The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest aspirations to enhance the design of the built environment.
Lake Verret, Louisiana, 2017. © Virginia Hanusik.
Zhangxiang Dai
Wenxiao Xiang
Xiangqing Zheng
Elizabeth Claypool
Schoonschip. Floating sustainable housing collective in Amsterdam, Netherlands. © Isabel Nabuurs.
3D representation of Los Angeles habitats. Courtesy of Maya Livio.
Gabriel Cuéllar
De Peter Yi
A series of strategies aimed at overcoming the minimum lot size zoning ordinance and designing across lot lines. © Gabriel Cuéllar.
Ian Caine
Esteban López Ochoa
Rudy Niño, Jr.
Christine Quattro
Wei Zhain
The research team will create a taxonomy of vacant or underutilized parcels, establishing parameters related to size, cost, zoning, location, and use. © Ian Caine, J. William Arch, Melanie Bartholomew, Devon Duffin, Phuoc Luu, Diana Rodriguez, Evey Santillan, and Michelyn Smith.
Aerial view of the urban fabric and context of Southwest Besòs in Barcelona. © REARQ UPC.
Pere Joan Ravetllat
Còssima Cornadó
Marta Domènech
Sara Vima-Grau
The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest aspirations to enhance the design of the built environment.
Call for Applications
Research Prize Applications Are Now Open. Deadline: November 11, 2024
European Research Prize Applications Are Now Open. Deadline: November 11, 2024
Robert L. Wesley Award Applications Are Now Open. Deadline: November 14, 2024
2011 SOM Prize for Architecture, Design, and Urban Design
Brandon Clifford
Princeton University
School of Architecture
Maya Livio, recipient of the 2024 Researcher-in-Residence, led a conversation with artist Huntrezz Janos and writer and researcher Emma Kemp as part of her research project “Hospes: Housing Justice and Multispecies Cohabitation at the Wildland-Urban Interface.” Read
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the 2024 Robert L. Wesley Award. The award supports BIPOC undergraduate students enrolled in architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, urban design, or engineering programs in the United States. This year, three students will receive a $10,000 award in addition to a yearlong mentorship program that connects the students with leading BIPOC practitioners and educators. The award is named in honor of Robert L. Wesley, the first Black partner at SOM.
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the 2024 European Research Prize. The €20,000 prize will be awarded to a faculty-led interdisciplinary team based in Europe to conduct original research that contributes to this year’s topic, “Advancing Toward a Water-Secure Future.” The European Research Prize was created in 2021 to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time”
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the 2024 Research Prize. Two $30,000 prizes will be awarded to faculty-led interdisciplinary teams based in the United States to conduct original research that contributes to this year’s topic, “Advancing Toward a Water-Secure Future.” The Research Prize was created in 2018 to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time.
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the topic for 2024–2025. This year’s awards will focus on the topic of “Advancing Toward a Water-Secure Future.”