The 2023 ASCE Architectural Engineering Institute International Student Design Competition challenged student teams to consider a real building – the five-story Kaleideum North in Winston-Salem, North Carolina – and innovatively design it as a living building as it is retrofit into a new children’s museum.

This includes all kinds of considerations – including green design elements, energy performance optimization, and embodied carbon reduction.

And this year, the multidisplinary team from Penn State took first place in two categories – building integration and construction – and second place in the other three categories.

In episode 146 of ASCE Plot Points, Penn State team lead Jordan Kubenik talks about how the Nittany Lions managed such a massive project and how it’s helped her get a jumpstart on her career this summer.