Sandcastle Competition Committee

Sandcastle Competition, presented by 811

Saturday, September 13, 2025

Tickets
Saturday: $15.00
Sunday: $10.00
Chilren 12 and under are granted free general admission
A ticket must be purchased for each day.
East Beach parking is $15 (not included with the purchase of ticket(s)).

East Beach
1923 Boddeker
Galveston, TX 77550

Co-Chair
Animesh Gupta, RA, AIA, LEED AP BD+C
BSA

Co-Chair
Lisa Bench
Gensler
Lisa_bench@gensler.com

Staff Liaison (teams and vendor contracts)
Alex Moreno
alexm@aiahouston.org

Sustainability Efforts

In 2023 our 125+ team participants collected over 200lbs of waste and recycling off of the beautiful sandy beaches of Galveston!

To support the AIA’s Framework for Design Excellence, we addressed the negative impact the Sandcastle Competition potentially has on Galveston’s East Beach.
Therefore, this year we organized our first “Beach Clean-up” and will continue to do so in the years following.

AIA National and AIA Houston both strongly believe the time for climate action is now. Architects play a crucial role in mitigating and adapting to climate change through sustainable and resilient design.

Energy efficiency and renewable energy, materials transparency, the protection of water resources, and other sustainability strategies support mitigation by conserving resources and reducing carbon emissions.

Resilient design helps communities adapt to evolving conditions, reduce harm and property damage, and more readily, effectively, and efficiently recover from adverse events. Architects can draw upon both sustainability and resilience to become a force of valuable change by transforming the day-to-day practice of architecture to achieve a zero-carbon, equitable, resilient, and healthy built environment.

Sandcastle Competition Committee