Looking for inspiration for your next great building? The five standout buildings recognized in the AISC IDEAS² Award design competition are case studies on innovative solutions to complex challenges—with beautiful, efficient results.
Dan Shannon, MdeAS Architects
For the architects of Midtown Manhattan's PENN 2 Redevelopment, their project's success turned when they fully integrated architecture and structural problem-solving.
For Dan Shannon, principal and managing partner with MdeAS Architects in New York, design is "all about collaboration." With the massive transformation of PENN 2, the collaborative design process started nearly a decade earlier with a handful of sketches and discussions with the owner, Vornado Realty Trust.
A 1960s office tower above Penn Station, PENN 2 needed not only a complete makeover, but also more usable square footage to be viable in today's Manhattan office market. That's where structural engineer Severud's New York office came in with a structural solution that made the architectural plan work. They devised a way to support a planned seven-story, 75-ft by 450-ft addition at levels four through 10 by connecting an array of exposed and sloped hollow structural section (HSS) columns to existing foundations. Finding an elegant, efficient, cost-effective way to support the addition known as the Bustle that sits above a vast underground train station "really made the project work," said Shannon. "And we couldn't have pulled it off without casting supplier Cast Connex and Turner's participation as a contractor/partner."
PENN 2
The design spark for the Advanced Manufacturing Center at Pima Community College in Tucson, Ariz., came with the idea—and challenge—of running a huge underslung travelling crane through the center of the building, said Matthew Brehmer, AIA, NCARB, principal with DLR Group, Tucson, Ariz. And together with DLR Group's structural engineering team, the team designed a dramatic and architecturally pleasing facility to inspire students to reach higher and dream bigger as they move into the real-life AEC world.
Joining PENN 2 and the Advanced Manufacturing Center among the five award recipients are:
Read more about these amazing projects here, and hear what the competition's judges had to say about them.
This could be you!
Want to tell your project's design story on a national stage? Enter the 2026 IDEAS Awards competition, presented by AISC and Building Design + Construction, now at aisc.org/ideas. But hurry! It's already August (somehow?) and the deadline is September 30. And check out our new IDEAS|next Award for your projects that are still on the boards—anything with a site in the U.S. and a client qualifies!