Student and Universities
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2026-2027 Design for Freedom Competition
Announcement Coming Soon
Request a Design for Freedom Presentation
Virtual Office Hours
Grace Farms Tours
Design for Freedom equips the next generation of leaders to include fair labor inputs into their new and existing means, methods, and processes in order to create transparency and a more equitable future. Our strong partnerships with colleges and universities invest in the pipeline of future leaders and incubators of innovation and change by:
- Engaging with faculty and administrators in engineering, architecture, law, public policy, and business schools, providing opportunities for cross-disciplinary learning and engagement
- Collaborating with membership organizations with the breadth and reach of students across the globe to work closely with the next generation of workers and leaders in respective fields.
We encourage faculty members to develop and lead classes focused on Design for Freedom, or embed elements of the movement into existing courses. To date, six classes have been developed and led by Working Group members at Illinois Institute of Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Yale University.
To date:
75
students attend the annual Design for Freedom Summit held at Grace Farms
100+
presentations and lectures given to professionals, students, and the public since 2019
24+
Universities have engaged with Design for Freedom, including: The Catholic University of America, Columbia University/Barnard College, Cooper Union, Cornell University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute School of Architecture, University of Hartford, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, University of Tulsa, Yale School of Architecture, Yale Center for Ecosystems + Architecture
2027 Design for Freedom Student Competition
Grace Farms is partnering with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) to announce a student Design Competition for the 2026-2027 academic year. More information will be available soon.
The 2025 competition challenged students, working individually or in teams, to explore how architectural materials research and design can eliminate forced labor in the building materials supply chain – to explore and propose how architects can work to eradicate forced and child labor from the built environment.
Learn more about last year’s competition.
Watch the online discussion below to learn more about the competition
Request a Design for Freedom Presentation
Discover the three fundamental principles that guide Design for Freedom: Find and address embedded forced labor, Pursue ethical decarbonization, and Prioritize circularity. Explore the risks of this humanitarian crisis, and learn how you can take action towards transparency and utilize tools and available resources to use in advocating for a more humane future.
Our team is available to present on this topic for audiences of 20 or more.
Attend Virtual Office Hours
Faculty members and students, bring your questions about responsible material sourcing to the Design for Freedom team during virtual office hours. Office hours are held on the first Thursday of every month and are hosted by Nora Rizzo, Ethical Materials Director and Brigid Abraham, Design for Freedom Senior Project Manager at Grace Farms.
Tour Grace Farms
Grace Farms offers tours of the SANAA-designed River building and Barns twice a week from May through December and once a week January through April.
About the Grace Farms Tour: This comprehensive tour invites a closer look at the architecture of the River building and Barns. Take in 360–degree views of the surrounding landscapes while exploring the building’s sustainable design, curated interiors, and materials choices. During the tour, sample a cup of tea from Grace Farms Tea & Coffee, a Certified B Corp that demonstrates and educates about ethical and sustainable supply chains.
The River building, designed by Pritzker Prize-winning firm, SANAA, holds LEED Gold certification for Building Design and Construction. A demonstration of our continuing efforts to be as sustainable as possible, in 2024, we were awarded Gold certification for Building Operations and Maintenance, building on our LEED Silver certification in 2019.
The River building was awarded the prestigious 2014/2015 Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize (MCHAP), in addition to the AIA National 2017 Architecture Honor Award and AIA Connecticut 2016 Design Honor Award.
Approved for AIA CES 1.5 LU
Design for Freedom Pilot Projects
We have also partnered with colleges and universities through our Pilot Project program.
Grace Farms developed the Design for Freedom Pilot Project program to engage project teams, yield new research and partnerships, and uncover challenges and opportunities of how to build more humanely. This process challenges each team to examine their supply chain for fair labor and galvanize change to create new outcomes for the industry.
The Karsh Institute of Democracy University of Virginia is a Design for Freedom Pilot Project with a targeted completion date in 2026. Learn more.
