Student Design Competitions

May include but are not limited to opportunities listed below. Information about other competitions shared with the department are often included in Fab Friday emails to students and faculty. 

ASLA Student Awards

Explore the Professional and Student Awards and take your place in the profession’s highest celebration of innovation, stewardship, and lasting design excellence. The ASLA Student Awards celebrate excellence in landscape architecture education. Submissions reflect the depth, creativity, and rigor of student work across design, research, analysis, and planning. Winning entries demonstrate clarity of intent, thoughtful response to site and context, and a strong command of landscape architectural principles.

Projects may be entered in one of the following categories: General design, Residential design, Urban design, Analysis & Planning, Research, Communications, Student Collaboration, and Student Community Service. Entrants must be a Student, Student Affiliate, International Student, or first-year Associate member of ASLA. Non-members must join ASLA prior to entering the awards program.

Hasslein Cup

The Hasslein Cup is an interdisciplinary student competition hosted within the College of Architecture and Environmental Design (CAED) and supported by The Alliance Foundation for Interdisciplinary Learning. Typically held in spring, the Hasslein Cup is a mixed-use residential development challenge where students from all CAED programs - CM, ARCH, LARC, CRP, and ARCE - collaborate in teams to develop a comprehensive proposal for a real-world project site. Ideally, teams should include students from at least three different CAED majors. The goal is to create innovative and feasible solutions that address housing needs while thoughtfully integrating design, planning, and construction considerations.

Vellum / CAED Furniture Competition & Exhibition

Vellum Design Build, a San Luis Obispo design-and-build firm, and the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Cal Poly team up to sponsor this annual competition that asks students to conceive and construct projects that range from tables and chairs to light fixtures, toys and other furniture design solutions. Designs must be original and fabricated by each student or team of students. Their projects will be judged on function, individuality and beauty by a panel of experts in their field.

Typically held in fall, this competition is open to all students in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design. The top selected entry is awarded a trip to Milano for the Salone del Mobile (largest furniture fair in the world); and there are also fifteen special awards - including a Special Outdoor Furniture award.

Design Village

Design Village is a competition hosted by Cal Poly's Architecture program, typically held in spring. The Design Village competition has a long history and has become one of the most anticipated events of the year for the College of Architecture & Environmental Design (CAED). True to our Learn by Doing experience, competitors design and build "shelters" in which said competitors inhabit their respective structures throughout the entirety of the weekend. Design Village website.

Since 2023, Design Village has been integrated in the Landscape Architecture second-year curriculum. However, students may also form teams and enter the event independently.

MOA Design and Build Competition

The Museum of Outdoor Arts in Colorado expanded their Design and Build program to include a national competition open to any undergraduate or graduate student or student team currently enrolled in any U.S. university (recent graduates are eligible to enter for up to one year from competition open date, post graduation). Students should be studying in the field of art, architecture, landscape architecture, design, engineering, and/or other programs that focus on creativity. Entries can be submitted by individuals, teams, or as classes. Collaborative designs are highly desired. Past competition winners must observe a one-year sit out period prior to being eligible to enter future competitions. Learn more and sign up for notifications at their website.