The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest aspirations to enhance the design of the built environment.
Liz Gálvez
Dalia Munenzon
2022 Research Prize
Collective Comfort: Framing the Cooling Center as a Resiliency and Educational Hub for Communities in Desert Cities
Two people take refuge from the scorching sun in the shade offered by a streetlight pole. Tall buildings also absorb and amplify the heat of the sun. A view of downtown Phoenix. © Cassidy Araiza.
Nida Rehman
2022 Research Prize
Taking Back the Air: Collective Learning, Advocacy, and Design for a Healthy Environment
View of Braddock and North Braddock from across the Monongahela River, 2021. © Keyi Chai.
2022 European Research Prize
Air de jeux
Maider Llaguno-Munitxa
Chiara Cavalieri
Beatrice Lampariello
Damien Claeys
Gerald Ledent
Christine Fontaine
Geoffrey Van Moeseke
Photo showing a school street located in the Brussels Capital Region. © Les chercheurs d’air.
2023 Structural Engineering Fellowship
Structures that Breathe
Lydia Moog
Horse Island Research Station by Gray Organschi Architecture and Yale School of Architecture. © Lydia Moog.
Creating New Architecture Through Research: On Materiality
October 14, Stuttgart
Photograph by ftgrf. © IntCDC, University of Stuttgart/SOM Foundation, Chicago.
2023 China Fellowship
Air Purification and Urban Strategies
Xianglan He
2023 China Fellowship
Air Justice: A Study on the Relationship Between Urban Form, Social Class, and Air Quality
Bolun Qiu
2023 China Fellowship
Environmental Tectonics Through Air: Learning from Vernacular
Shuaibo Shi
Upcoming Call for Applications
Research Prize Apply Now. Deadline: November 13, 2023
European Research Prize Apply Now. Deadline: November 13, 2023
Robert L. Wesley Award Apply Now. Deadline: November 16, 2023
2019 Research Prize
Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich
Seth Denizen
David Moreno Mateos
Harvard University
Graduate School of Design
© Seth Denizen.
Past
SOM Foundation Fellows Reception | San Francisco 2023
On Wednesday, June 7, the SOM Foundation organized a fellows reception in San Francisco coinciding with the AIA Conference on Architecture 2023. Read
Recent News
SOM Foundation Announces Winners of the 2023 China Fellowship
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 SOM Foundation China Fellowship. Three fellows, Xianglan He, Bolun Qiu, and Shuaibo Shi will each receive $5,000 to conduct original research. This year’s topic, “Shaping Our World Through Air,” is a prompt to investigate the impact that air has on our world, from the unequal way pollution affects communities to the way it shapes spatial conditions and material innovations.
Douglas Eugene Oliver Jr. (1959–2023)
The SOM Foundation is saddened to hear the news of the passing of architect and educator Douglas Eugene Oliver Jr., recipient of the 1986 Master of Architecture fellowship. Our condolences to his family, friends, and colleagues at Rice University.
SOM Foundation Announces Winner of 2023 Structural Engineering Fellowship
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the winner of the 2023 Structural Engineering Fellowship. Lydia Moog will receive $20,000 to conduct original research. This year’s topic, “Shaping Our World Through Air,” is a prompt to investigate the impact that air has on our world, from the unequal way pollution affects communities to the way it shapes spatial conditions and material innovations.