Howard University Architecture Students Win at AIA Interschool Student Design Competition

Howard University architecture students competed and placed on each of the four winning teams during the local 2025 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Interschool Student Design Competition. 

Kristina Crenshaw and Otto Condon, Howard University architecture adjunct lecturers, worked with the National Capital Planning Commission to develop a competition brief centered around the commission’s Pennsylvania Avenue Initiative, specifically looking at the Freedom Plaza area and proposing interventions that would support civic activity, primarily around first amendment activities and the inaugural parade, while encouraging and accommodating everyday use by the local community.  

Focused on Freedom Plaza, this year’s program theme of “Downtown Culture: Bridging the Gap Between National, Civic, and Local Community Activation of the Public Realm” invited students to propose a design that aligned with the plaza’s platform duality as a civic stage and local venue. Without any prior knowledge of the design challenge, students were tasked with proposing a final design within eight hours.  

Each winning team included a Howard University architecture student.

First Place: “Cool and Collected” - Team 2 with third-year architecture student Nathan Norris 

Second Place: “The Breach – Creation Through Division” - Team 1 with fourth-year architecture student Ann-Nelly Cotin  

Third Place and People’s Choice: “The People’s Plaza” - Team 4 with third-year architecture student Myles Hickman

Fourth Place and Faculty’s Choice: “Art is Freedom Plaza” - Team 8 with fourth-year architecture student Kiara Romain 

The annual competition is organized by the local Washington metropolitan area AIA chapters, sponsored by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, and hosted at the National Building Museum. 

Students from six local architecture programs participate in the competition, including The Catholic University of America, Howard University, Morgan State University, Virginia Tech’s Washington-Alexandria Architectural Center, the University of Maryland, and the University of the District of Columbia.