Grace Farms and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture Announce 2027 Design for Freedom Student Competition
Competition focuses on Ethical & Equitable Materiality
Grace Farms and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) announced the 2027 Design for Freedom Student Competition.
Design for Freedom is Grace Farms’ global movement to eliminate forced and child labor from the building materials supply chain. Through the competition, students will have the opportunity to design a project using responsible design practices, challenging them to explore how architectural material research and design can eliminate forced labor in the building materials supply chain and propose how architects can work to eradicate forced and child labor from the built environment.
Since its launch, Design for Freedom has engaged hundreds of students through its annual Design for Freedom Summit and thousands more through university classes, lectures, and curricula worldwide, building a growing network of future architects, engineers, and designers committed to ethical material sourcing.
“The decisions architects make about materials begin in the studio, and so does the responsibility to source ethically. With this competition, we’re inviting the next generation of designers to ask hard questions early: Who made these materials, and under what conditions?” said Sharon Prince, CEO and Founder of Grace Farms Foundation. “Students entering the profession today will shape the built environment for decades to come, and they have both the power and the moral obligation to demand fair labor inputs from the very start. Design for Freedom is proud to partner again with ACSA to ensure that ethical and equitable materiality becomes the foundation of great design.”
A distinguished jury has been assembled to review all competition submissions. The 2027 Design for Freedom Student Competition Ethical & Equitable Materiality: To End Forced Labor jurors are: Curtis Clay, FAIA, Principal, HDR; Rick Cook, FAIA, Founding Partner, COOKFOX Architects; Nina Cooke John, Founder and Principal, Studio Cooke John Architecture + Design; Julia Gamolina, Founder, Madame Architect & Director of Business Development, Ennead; and Suchi Reddy, FAIA, Founding Principal, REDDYMADE.
The competition is free to enter and open to students from all ACSA member schools worldwide, working individually or in teams of up to five with a faculty sponsor. Registration opens now and closes April 7, 2027, with final submissions due June 2, 2027. Winners will be announced in summer 2027, with prize-winning projects recognized with awards for students and their faculty sponsors, and exhibited at the 2028 ACSA Annual Meeting and the 2028 AIA National Convention.
Feature photo: Ilya Azaroff, a Design for Freedom Working Group Member, with his students from NYIT at the 2026 summit. Photo by Melani Lust
