2027
National
Design + Construction Competition
The CIRT National Design and Construction Competition celebrates the innovations and contributions the design/construction community makes to the quality of American life, while understanding the issues and challenges the industry faces to deliver on this legacy. The Competition is maintained, coordinated, and judged by Construction Industry Round Table is intended for ACE Mentor Affiliate team entries.
2027 Challenges
Rising Tide
As artificial intelligence (AI) technology expands, the need for data centers is growing rapidly. While this growth fuels innovation, it also raises serious environmental and community concerns. Most AI data centers use massive amounts of electricity and water, often straining local resources. Thus many providers have committed to being “Net Zero” by 2035. Design a Net Zero data center that significantly reduces its environmental impact / carbon footprint, and respects the surrounding community. Successful proposals will demonstrate creative solutions to conserve energy and water, reuse or recycle resources, and/or integrate renewable energy sources, and at the same time, consider carefully how the building will affect local communities in terms of resource usage and pollution, minimizing noise and vibration, to aesthetically fit into the local environment in a thoughtful way, and/or other potential issues. You may choose to create an entirely new structure or reimagine an existing one, but your solution should balance the needs of technology, sustainability, and community. See the Competition Packet for full requirements.
Coastal communities face growing pressure from stronger storms, rising seas, housing shortages, and the high cost of rebuilding after disasters. To strengthen these communities for future storms, students are challenged to design a regenerative coastal multi-family housing community that can withstand hurricane conditions while restoring the natural systems that support long-term resilience. Regenerative design goes beyond sustainability by creating developments that leave the site stronger than it was before construction. Successful proposals should demonstrate how the housing development functions as an integrated part of a living system that restores or enhances its site, watershed, local ecology, and surrounding community. The proposal must provide 24–32 units of attainable/affordable housing for residents across a range of income levels. See the Competition Handbook for further details.
FORGOTTEN INFRASTRUCTURE
Communities around the world are reimagining obsolete infrastructure and underutilized places as opportunities to address real needs, reconnect neighborhoods, and transform an eyesore into a lasting public amenity. Students are challenged to transform a forgotten or underutilized site into a vibrant public asset for the community it serves. The proposal should preserve and reuse existing structures or infrastructure wherever feasible, using adaptive reuse and green infrastructure to improve environmental performance, access, and connectivity. Successful proposals will integrate this space into its surrounding neighborhood(s) by improving connectivity and access rather than creating an isolated amenity in order to deliver lasting environmental, ecological, and community value while helping the area adapt to future climate and infrastructure needs. See the Competition Handbook for further details.
As artificial intelligence (AI) technology expands, the need for data centers is growing rapidly. While this growth fuels innovation, it also raises serious environmental and community concerns. Most AI data centers use massive amounts of electricity and water, often straining local resources. Thus many providers have committed to being “Net Zero” by 2035. Design a Net Zero data center that significantly reduces its environmental impact / carbon footprint, and respects the surrounding community. Successful proposals will demonstrate creative solutions to conserve energy and water, reuse or recycle resources, and/or integrate renewable energy sources, and at the same time, consider carefully how the building will affect local communities in terms of resource usage and pollution, minimizing noise and vibration, to aesthetically fit into the local environment in a thoughtful way, and/or other potential issues. You may choose to create an entirely new structure or reimagine an existing one, but your solution should balance the needs of technology, sustainability, and community. See the Competition Packet for full requirements.
Design + Construction Innovation Center
The built environment – and the industries that shape it - are evolving rapidly as new technologies, changing workforce needs, and increasing collaboration reshape how projects are designed and constructed. Students are challenged to create a design and construction center for innovation that prepares and inspires the next generation of architects, engineers, constructors, and skilled trades professionals. The facility should bring together education, innovation, industry, and community to create a destination where learning extends beyond the classroom through hands-on experiences, mentorship, emerging technologies, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Successful proposals will demonstrate how the structure/building design and program(s) can make innovation visible, support meaningful partnerships and/or networks, and strengthen the future of the built environment while creating meaningful connections between education, industry, and the community. See the Competition Handbook for further details.
As artificial intelligence (AI) technology expands, the need for data centers is growing rapidly. While this growth fuels innovation, it also raises serious environmental and community concerns. Most AI data centers use massive amounts of electricity and water, often straining local resources. Thus many providers have committed to being “Net Zero” by 2035. Design a Net Zero data center that significantly reduces its environmental impact / carbon footprint, and respects the surrounding community. Successful proposals will demonstrate creative solutions to conserve energy and water, reuse or recycle resources, and/or integrate renewable energy sources, and at the same time, consider carefully how the building will affect local communities in terms of resource usage and pollution, minimizing noise and vibration, to aesthetically fit into the local environment in a thoughtful way, and/or other potential issues. You may choose to create an entirely new structure or reimagine an existing one, but your solution should balance the needs of technology, sustainability, and community. See the Competition Packet for full requirements.
TIMELINE
CIRT will present prizes for the top three national finalists plus prizes for runner-up entries. In addition, CIRT will provide a logistical/travel expense stipend (up to $3,000 per team) to apply to costs associated with travel to Washington DC.
JAN 2027
Registration Portal Opens
MARCH 3
DEADLINE: Submissions Due At Midnight
MARCH 4-15
Online Jury Review
MARCH 16
Six DC Finalists Announced
APRIL 26
Preliminary + Finalist Presentations in Washington D.C.
Rules
Any ACE Mentor Affiliate/Chapter can volunteer to participate in the CIRT National Design & Construction Competition, which uses project challenges adapted and/or modified to accommodate the competition’s parameters.
The true goal is to judge the ability of the students to make a reasoned, coherent, well thought out, clear presentations on their team’s design and construction approaches that are realistic and responsive to the project’s objectives within time, budget, constructability constraints, etc.
Detailed rules and instructions are in the Competition Information Packet:
"Effectively, change is almost impossible without industry-wide collaboration, cooperation and consensus.” - Simon Mainwaring
PRIZES
CIRT will present prizes for the top three national finalists plus prizes for runner-up entries as follows:
$3,000
First Place
$2,000
Second Place
$1,000
Third Place
$500
First Runners-Up
$250
Second Runners-Up
In addition, CIRT provides a travel stipend up to $3,000 per team to better enable teams to travel to Washington, D.C. for the in-person presentations.
Register + Submit
The Competition uses SlideRoom to conduct the submission and jury process. All Registration forms and materials must be submitted via SlideRoom in order to qualify for jury review.
Teams may begin their registration form on Slideroom, then return to submit the form and final work by the deadline.