The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest aspirations to enhance the design of the built environment.
2026 Researcher-in-Residence
Sixth Street Viaduct as Next Generation Infrastructure
Linda C. Samuels
Sixth Street Viaduct, Los Angeles. Photograph by Iwan Baan, Courtesy Michael Maltzan Architecture.
2026 Structural Engineering Fellowship
Critical Connectors: Regenerating Structures and Community Through Short-span Bridges
Lili Boenigk
Double living root bridge in East Khasi, India, 2011. CC BY 2.0 Arshiya Urveeja Bose.
Call for Applications
Research Prize Applications Open in September 2026
European Research Prize Applications Open in September 2026
Robert L. Wesley Award Applications Open in September 2026
Featured Fellow
A Taxonomy of Vacancy: Are Underutilized Commercial Strips the Answer to San Antonio’s Housing Shortage?
“A Taxonomy of Vacancy” demonstrates that multifamily infill housing along VIA Metropolitan Transit’s proposed rapid transit corridors can meet San Antonio’s 25-year housing demand without greenfield expansion or residential displacement. Using spatial analysis, data visualization, and prototype design, the research reimagines underutilized commercial corridors as compact, transit-oriented, walkable neighborhoods.
2023 Research Prize
Ian Caine
Esteban López Ochoa
Rudy Niño, Jr.
Christine Quattro
Wei Zhai
University of Texas at San Antonio
School of Architecture + Planning
City of San Antonio
Planning Department
Appalachian State University
College of Arts and Sciences
There are 3,938 developable parcels covering 2,720 acres along the proposed rapid transit routes. © Ian Caine.
Aerial rendering of Transit-Oriented Development in Perrin Beitel Corridor along Nacogdoches Road. © Ian Caine.
Recent News
2026 Research Prize Opens
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the 2026 Research Prize. Two $30,000 prizes will be awarded to faculty-led interdisciplinary teams based in the United States to conduct original research on this year’s topic, “AI, the Built Environment, and Human Agency.” The Research Prize was created in 2018 to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time.
Applications are due Monday, December 7, 2026, at 5:00 p.m. CST. Winners will be notified no later than Monday, February 1, 2027.
SOM Foundation Announces Jury for the 2026 Research Prize
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the jury for the 2026 Research Prize. This year’s jury will be led by SOM Foundation Executive Director Peter MacKeith and will include Phillip Bernstein (Deputy Dean and Professor in the Practice, Yale School of Architecture, Yale University, New Haven), Shane Burger (Chief Design Technology Officer, SOM, New York), Charlie Catlett (Senior Computer Scientist, Argonne National Laboratory; Founding Director, Trillion Parameter Consortium, Chicago), and Liam Young (Coordinator, MS Program in Fiction and Entertainment, Southern California Institute of Architecture; Founder, Tomorrows Thoughts Today, Los Angeles).
SOM Foundation announces the 2026–2027 Framework
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce that the 2026–2027 awards cycle will focus on the framework ”AI, the Built Environment, and Human Agency.”