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
November 9 Robert L. Wesley Award
November 16 Research Prize
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
The International Research & Design Forum
On September 6 and September 7, 2019, the SOM Foundation partnered with the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) to organize the inaugural International Research and Design Forum in Chicago. During the two-day event, industry leaders, researchers, and academics from around the world delivered presentations and panel discussions on the groundbreaking ideas and research that continue to elevate design thinking within the urgent context of climate change. Read
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