Creative Spark Design Competition
Support Creative Spark, an annual event celebrating the impact of our Architects in Schools program by participating in our design competition! Create a team of up to five design and building professionals for a chance to win awards designated by a panel of Architects in Schools elementary school student judges.
We invite AEC professionals to exercise creativity, teamwork, civic engagement, and sustainability in their designs, all while supporting a great cause!
“Creative Spark is a magnificent idea and a great start to what will hopefully become a beloved annual event for the AFO community.” – Design Competition Participant
2026 Design Competition
Inspired by the idea of being “In Motion”, this year’s design challenge is to create a model of a space or feature that plays on the idea of movement, sited at Mount Tabor Park in SE Portland.
Important Dates:
- April 1: Design competition registration opens
- April 21, 5-6pm, Virtual: Design competition info session
- May 1: Design competition registration deadline
- May 5: Design competition team orientation
- May 28, 5:30-8pm, DLR Group: Final designs completed, presented, and judged at Creative Spark event
Entry Fee (per team): $100
Fundraising Goal: Each team is responsible for raising $500 in support of Architects in Schools. Your entry fee will be applied to your fundraising goal. AFO will provide a fundraising page for you to share as well as supportive language and materials for your efforts.
Access the Design Competition Brief
2026 Design Competition registration is closed. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay updated when 2027 registration goes live.
Watch our 2026 Info Session to learn more.
2026 Design Competition Awards
Skanska Momentum Makers
Awarded Most Kid Friendly and Judges’ Choice
Team Members: John Medvec, Natalie Pukatch, Liz Mesberg, Kristina Standley, Kaitlyn Standley
The Board of Park Trustees met over kibble one day and decided humans shouldn’t have all the fun at Mt Tabor. After much debate and tail wagging they decided on park features that humans and pets would enjoy. After some furry fundraising they set about gathering their recycled materials, always mindful of the environment and included their feline friends in the effort because everyone should be let in and no one should be left out.
Interface Engineering: Legion of Zoom
Awarded Best Celebration of Oregon and People’s Choice
Team Members: Andrew Lasse, Kate Jones, Andrew Flanagan, Mason Bonn
The Derby at Mount Tabor transforms the spirit of Portland’s beloved Soapbox Derby into a year-round attraction, allowing visitors to experience the thrill of the race on a coaster-inspired track along the historic “Blood Alley” route. Featuring locally designed soapbox cars, the project combines recreation, scenic views, and adventure while celebrating Mount Tabor’s unique landscape and Portland’s culture of creativity and motion.
OPSIS!
Awarded AFO’s Choice
Team Members: Sina Meier, Kirsten Justice, Paul Kinley, Sarah Burk
The Teeter Totter Bridge is giant, record-breaking (beating the current record for longest teeter totter which is 82 feet!), and will act as a land bridge between the neighborhoods surrounding Mount Tabor Park. Inspired by Portland’s many iconic bridges, the design embraces the competition theme “In Motion” by creating a structure that pivots, swivels, and tilts.
ZGF Sparkitects
Awarded Most Visually Appealing and Most Extraordinary
Team Members: Kristina Thomsen, Joanne Stainbrook, Josh Hadley, Wanting Zhou, Mohamed Fakhry
This interactive experience plays upon the history of Mount Tabor as an active volcano. The park is sited on an extinct volcanic cinder cone that was once part of the Boring Lava Field millions of years ago. It is part of an extensive network of small volcanoes and vents in and around the Portland area. Visitors to this park feature can learn about Mount Tabor, walk into the center of an “active” volcano that erupts bubbles, and have a visit with Groot in the center!
Mackenzie: Mack Motion
Awarded Best Expression of Movement
Team Members: Awar Meman, Nitin Sharma, Lauren Preston, Delaney Bradley, Jansel Padilla
Viewscapes on Tabor reimagines a key area of Portland’s Mount Tabor Park through a series of accessible, cantilevered platforms and a sculptural metal superstructure that frame views, enhance comfort, and celebrate the site’s unique topography. By transforming existing circulation patterns into a cohesive architectural experience, the project connects two significant park destinations while creating an inviting public gathering space that deepens visitors’ relationship to the landscape, city, and community.
NBBJ
Awarded Most Inspiring Description
Team Members: Hope Friedman, Evon Calabrese
Who wouldn’t want a reward for walking up a hill?! Roller slides allow the user to experience the landscape in a unique way and promote an uphill vigorous walk with a worthwhile reward. The soap box derby tradition at Mt. Tabor also lends itself to expressive user-made go-carts and a roller slide will need the user to bring their own slide “raft”. A piece of cardboard works great but why not go bigger?! The roller slide will encourage visitors to try out new and inventive slide rafts which keep the spirit of the soap box derby alive throughout the year.
