The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest design aspirations to achieve excellence.
Bringing together the brightest design minds to undertake interdisciplinary research that can help shape our future
© David Schalliol.
© Daniel Kelleghan.
Creating New Architecture Through Research
September 6, 2019
2019 Research Prize
Hot Farms: How Emails Grow Tomatoes
Clare Lyster
Aerial image of Greenhouses, Westland, The Netherlands. © Google.
2017 China Prize
Architecture, Infrastructure, and Urban Design and the Emerging Role of Infrastructure Design in the Modern City
Yue Wu
Upcoming Deadlines
March 15, 2021 Structural Engineering Fellowship
March 2021 China Fellowship
Featured Fellow
Wetland Frontier
2019 Research Prize
Annabelle Tan
University College London
Bartlett School of Architecture
Creating an Urban Ecology. © Annabelle Tan.
Schematic Overview, Wetland Frontier. © Annabelle Tan.
Disaster-Proof Housing Collective. © Annabelle Tan.
Featured Events
Towards an Agrarian Urbanism: Progressive Potentials for Contemporary Practice
On October 14, 2020, architect and urbanist Charles Waldheim, juror of the 2019 Research Prize, discussed his work as it relates to the topic of the Research Prize: “Shrinking our Agricultural Footprint.” The lecture was organized in collaboration with the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. Watch
Recent News
2021 Structural Engineering Fellowship Application Opens
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the 2021 SOM Foundation Structural Engineering Fellowship. The $20,000 fellowship is
awarded annually to a graduating student who specializes in structural
engineering to conduct independent travel and research that contributes
to the SOM Foundation’s current topic and has the potential to influence
the practice and teaching of how structures can positively impact our
built environment. Apply
Robert L. Wesley, Convocation Speaker of the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture
Robert L. Wesley, retired SOM Partner and eponym of the SOM Foundation's newest award, was the convocation speaker for the University of Oklahoma Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture on Friday, December 18, 2020. Watch
Lecture by SOM Foundation Fellow Seth Denizen at Harvard GSD
SOM Foundation Fellow Seth Denizen, winner of the 2019 Research Prize, delivered the Kiley Fellow Lecture at Harvard GSD on September 21, 2020. During the lecture, titled “Thinking Through Soil: Case Study from the Mezquital Valley,” Denizen discussed the project supported by the SOM Foundation and developed with Montserrat Bonhevi Rosich and David Moreno Mateos. Watch
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