The Steel Freedom 2026 Student Architecture Competition Kicked Off Today

On September 1, 2026, the Steel Freedom 2026 student architecture competition kicked off, an annual event that brings together young architects and structural engineers from specialized universities across Ukraine.

This year’s competition challenge is to develop a concept for a hotel and administrative building with retail space located at 23 Yamskaya St., Building B, in the Holosiivskyi District of Kyiv. Students are asked to propose an original architectural solution using metal structures, combining the functionality of a hotel and business space with modern design approaches.

Third- through sixth-year students from relevant universities in Ukraine are eligible to participate — either individually or in teams of up to five people. The competition finals will take place on November 28. The winning teams will receive cash prizes: 1st place — 50,000 hryvnias, 2nd place — 40,000 hryvnias, and 3rd place — 30,000 hryvnias.

Metinvest is the competition’s traditional general partner. Official partners of this season include Ruukki, SketchUp, Tekla, Liraland Group, SVL, BIM Solutions, AVR, Oscar Group, LIRA10, SIGMA, AIMM, and ABMK.

Stay tuned for further updates on the competition’s official website steelfreedom.ua and on Steel Freedom’s social media channels.

STEEL FREEDOM is an annual national architectural student competition that encourages young professionals to develop conceptual architectural solutions using steel structures. The competition is organized by the Ukrainian Center for Steel Construction (UCSC), an association of participants in Ukraine’s steel construction market.

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