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
January 2021 Structural Engineering Fellowship
January 2021 China Fellowship
2019 Research Prize
Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich
Seth Denizen
David Moreno Mateos
Harvard University
Graduate School of Design
© Seth Denizen.
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
SOM Foundation Announces New Robert L. Wesley Award
Created in 2020, the Robert L. Wesley Award supports BIPOC undergraduate students enrolled in architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, or structural engineering programs across the US. The $10,000 award is an unrestricted scholarship that aims to support the academic development of the student. The award honors Robert L. Wesley, the first black partner at SOM. Read
2020 Research Prize Application Opens
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the third annual SOM Foundation Research Prize. The awards program, which comprises two $40,000 grants, is designed to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time. Read
The Right to Sewage Project, Recipient of the 2019 SOM Foundation Research Prize, Featured on Harvard GSD
The “Right to Sewage“ project, recipient of the 2019 SOM Foundation Research Prize, has been featured on Harvard GSD. The article by Alex Anderson, titled “The Right to Sewage: Agriculture, climate change, and the growing need for cities to embrace wastewater reuse,” explains that the ”work will be a call to action to think about ‘the future of the cycle of water‘ and to envision ‘new human/biological relationships‘ in Mexico City.” Read