DLR Group
Awarded Best Inspiration from Nature
Team Members: Justin Stranzl, Chris Perez, Ava Cairns, Michael Fletcher, Tyra Hayashi
Floating Landscape reimagines Mount Tabor Reservoir Number 5 as an immersive public experience through a series of floating platforms that extend access onto the water and create new pathways across the reservoir. Inspired by the park’s organic circulation patterns, the installation rises and falls with changing water levels, offering visitors a dynamic and ever-evolving way to engage with the landscape.
The Rolling Olmsteds
Awarded Best Use of Recycled Materials
Team Members: CA White, Emily Matis, Cassandra White
While larger animals walk, run, dance, and play on Mt. Tabor, a teeny tiny creature is busy weaving silky strands into beautiful patterns all through the forest! The movement of Mt. Tabor’s spiders is a beautiful ballet that produces a sticky dance floor their prey can never escape (the party never stops!). Our design team has created a canopy catwalk connecting Mt. Tabor’s trees with rope bridges, platforms, and slides in the shape of a spiderweb in tribute to the designs that the movement of Mt. Tabor’s giant house spiders, cross spiders, jumping spiders, and hobo spiders leave in the park.
Integrus Architecture: Team In-Flow
Awarded Most Environmentally Friendly
Team Members: Angel Lopez, Franklin Potts, Lexi Buechele, Regina Batiste, Xanthe Steffen
This project reimagines circulation through Mount Tabor Park by connecting its historic reservoirs with a river-inspired pathway that flows organically through the landscape. Curving with the natural terrain, the path is punctuated by pavilions and gathering spaces that encourage both movement and pause, creating a dynamic visitor experience that celebrates the relationship between water, topography, and community.
Scott Edwards Architecture: SEA Stars
Awarded Best Park to Experience with Family and Friends
Team Members: Hugh Bitzer, Makayla Wong, Tom Byrne
Zipping and sliding over and through the water you never know where gravity will pull you towards. The Mt. Tabor Dash and Splash is where one can move through the trees, glide through the water and take in the sights while doing so. There are ziplines that send you over the reservoir, bridges through the trees that wobble and bounce, slides that lead to a refreshing destination and biking trails for everyone to enjoy.
D.R.E.A.M. (Designing Really Exciting Architecture Models) Team: Pavilion
Awarded People’s Choice and Most Visually Appealing
Team Members: Emily Matis and Hugh Bitzer
The pavilion design draws inspiration from the life cycle and movement of Chinook salmon, whose annual upstream migration represents both struggle and renewal. Just as these fish navigate complex, shifting currents to return to their place of origin, the structure seeks to embody motion against resistance—anchored yet dynamic, fluid yet intentional.
DLR Group: Treehouse on the Willamette
Awarded Best Inspiration from Nature
Team Members: Justin Stranzl, Kelli Stewart, Kaylene Campbell
Throughout the summer, Tom McCall Waterfront Park is packed with visitors for concerts and festivals. But the grass ends up trampled and dead, attendees go home with sunburns, and shorter concertgoers can’t see the performers. The Treehouse on the Willamette solves all of these problems: Attendees can stay off the grass, find shade either inside the treehouse or under a shading branch, and enjoy views of the entire city.
Mackenzie: Portland Pavilion
Awarded Best Celebration of Portland
Team Members: Alison Hoagland, Delaney Bradley, Ashley Fenner, Quincey Gerow
The design represents a cut rose that has landed on the ground after the rose parade. Visitors can pretend to be their favorite pollinator by running and playing along the structure. The shape of the fallen flower creates a fun and interactive experience for all visitors to the park and truly celebrates Portland, Rose City Style.
NBBJ: RIPPLE
Awarded Best Place to Hang Out with Family and Friends
Team Members: Ryan Brunelle, Jessica Radecki, Virginia Black, Evon Calabrese
RIPPLE is inspired by rain falling on the surface of a still pond, changing the flat surface into a pattern of overlapping ridges and valleys and redirecting light. The existing Saturday Market and Bill Naito Legacy Fountain, honoring Portland’s immigrants, serve as the two sparks to reimagine the importance of the river to the City of Portland, with a third being a new rental kiosk floating in the Willamette.
Opsis Otters: Observation Tower & Waterslide
Awarded Best Use of Recycled Materials
Team Members: Sina Meier, Kirsten Justice, Nancy Pelayo-Colores, Nada Maani
Inspired by river otters, this design leads visitors down a sloped walkway leading from downtown into the river. Visitors pass by logs and plants, getting glimpses into what the otter’s life is like. The walkway dips below the water with views out to the river bed, before it turns up into a glassy observation tower/elevator with a viewing platform for sunbathing, partying, and seeing the city from a brand new perspective.
Questions?
Contact:
Erica Rife
Executive Director
erica@af-oregon.org
971-357-3168