The judges have spoken, and the American Institute of Steel Construction’s Forge Prize has a 2020 champion!
An innovative cantilevered pedestrian bridge and elevated park concept by Rosannah Harding and Matthew Ostrow of HardingOstrow took top honors at a judging event streamed live on YouTube. The pair took home the $10,000 grand prize.
The Footbridge concept, intended for a site in Manhattan that connects to the existing High Line, marries the raw look of weathering steel with the shine of hammered stainless steel planters that hold trees and other vegetation. Stormwater runoff would drip into bespoke weathering steel bollards on the plaza below, creating an immersive visual and auditory effect in inclement weather.
Harding and Ostrow worked with fabricator STS Steel, Inc. to refine their design, which capitalizes on the aspects of steel that make it ideal for such a project with much of the structure fabricated offsite for rapid erection. The cantilevered design minimizes the structure’s footprint.
The Footbridge is featured in this week’s AISC digital jigsaw puzzle and images are available for press use.
The judges were impressed with the caliber of this year’s finalists. “Competitions provide a context for reimagining,” said judge David Sadinsky of Turner Exhibits. "Opportunities like The Forge Prize allow research and idea exploration through a free process to develop project possibilities. When you are free from physical constraints, the sparks of optimism are free to ignite."
Ilgar Aziz of SBLM Architects worked with Cast Connex and ultimately took home second place for a graceful “Twig” system of organically inspired modular structural components.
Daphne M. Florán-Meléndez of Lockwood, Andrews, & Newnam, Inc. worked with SteelFab, Inc. on a pedestrian multi-purpose complex that uses stackable steel-framed housing units, which came in third.
The Forge Prize would like to thank judges Matt Dumich, FAIA, of SmithGroup; Rebekah Gandy, AIA, LEED AP, of Gensler; and David Sadinsky of Turner Exhibits and Cast Connex Vice President Jennifer Anna Pazdon, PE; SteelFab, Inc. Texas Division Vice President Darren J. Cook; and STS Steel, Inc. President Glenn R. Tabolt, PE for the time they so generously devoted to this program.
The Forge Prize, established by The American Institute of Steel Construction in 2018, recognizes visionary emerging architects for designs that embrace steel as a primary structural component and capitalize on steel’s ability to increase a project’s speed. The three finalists each win $10,000, and the winner takes home an additional $10,000.
The 2021 Forge Prize will open for entries June 1, 2020. Visit forgeprize.com for more information.
Related Stories
| May 10, 2011
AISC honors top steel industry professionals
Roberto Leon, William Segui, Atorod Azizinamini, David Platten, Reidar Bjorhovde, Karl Frank, David I. Ruby, and Jon Magnusson are honored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) for their great contributions to the advancement of the structural steel design and construction industry. The award recipients will be recognized on May 11 at the 2011 NASCC: The Steel Conference in Pittsburgh.
| May 3, 2011
Demand for steel grows, led by developing economies
According to the World Steel Association's short range outlook for 2011 and 2012, steel use will increase by 5.9% in 2011, and an additional 6% in 2012. This forecast suggests that by 2012, steel use in the developed world will still be 14% below 2007 levels, whereas in the emerging and developing economies, it will be 38% above. In 2012, emerging and developing economies will account for 72% of world steel demand in contrast to 61% in 2007.
| Apr 5, 2011
SSPC, AISC announce joint standard for paint shop certification
SSPC: The Society for Protective Coatings and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) are pleased to announce a joint certification standard for shop application of protective coatings. The standard, "Certification Standard for Shop Application of Complex Protective Coating Systems," describes requirements for certification of firms that shop apply complex painting systems.
| Mar 10, 2011
Steel Joists Clean Up a Car Wash’s Carbon Footprint
Open-web bowstring trusses and steel joists give a Utah car wash architectural interest, reduce its construction costs, and help green a building type with a reputation for being wasteful.
| Nov 16, 2010
CityCenter’s new Harmon Hotel targeted for demolition
MGM Resorts officials want to demolish the unopened 27-story Harmon Hotel—one of the main components of its brand new $8.5 billion CityCenter development in Las Vegas. In 2008, inspectors found structural work on the Harmon didn’t match building plans submitted to the county, with construction issues focused on improperly placed steel reinforcing bar. In January 2009, MGM scrapped the building’s 200 condo units on the upper floors and stopped the tower at 27 stories, focusing on the Harmon having just 400 hotel rooms. With the Lord Norman Foster-designed building mired in litigation, construction has since been halted on the interior, and the blue-glass tower is essentially a 27-story empty shell.
| Nov 5, 2010
New Millennium’s Gary Heasley on BIM, LEED, and the nonresidential market
Gary Heasley, president of New Millennium Building Systems, Fort Wayne, Ind., and EVP of its parent company, Steel Dynamics, Inc., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy about the Steel Joist Manufacturer’s westward expansion, its push to create BIM tools for its products, LEED, and the outlook for the nonresidential construction market.
| Nov 3, 2010
Dining center cooks up LEED Platinum rating
Students at Bowling Green State University in Ohio will be eating in a new LEED Platinum multiuse dining center next fall. The 30,000-sf McDonald Dining Center will have a 700-seat main dining room, a quick-service restaurant, retail space, and multiple areas for students to gather inside and out, including a fire pit and several patios—one of them on the rooftop.
| Oct 13, 2010
Prefab Trailblazer
The $137 million, 12-story, 500,000-sf Miami Valley Hospital cardiac center, Dayton, Ohio, is the first major hospital project in the U.S. to have made extensive use of prefabricated components in its design and construction.
| Oct 12, 2010
University of Toledo, Memorial Field House
27th Annual Reconstruction Awards—Silver Award. Memorial Field House, once the lovely Collegiate Gothic (ca. 1933) centerpiece (along with neighboring University Hall) of the University of Toledo campus, took its share of abuse after a new athletic arena made it redundant, in 1976. The ultimate insult occurred when the ROTC used it as a paintball venue.
| Oct 11, 2010
MBMA Releases Fire Resistance Design Guide for metal building systems
The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) announces the release of the 2010 Fire Resistance Design Guide for Metal Building Systems. The guide provides building owners, architects, engineers, specifiers, fire marshals, building code officials, contractors, product vendors, builders and metal building manufacturers information on how to effectively meet fire resistance requirements of a project with metal building systems.
