About the Competition
2025 Design Challenge
How to Enter
FAQs & Timeline
Student & Teacher Resources

Student & Teacher Resources

Resources

THE DESIGN PROCESS

Start by reviewing the design process. Remember, this process can vary and is not always a linear path. Designers often move between stages and even circle back to the start at different points.

MAKING HOME—SMITHSONIAN DESIGN TRIENNIAL

This year’s design competition is inspired by Cooper Hewitt’s exhibition Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial. Explore the digital exhibition to discover how designers, architects, artists, and their collaborators are looking at design and the meaning of home today. You’ll find there are many ways to approach this year’s challenge. Below are a few examples:

How might we use design to share cultural knowledge and strengthen our communities?

  • Comida, conversación y comunidad by East Jordan Middle/High School: This series of events supported exchange and connection between high school students and Spanish-speaking immigrants in rural Michigan.
  • Hālau Kūkulu Hawai’i: A Home That Builds Multitudes by After Oceanic Built Environments Lab and Leong Leong Architecture: This scalable design uses Indigenous building techniques and respect for the land (aina, that which feeds) to support cultural, ecological, and political recovery in Hawaii.
  • Welcome to Territory by Lenape Center with Joe Baker: This project explores the cultural heritage and history of the Lenape people. It features a contemporary interpretation of Lenape turkey-feather capes that honors the garments’ intricate craftsmanship and cultural significance.

How might we use design to honor our community’s heritage and protect stories?

  • The Underground Library: An Archive of Our Truth by Black Artists + Designers Guild (BADG): This space celebrates the power of literacy and home libraries and aims to protect futures that are at risk of being erased. It is filled with cultural heirlooms and examples of the African diaspora in art and design.
  • Casa Desenterrada/Exhuming Home by Ronald Rael: This installation serves as a tribute to the Indigenous people who were enslaved in southern Colorado and their descendants.
  • Ebb + Flow by Artists in Residence in Everglades (AIRIE): This project gathers stories and sounds from the Everglades. It honors its cultural and environmental heritage while fostering a deeper connection to the region.

How might we design living spaces that foster connection, support well-being, and ensure inclusivity?

  • Aging and the Meaning of Home by Hord Coplan Macht: This immersive space is designed to support people with physical and mild cognitive impairments as they grow older.
  • The Architecture of Re-Entry by Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS): These modular transitional housing units with shared common spaces are designed for (and with feedback from) individuals who were formerly incarcerated.
  • Dream Homes by PIN-UP: This film explores contemporary LGBTQIA+ communal living spaces, highlighting how these intentional communities create a sense of home.

PREVIOUS COMPETITIONS

Explore previous competitions to be inspired by high school students who have responded to design challenges:

BRAINSTORMING TIPS

  • THINK ABOUT THE MANY MEANINGS OF HOME AND THE FACTORS THAT CAN HELP PEOPLE FEEL “AT HOME.”

    In Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial, participants explore their personal interpretations of the idea of home. Now it’s your turn: What does home mean to you? What do you need to feel physically and emotionally “at home”? Watch this video for some inspiration.

    Reflect on the places in your community where you feel most at home. These might be spaces at your high school, like the newspaper office where you are a reporter, the language classroom where you participate in an afterschool club, or the gym where you practice with your team. Maybe it’s a “third space,” like a local library, gaming shop, place of worship, community center, or basketball court.

    What design elements create a sense of home for you in these places? Is it the feeling of certain materials, or specific scents in the air? How does the design of the space work to connect people, or provide solace if you are alone?

  • WHO WILL USE YOUR DESIGN?

    Consider the specific user(s) in your community who might experience your design. It may help to start by thinking about people in your life—yourself, your family, your friends and classmates, your neighbors and community members. Who might you know who has faced a barrier to feeling “at home”—whether they need physical shelter or a sense of belonging? How might their quality of life be improved? Are there other people you might not be thinking about who would be impacted by your design?

    Observe your community and identify opportunities to improve it. How does your community already help ensure a sense of belonging and well-being for its members? How might these be improved on? What are some challenges or barriers that prevent people from feeling at home? How might these obstacles be overcome? Are there larger societal issues affecting your community that you might be able to address through your design?

  • TALK TO YOUR AUDIENCE

    Can you talk to your intended user(s) about their experiences and how they have been affected by the challenge you are looking at? How have you incorporated their needs into your design? Have you made any assumptions that should be reassessed? Could you share or test your design with your intended user(s) or other people to gather feedback? Talking to your user(s) and others may lead to new ideas that you hadn’t thought about before.
  • WHERE WILL YOUR DESIGN EXIST?

    Reflect on the specific challenge you’ve identified and how your design will address it. How will the user(s) experience your design, from start to finish? What will people do before or after they use or experience your design? What are the surroundings like, and how might they change throughout the experience? Is there an element that can be enhanced to create a more welcoming, comfortable experience for your user(s) and for others?

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Email us at DesignCompetition@si.edu to let us know that you’ll be entering the design competition or are planning to introduce it to your students. We’ll notify you of competition updates.