75th Annual AIA Toledo HSDC Awards Presented
The 75th Annual AIA Toledo High School Design Competition (HSDC) Awards Ceremony was held on Tuesday, April 15, 2025 at Handmade Toledo, during AIA Architecture Week. The HSDC Committee was thrilled to receive 68 submissions from 18 participating schools.
This year’s project challenged students to design an expansion to an existing facility located in Toledo’s Vistula neighborhood for the local non-profit organization, Aurora Project. Aurora Project provides comprehensive housing and life skills instruction to empower homeless women and children to become self-sufficient and independent. Students were tasked with designing a new ‘Learning Center’ building aimed at expanding training and workshop rooms, as well as creating gathering spaces to support additional programming.
Student award categories include AIAT’s Architectural Design Award, the Emerging Professional Material Innovation Award, the GEM Sustainable Architecture Award, the EDGE, Unilock, & The Collaborative Landscape Architecture Award, the Gasser Bush Associates Lighting Design Award, the Toledo Design Collective Urban Design Award, BGSU’s Digital Media Award, and Focused 3D Physical 3d Printed Model Award. In addition to the prize awards, Lawrence Technological University (LTU) and The University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) offer tuition scholarship awards to senior, junior, and sophomore / freshman level award winners who attend their university.
This year’s awards celebration not only honored students’ creativity and hard work, but also celebrated two longtime HSDC supporters and Industrial Technology educators; Todd Heslet of Anthony Wayne High School and Jeffrey Smith of Perrysburg High School, who are both retiring at the end of the school year. In a special surprise moment, AIA Toledo shared a tribute video featuring heartfelt messages from former students, thanking Mr. Heslet and Mr. Smith for their mentorship and for inspiring them to pursue careers in design and architecture. Their commitment to teaching and unwavering support of this competition has left a lasting legacy.
AIA Toledo thanks all participating schools, students, mentors, and volunteers who make this program possible, as well as our award sponsors and Annual Platinum Partners for their continued investment in the future of the profession.
ABOUT HSDC
As the longest running program of its kind in the country, the High School Design Competition has a rich legacy. The idea was born in 1949 when a drafting teacher at Macomber Technical High School approached architects at Bellman, Gillett and Richards about exposing his students to the workings of the architectural profession. Later that year, the Toledo Chapter of the American Institute of Architects voted to approve the “Toledo High School Architectural Competition”, with initial funding not to exceed $100. The first competition was held in 1950, with 23 students from Waite, DeVilbiss, and Macomber High Schools participating. Their design challenge was a parking lot office and the first-place prize was $10.
Contact us to learn how your school or student can participate.