2026 AIA Architects League of Northern New Jersey’s Women’s STEAM High School Architecture Tower Challenge

AIA Architects League of Northern New Jersey’s Women’s STEAM High School Architecture Tower Challenge

A signature contribution to our celebration of AIA New Jersey Architecture Week, the Architects League annually hosts an all-day STEAM event for teams of high school girls from Bergen, Sussex, Passaic, and Hudson counties.  This program challenges teams of students to collaborate on designing a tower that will be judged on four criteria: Zoning Efficiency, economic value, Seismic Performance, and Aesthetics/Design. Students use their own computers and CAD programs to create mixed-use towers and are required to build within a provided site, FAR requirements, setback limits and street wall requirements. Students will also be asked to create physical sketch models of their tower’s structure using spaghetti and marshmallows that will be tested for seismic on a shake table.

The Tower Challenge promotes climate initiatives through the design of a mixed-use residential tower. Density reduces greenhouse emissions by reducing transportation needs, replacing sprawl with shared amenities, resources, and city services that are more accessible in densely populated areas.

This program is designed to reach and engage underrepresented populations in our industry. We seek to introduce creative problem-solving, the value of good design in the community, and model mentorship to these young women and their faculty. 

The 2026 AIA Architects League of Northern New Jersey’s Women’s STEAM High School Architecture Tower Challenge will be held on Tuesday April 14, 2026 at Hackensack High School from 8:30AM to 1:30PM

Email Stacey Kliesch, AIA, to register or for more information: staceykliesch@gmail.com

Click HERE to read about the 2025 event on the AIA New Jersey News Blog.