2021 National Design-Build Student Competition Champions
University of Colorado Boulder
The National Design-Build Student Competition provides young design-builders the opportunity to create a project as a team, present it to some of the industry’s leading pros and earn national recognition for their good work. DBIA’s student competition provides an unparalleled opportunity for students to meet and impress design-build industry leaders one-on-one.
Each year a unique project is chosen to challenge our student design-build competitors. This year’s project is a parking facility with education classrooms on a liberal arts college campus in the Midwest United States.
This two-phase competition gives teams from colleges and universities the chance to respond to a Request for Qualifications (the first phase) and a Request for Proposals (the second phase), with the top three teams from the RFP phase presenting their proposals to a panel of industry leaders at the 2022 Design-Build Conference & Expo in Las Vegas this November. The competition is impressive and provides an incredible opportunity for young design-builders.
Team registration for this year's competition is now closed.
The National Design-Build Student Competition provides a unique opportunity for students to showcase their collaborative skills as a team to industry leaders while making important connections at the same time. Teams should download our competition documents and rules to get started.
Download Details| PHASE 1 | |
| April 1 | Team Registration |
| September 2 | Letter of Intent (LOI) from Team Faculty Advisor Due |
| September 6 | Request for Qualifications (RFQ) Issued |
| September 8 | Virtual RFQ Meeting—MANDATORY |
| September 22 | Request for Qualifications Due |
| September 30 | Region Competition Winners Announced |
| PHASE 2 | |
| September 30 | Request for Proposals Issued |
| October 3 | Virtual RFP Meeting—MANDATORY |
| October 18 | Request for Proposals Due |
| October 26 | Three Shortlisted Teams Announced |
| November 3 | Proposal Presentation in Las Vegas |
| November 4 | National Competition Winner Announced |
"As a student, you don't get a lot of chances to talk to the higher-ups within an organization. If you do well, they seek you out and want to get to know you. I think being in the top three allows you the reverse of normal students. Rather than you trying to seek out a job, people seek you out to offer you a job. We had at least one person say, ‘If you want a job, you have one with Company X.’"
"DBIA's Student Competition was a learning experience of a lifetime—it provided 'real world' challenges that made us stronger and prepared for future success."
"This is a national professional organization that supports students in the competition; it’s as real-life as they can get and we can’t wait to enter next year!"
The “DBIA Buff Builders” design-build team from the University of Colorado-Boulder captured the nation’s top student design-build prize after competing before a jury of industry professionals at the 2021 Design-Build Conference & Expo in Denver. CU-Boulder was one of three finalists in the 2021 National Design-Build Student Competition, which presented its design and construction plans for a student health facility on an American college campus. The University of Florida placed second, and the team from the University of Arizona finished third in the national competition.
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