2025 SARA Student NATIONAL DESIGN AWARDS WINNERS
Honor Awards
Stanley Shannon | Midlands Technical College
"The Oasis" Orangeburg's New Haven for Holistic Health and Wellness, Orangeburg, South Carolina
“The Oasis is a wholistic health center of activity within a park designed with comprehensive wellness in mind as a direct response to this area's designation as a food desert.”
University of Virginia Students*
Timber Topographies, Charlottesville, Virginia
“A real-world design-build project sited in the Virginia piedmont, Timber Topographies orients visitors to the surrounding mountains and provides a shady retreat through the deployment of novel non-planar timber systems fabricated with proprietary robotic sawmill technology.”
*Credits:
Kyle Schuman, Harris Agnew, Shiza Chaudhary, Mary Cotterman, Meredith DeLong-Maxey Mairead Driscoll, Manuel Estrada, Isaac Goodin, Darien Hersh, Connie Liou, Zeya Min-Fink Amanda Nordwall, Atlee Paterno, Elizabeth Solkey, Madeleine Zahn
University of Nebraska Students*
The Art Chapel, Lincoln, Nebraska
“The Art Chapel, an adaptive reuse project transforming an 1873 building, Lincoln, Nebraska’s first church, is a studio for adults to cultivate their creativity through art and craft instruction, supporting public events in a community with few cultural outlets.”
*Credits:
Faculty Jason Griffiths & Jeffrey L. Students: Chris Antonopoulos, Devyn Beekman, Izzy Brehm, Alec Burk, Colton Corrin, Caleb Goehring, Wyatt Gosnell, Ashley Hillhouse, David Huismann, Haneen Jabbar, Brandon Jensen, Tanner Koeppe, Saray Martinez, Angela Medina, Nicholas Olsen, Joshua Pfeifer, John Raridon, Andrew Rose, Kyra Straddles, Ben Van Brocklin, Ethan Watermeier, Kayla Weller, Madeline Whitted, Meagan Willoughby, Andrew Winter
Shubham Adhikari, Ryan Brown | Clemson University
TIDEROOT, St. Helena Island, South Carolina
“Located in the unstable soils of the South Carolina saltmarsh floats Tideroot, an open-air pavilion which celebrates this delicate ecosystem for its position as a self-sustaining, protective barrier for the mainland and Gullah-Geechee heritage – both of which are threatened, due to ever-changing climate conditions and uncontrolled urban sprawl.”
Hsiang-Ting Huang, Eric Choi | Pratt Institute
Horizon Nest, Brooklyn, New York
“Horizon Nest is a sanctuary where humans and nature coexist through composting, urban farming, a market, and bird conservation. Blending into sculpted terrain, it supports wildlife with rooftop vegetation, water capture, and native habitats—merging architecture with nature.”
Anish Sahu, Samruddhi Shirdhankar, Zhe Tan, Jiren Zhou | Illinois School of Architecture
Where the Creatures Play, Chicago, Illinois
“Where the Creatures Play is a vibrant museum and a symbol of care in the heart of North Lawndale, Chicago, designed as a welcoming space for children and families. It fosters creativity, learning, and community pride while addressing historic disinvestment, offering hope for a brighter future.”
MERIT AWARDS
Shannon Maria | Georgia Institute of Technology
Reviving Roots_A Trail and Transit Oriented Development, Atlanta, Georgia
“Reviving Roots reimagines the Atlanta Beltline Spur not just as a regional destination but as a neighborhood centre for connection, anchored by a new MARTA station, adaptive reuse and vibrant community spaces that link Oakland City and Capital View into an inclusive, walkable district..”
Janson Chan | Dalhousie University
Rail- Based Regionalism: Revitalizing Abandoned Rail Infrastructure Through Adaptive Architecture and Agricultural Networks, Kentville + Ellershouse, Nova Scotia
“This thesis reimagines Nova Scotia’s dormant Windsor and Hantsport rail corridor as adaptable infrastructure that reconnects rural and urban communities through agriculture, mobility, and public programming, transforming a former tool of extraction into a shared platform for regional equity, resilience, and collective public life.”
OJASWI AJAY CHAUTHAWALE | Georgia Institute of Technology
The Connect- 'To Create', Atlanta, Georgia
“The Connect to Create is a vibrant live-work hub that activates the neighborhood by bringing together local artists and small entrepreneurs, redefining the identity of Southwest Atlanta.”
University of Nebraska Students*
Bemis LOW END, Omaha, Nebraska
“LOW END is a performance space for sound art + experimental music in a contemporary art center designed to explore the limits of conventional architectural taste, standard expectations of design precision, and consistency. ”
*Credits:
Jeffrey L. instructor. Students: Justin DeFieldsMaren ElnesCraig FindlayRobert GreblSeth HadenfeldtQingyuan HanAndrew HicksMonica HughesAudrey LanikJiaji LiSaray MartinezRachel RichterMorgan RonspiesAndrew RoseKristina SchneiderAaron CullitonAshley GlesingerNoah SchacherConnor SwearingenZainab AlbusharifEden BigelowLandyn BishDrue BowerFry GaughanGianna Jergovic
Caleb Mohnike Trever Zelenka | University of Nebraska-Lincoln
LNK ARCology, Lincoln, Nebraska
“Critiquing America's infrastructure, this monumental project envelops an existing interstate spur while establishing a new residential community and diverse public amenities.”