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
The Anatomy of Sprawl
2000 Chicago Institute for Architecture & Urbanism (CIAU)
Brenda Case Scheer
University of Cincinnati
Manhattan 1660 and 1997. The shaded areas are the original blocks of Lower Manhattan, transposed on 1 1997 map on the same area. The land area has increased dramatically in the intervening years, but the original street network remains largely intact. © Brenda Case Scheer.
Residential neighborhoods with different patterns of houses, streets, and lots. © Brenda Case Scheer.
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.”