Each September the DMV schools of architecture descend on the National Building Museum (NBM) for an 8-hour design charrette. Organized by AIA Northern Virginia, AIA Potomac Valley, AIA DC and AIA Baltimore, the 2023 Interschool Student Design Competition (ISDC) was held on Sunday, Sept. 17. It is a truly collaborative effort between not only the AIA chapters but also the 6 schools including: Catholic University of America, Howard University, Morgan State University, University of Maryland, the University of the District of Columbia and Virginia Tech’s Washington Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC). The event is hosted by NBM and sponsored by National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) without whose support the event would not be of such high caliber.

This year’s program, “A Place to Nourish Your Mind and Body: Rethinking Parker Lee Park in Dupont Area” as a “Small City in the Large House” was written by the WAAC. It begs the question, “If a city is a large house, how can we make it more welcoming to all?” 

We were honored to have as our head juror April De Simone, Assoc. AIA, NOMA. She was joined by Patricia Ramallo, AIA, NCARB, CAE, the Assistant Vice President of Innovation at NCARB and Melissa Bird, AICP Associate Director of Neighborhood Planning at the DC Office of Planning. The People’s Choice voting was decided with over 1065 votes cast in less than 48 hours. After deliberations, the judges selected:

If being involved with this competition inspires you, please reach out to assist with next year’s edition. We welcome volunteers who want to help or who might have once participated in the event to return to assist with its oversight.

– Sonia R. Jarboe, AIA | Chair, Interschool Student Design Competition