2025 Forge Prize Jury

Emily Baker

University of Arkansas Associate Professor Emily Baker is an inventor, fabricator, architect, and previous Forge Prize winner--and now, she’ll be one of three jurors for the 2025 Forge Prize!

You may recognize her 2024 Forge Prize-winning design: a landmark trailhead that showcases her Spin-Valence system, a revolutionary steel space frame that’s both beautiful and functional. 

Baker’s winning concept has gone even further than the Forge Prize. A sculptural Spin-Valence piece is in the permanent collection of Cranbrook Art Museum, and her collaboration with mathematician Edmund Harriss, Curvahedra, is permanently installed on the campus of the University of Arkansas.

Baker has focused on self-structuring material systems and experimentation in her creative practice, research, and teaching.

In addition to the AISC Early Career Faculty Award and Forge Prize, Baker has received an ACSA Design Build Award for the Audi-Fab design/build studio sequence, which also received an AIA Design Merit award.

She’s currently collaborating with researchers from MIT, UVA and Princeton University on novel structural and construction systems, Zip-Form and Spin-Valence.

Baker holds degrees in architecture from University of Arkansas and Cranbrook Academy of Art. She teaches studios, structures, and fabrication at the University of Arkansas, and she previously taught at the American University of Sharjah and Tulane University.

Matthew Marani

Journalists have a keen eye for innovation--and Architectural Record Special Sections Editor Matthew Marani has a bird’s-eye perspective of architecture trends.

Those insights will prove invaluable when he serves as one of three jurors who will decide which Forge Prize design concept wins $15,000!

“Matthew Marani has spent years examining the cutting edge of architecture,” said AISC Director of Architecture Nima Balasubramanian, AIA, NOMA. “We are all looking forward to his expert perspective on the visionary concepts that the Forge Prize jury will consider!”

Prior to joining Architectural Record, Marani was program manager at The Architect’s Newspaper. He also has several years of experience as a freelance writer specializing in urban planning, historic preservation, and architectural technology.

Marani is a born and raised New Yorker. He holds a bachelor’s in history and political science from Skidmore College and a Masters in Science degrees in architectural conservation from the University of Edinburgh (a passion that has informed his work with the New York Landmarks Conservancy).

Parke MacDowell

Parke MacDowell, AIA, sits at the intersection of architectural practice and fabrication--right where people who design innovative structures meet the people who know how to put them together in the real world.

“Steel fabricators bring a unique perspective to an architect's design, and both need to collaborate closely to bring a project to completion,” said AISC Director of Architecture Nima Balasubramanian, AIA, NOMA. “Parke is one of very few people who are true experts in both specialties, and I look forward to his insights on this year’s entries.”

MacDowell currently serves as an associate principal and director of fabrication at Payette. As an architect, he leverages his background in the trades to inform design and project management. Committed to embedding fabrication within architectural practice, MacDowell uses models, prototypes, and full-scale mock-ups to help all parties understand the problem and have a voice in its resolution.

With a special interest in the community-building potential of architecture, he leads many pro-bono initiatives, positioning design as a powerful tool for outreach, community engagement, and building for the future.

MacDowell established Payette’s fabrication group, which elevates design process and communication across the breadth of the firm’s work. His design-forward projects have recently garnered two AIA 2021 Regional and Urban Design Awards and a 2021 American Architecture Award, among other accolades. He is the 2021 BSA Earl R. Flansburgh Young Architects Award recipient and is an adjunct professor of practice at Virginia Tech. MacDowell received the 2022 AIA Young Architect Award for his contributions to the profession.

He holds degrees from Dartmouth College and the University of Michigan.