The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) 2025 Student Design Competition is now open for entries. This year’s contest asks architecture students to create an innovative metal building design for a new botanical garden and events center.  More than $30,000 in prizes will be awarded to entrants in graduate and undergraduate divisions. Individual students or teams interested in this opportunity can register at www.mbmaeducation.org with submissions due by January 5, 2026. 

Registration is free to full-time graduate and undergraduate students, but all entrants are required to have a faculty sponsor. “Now in its fifth year, the competition has continued to grow each year and introduce metal building systems to students across the country and North America,” says W. Lee Shoemaker, Ph.D., PE, MBMA director of research and engineering and contest organizer. “This year’s topic is a popular one that should draw in even more competitors. Metal building systems offer an enormous range of possibilities and provide plenty of flexibility for facilities such as these.”

“My students and I learned a lot,” adds Steven Schreiber, Chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and advisor to multiple winning entries. “The MBMA team was so helpful in providing introductions, resources, webinars. Our students now see the world differently.”  He also noted that a local metal building manufacturer provided a tour of their facilities so the students could get a better understanding of metal building systems for the competition.

A total of six prizes in each division – graduate and undergraduate – will be given and awards will be divided between the students and faculty sponsors. Teams may also enter, and prizes will be divided and distributed equally to each member of a registered team. Contest winners will be announced in February 2026. Additionally, honorable mention awards may be given at the judges' discretion.

Further details about design parameters, judging criteria and submission requirements are available at www.mbmaeducation.org. Also, questions can be addressed to Lee Shoemaker at mbma@mbma.com.