Architecture, Infrastructure, and Urban Design and the Emerging Role of Infrastructure Design in the Modern City. © Yue Wu, 2017 China Prize Fellow.
The $5,000 China Fellowship is awarded annually to three students in the last two years of either an undergraduate or graduate program in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design at a university in the People’s Republic of China. The Fellowship provides financial support to conduct independent travel and research that contributes to the SOM Foundation’s current topic.
The built environment is defined by human-made decisions that have long-lasting impacts on our society. Today, we are in the midst of a critical conversation about how structural racial injustices, discriminatory policies, and uneven access to resources have shaped our society and our built environment for decades. Challenges like the current global health crisis reveal and amplify conditions that have always been present. These injustices and policies are manifested in both subtle and explicit ways across many areas—from housing, education, economy, and safety to public transportation, public space, health, and the environment. Governments, civic institutions, private organizations, professionals, and citizens continuously define, respond, and contest these conditions. Exploring and identifying long-term policies, immediate actions, and comprehensive plans have the potential to shape a more equitable and sustainable future.
The applicant must be enrolled at a university in the People’s Republic of China.
The applicant must be an undergraduate or graduate student in the last two years of an accredited degree program in architecture, landscape architecture, or urban design.
The applicant must intend to obtain an accredited degree and to enter the professional practice of architecture, landscape architecture, or urban design.
Chinese citizenship is not required.
Students from China who are enrolled at universities outside the People’s Republic of China are not eligible for the award.
Students enrolled at universities in the People’s Republic of China who are attending universities outside the country as a part of a “study abroad” program are eligible for the award.
Application materials, as outlined in Section 5, must be received by 5:00 p.m. Beijing Standard Time on Friday, April 23, 2021. Applications received after that time will not be considered.
An identification number will be assigned to each applicant upon receiving the submission. This number is random and does not reflect the order in which a submission will be judged. The identification number is to assure the anonymity of each applicant.
The jury will meet in April 2021. The winner will be notified no later than Friday, May 21, 2021.
A Cover Sheet (download).
A Portfolio:
A Proposal:
A Travel Itinerary using the following guidelines:
Application should be:
A link to the application should be emailed to chinafellowship@somfoundation.com no later than 5:00 p.m. Beijing Standard Time on Friday, April 23, 2021. Applications received after that time will not be considered.
A jury, chaired by Leo Chow, will be responsible for selecting three winning applications most suited to the SOM Foundation’s current topic. The intention is to award three China Fellowships, but the SOM Foundation reserves the right to choose not to award, to co-award, or to split the prize as the jury deems appropriate. An independent jury of prominent architects will select the winners, based on the applicants’ Design Portfolios and their Travel/Research Proposals.
Winners will be notified by May 21, 2021.
By accepting the award, the recipient agrees to the following:
For winners of the SOM Foundation China Fellowship, information is provided below regarding the requirements for the Final Report:
Content of Report
Final Report, written in Chinese and English, should be submitted in PDF format, 8.5” x 11” portrait orientation.
In addition to the final report, the recipient should provide a selection of high-resolution digital images to be posted on the fellow page of the SOM Foundation website. Images should be submitted as JPGs (minimum width of 3000 pixels) with appropriate captions.
The Foundation hopes that over the years, each Fellow’s report will become a valuable and convenient record for assessing the program’s benefit to both the recipients and the profession.
The winning submission will become part of the SOM Foundation’s archive. The SOM Foundation reserves the right to use the winning submission—and winner’s monthly progress reports and final report—or any portion of them in press releases, presentations, exhibits, history books, and similar publications, as well as for public access for student and educational purposes in all media, including online. Authors will retain the copyright of their work.