2026 MBMA Student Design Competition now open

Individual students or teams interested in this opportunity have until January 11, 2027 to send in their submissions.

The Metal Building Manufacturers Association (MBMA) 2026 Student Design Competition is now open for entries. This year’s contest asks architecture students to create an innovative metal building design for a new public library/community knowledge hub with an approximately 40,000-square-foot building and outdoor event spaces.

More than $30,000 in prizes will be awarded to entrants in graduate and undergraduate divisions. Individual students or teams interested in this opportunity can register at www.mbmaeducation.org with submissions due by January 11, 2027. Registration is free to full-time graduate and undergraduate students, but all entrants are required to have a faculty sponsor. 

“This is the sixth year of our competition, which has continued to grow while introducing students across North America to the advantages of utilizing metal buildings in their designs,” says Jon-Paul (JP) Cardin, MBMA’s director of research and engineering and the contest organizer. “We are excited about this year’s topic and anticipate even more submissions from a variety of schools and universities. Public libraries provide a real world design opportunity for the students, and metal building systems are an optimal solution due to their high degree of design flexibility.

Prizes in each division – graduate and undergraduate – will be given and awards will be divided between the students and faculty sponsors. Teams may also enter, and prizes will be divided and distributed equally to each member of a registered team. Contest winners will be announced in March 2027. Additionally, honorable mention awards may be given at the judges' discretion.

Further details about design parameters, judging criteria and submission requirements are available at www.mbmaeducation.org. Also, questions can be addressed to JP Cardin at mbma@mbma.com.