Architects of the future

By Emma Peterson. 

Learn how the MBMA is designing a successful future for metal construction with their student design competition. 

As the metal industry shifts and grows over time, involving the next generation has become imperative for continued success. In this MetalCast webinar, Megan Ellsworth hosts Tony Bouquot and John Underwood from the Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) to discuss how student competitions are a great way to get this process started.  

John is the chair of the organization’s education committee and spent over 40 years working in the industry in everything from engineering to distribution and management. Tony is the general manager at MBMA and explained a bit of what the organization does, saying, “We're a nonprofit trade association. We've been around since 1956. We represent the $6 billion metal building industry.” 

The journey to the student competition that MBMA runs today started in 2019, which was the first of their now annual architectural faculty workshop. Tony explained what this event looked like, sharing, “We pulled together faculty from architectural schools all over the country, had them come together in Houston that year. And we had a great gathering, a great sharing of ideas, a nice cross section of schools from around the country and even a couple international.” From all that brainstorming, they realized there was a gap in the education of the next generation — the metal construction industry.  

John elaborated on where that gap in knowledge and teaching stems from, saying, “We conducted a perception survey of our industry and found that architects really didn't understand the kinds of things that metal buildings can do in today's world. They were stuck in the old metal building with a warehouse or an industrial.” And so, the education committee that John heads began looking for ways to help grow that knowledge and awareness. One of those solutions came in 2021 with the first student competition.  

This competition was implemented after thorough research and planning in partnership with Marci Uihlein, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Illinois, and started with 70 entries and an elementary school design challenge. Each year the topic is changed to truly showcase the adaptability and versatility of metal construction. This year, competitors are tasked with designing a sports facility and submitting their project proposals by January 5, 2025.  

Read the transcript, Listen to the entire episode or Watch the recording to learn more about the 2024 Metal Building Student Design Competition.