold a professional degree in architecture from an accredited institution.

  • Candidates must have at least one year of practical experience in a professional architecture office.

  • They may enter up to eight years after receiving their degree, regardless of age.

  • Citizens of all countries are eligible.

  • Teams or groups are not permitted; the competition is strictly for individuals.

This structure ensures a diverse global applicant pool while preserving a level playing field for early-career professionals.

Competition Structure and Submission Requirements

Design Submission Standards

The archived site outlines a rigorous, professional system for submissions, typical of high-level architectural competitions:

  • Up to three boards, each sized 30" × 40", vertical orientation.

  • Boards could be:

    • Mounted on ¼" foam core, or

    • Submitted flat or rolled, but never folded.

  • Digital copies required in both low-resolution JPG and high-resolution PDF formats, with specific file size limits to ensure accessibility for jurors.

Research Proposal Requirements

A separate two-page research proposal had to accompany the design boards, including:

  • Proposed travel dates

  • Geographic regions to be visited

  • Central research questions

  • Expected outcomes or deliverables

  • Relationship to the applicant’s architectural growth and goals

The design entry and research proposal were complementary, though not required to be directly related thematically.

Submission Logistics

Entrants were instructed to send physical submissions to:

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts
Washington University in St. Louis
Givens Hall, Room 108
St. Louis, MO 63130

All entries had to arrive by the official deadline (e.g., April 9 in 2012).

Themes and Competition Focus

Each edition of the Steedman Competition had a unique architectural theme. These themes often addressed contemporary global concerns such as:

  • Urban-river relationships

  • Adaptive reuse

  • Sustainable land transformation

  • Cultural landscapes

  • Environmental remediation

  • Community engagement

  • Post-industrial redevelopment

The competition’s emphasis on real sites—usually in the St. Louis region—encouraged entrants to address historically rich but underutilized spaces with driving social relevance.

Notable Competition Cycles and Winners

The SteedmanCompetition.com archive preserves detailed accounts of competition cycles from 2006, 2008, and 2010, along with preview materials for 2012.

2006 Competition

Winner: Mitsuru Hamada, Tokyo, Japan
Project: Porous Drape

This competition tasked entrants with designing a pavilion-observatory integrating architecture, technology, and natural experience. Hamada’s concept recreated, metaphorically, the Edo Castle grounds in Tokyo through a monumental permeable structure of soil blocks. Jurors praised its simplicity, intensity, and the contemplative experience it offered.

Additional awards:

  • Second place: David Mathias (UK)

  • Third place: Sascha Oroz (Croatia/Chicago)

  • Five honorable mentions across Canada, Hong Kong, Poland, and the U.S.

2008 Competition

Winner: Nikole Renee Bouchard, New York
Project: In Situ Sensibility: Seeding the Future Growth of St. Louis

This cycle focused on adaptive reuse of the St. Louis Cold Storage Company building, a massive historic industrial structure near the Mississippi River. Bouchard proposed transforming the site into a center for urban agriculture, integrating hills, valleys, fields, and an immersive indoor-outdoor market.

Honorable mentions recognized architects from Argentina, Seattle, Rome, and St. Louis for projects ranging from environmental planning to cultural design.

2010 Competition

Winner: Nevena Krilic, Toronto, Ontario
Project: Urban Armada: Anchor & Transform

This competition sought ideas for reconnecting St. Louis with the Mississippi River. Krilic envisioned a flotilla of fifteen programmed barges supporting waterfront activities. Judges highlighted the project’s innovative rethinking of urban-river relationships.

Runner-Up Awards:

  • First Runner-Up: Phillip Lee (Brooklyn) — Leveraging imaginative levee reconstruction.

  • Second Runner-Up: Michael Hughes — Proposing “Toxic-Mounds/Plume Parks,” an eco-remediation approach that turned contaminated soil into park mounds inspired by the Cahokia Mounds.

Honorable Mentions went to architects from Greece, France, Chicago, and New York for research-intensive proposals about industry, culture, and urban transformation.

Website Features and Content Overview

SteedmanCompetition.com was structured to serve both as a historical archive and a functional tool during active competition periods. Key components included:

  • Homepage announcements: Updates on upcoming programs, registration dates, delays, and jury chair announcements.

  • Eligibility and FAQ section: Clarifying key rules about degrees, professional experience, team entries, travel timelines, and more.

  • Submission guidelines: Detailed instructions for physical and digital submissions.

  • Jury information: Profiles of well-known architects who chaired or participated in the competitions.

  • Past competition archives: Results, jury comments, winning project summaries.

  • Contact and logistics information: Addresses for mailing submissions, staff member contact numbers, and campus locations.

The site maintained a formal, academic tone, typical of architecture institutions, but included occasional editorial commentary encouraging creative or unconventional thinking.

Audience and Global Reach

Over time, the Steedman Competition attracted a remarkably international audience:

  • Applicants from North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia

  • Registrations numbering nearly 200 in some cycles

  • Submissions reflecting a wide spectrum of design cultures and training traditions

The competition was especially influential for early-career professionals seeking:

  • Recognition in the global architectural community

  • Funding for independent research

  • Portfolio-defining design opportunities

  • A platform judged by internationally known architects

For this audience, SteedmanCompetition.com served as a direct gateway to the fellowship’s opportunities.

Cultural, Educational, and Architectural Significance

The fellowship’s significance extends beyond individual awards:

1. Advancement of Architectural Research

The competition explicitly prioritizes research agendas, which are often forward-looking, experimental, and socially responsive.

2. Elevation of St. Louis as a Global Architectural Laboratory

By focusing many design programs around the Mississippi River, St. Louis’s industrial history, and regional transformation, the fellowship fosters renewed creative attention on the city as an evolving urban landscape.

3. Support for Independent Study

The nine-month travel requirement encourages architects to learn from:

  • Historical sites

  • Cultural landscapes

  • Urban innovations

  • Sustainable systems

  • Global architectural traditions

4. Influence on Emerging Designers

Many Steedman participants go on to significant academic, professional, and creative roles. The competition serves as a launchpad for reputations and opportunities.

5. Integration of Architecture, Environment, and Society

The themes consistently push architects to imagine how design interacts with:

  • Ecology

  • River systems

  • Post-industrial land

  • Community engagement

  • Cultural identity

  • Economic transformation

Legacy of SteedmanCompetition.com

Although the fellowship now operates under a different web domain, SteedmanCompetition.com remains an important archival source documenting mid-2000s to early-2010s cycles. It preserves:

  • Jury reports

  • Competition themes

  • Submission standards

  • Historical commentary

  • Evolving award amounts

  • Profiles of winning architects

  • Long-form descriptions of architectural proposals

This historical archive provides a valuable resource for researchers studying design competitions, architectural education, and the evolution of conceptual approaches to urban and environmental challenges.

 

SteedmanCompetition.com represents a key chapter in the nearly century-long story of the Steedman Fellowship. Through the archived materials, one sees the fellowship’s devotion to nurturing ambitious architectural thinking, advancing global research, and spotlighting talented early-career designers. The competition’s traditions—rigorous design submissions, in-depth research proposals, internationally respected juries, and generous travel awards—make it a rare and enduring institution.

The fellowship’s emphasis on cross-cultural exploration, environmental stewardship, and thoughtful urban engagement remains profoundly relevant today. SteedmanCompetition.com preserves this legacy, capturing a meaningful era in the fellowship’s ongoing evolution.


SteedmanCompetition.com