Thankfully, that’s not the focus of a new student awards program created by the Grace Farms Foundation and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA): “Design for Freedom Competition: Ethical and Equitable Materiality to End Forced Labor,” launched in spring 2025. According to DFF, 28 million people worldwide are held in servitude for forced labor. A little background: the DFF effort was created in 2020 by Grace Farms Foundation CEO/Founder Sharon Prince to understand the pervasive use of forced labor in the built environment. The result was a two-pronged student competition: one focused on studio projects designed to use materials produced with minimal forced labor; the other concentrated on materials research to realize DFF goals. Featured image: “Nomadic Walls,” by Carnegie Mellon University students Ishika Dinesh and Yifan Feng (with Jongwan Kwon, faculty).