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About
Awards
Fellows
Events
News
Contact
Support
Research Prize
European Research Prize
Structural Engineering Fellowship
China Fellowship
Robert L. Wesley Award

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Searching for

About
Awards
Fellows
Events
News
Contact
Support
Research Prize
European Research Prize
Structural Engineering Fellowship
China Fellowship
Robert L. Wesley Award

Research Prize

In 2018, the SOM Foundation introduced the Research Prize to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time. Each year, two $40,000 prizes are awarded to faculty-led interdisciplinary teams based in the United States to conduct original research that contributes to the SOM Foundation’s current topic.

The Research Prize is open to faculty currently teaching at a professionally accredited bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, or PhD program in architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, urban design, or engineering in the United States. The research must be developed in an academic studio or other research structure within the academic institution. The lead faculty member(s) will be expected to work in a collaborative manner with faculty from other disciplines, leading professionals, nonprofit organizations, and/or community representatives in addition to students enrolled in the studio. Collaborator(s) can be based worldwide. The winning teams will be required to thoroughly document their research findings and develop conclusions or suggestions for application to professional practice.

Application Opens in September 2022

2021

Somf 2021 research prize davis gursoy oghazian ghazvinian west pecchia proposal 01

MycoKnit: Cultivating Mycelium-Based Composites on Knitted Textiles for Large-Scale Biodegradable Architectural Structures

“MycoKnit” aims to explore the interrelated behavior of mycelium-based composites and knitted textiles, where the knit is used as a growing base for mycelium materials, to offer a sustainable and biodegradable building material and structural system that is strong in both tension and compression.

Felecia Davis
Pennsylvania State University Department of Architecture

Ali Ghazvinian
Pennsylvania State University Department of Architecture

Benay Gürsoy
Pennsylvania State University Department of Architecture

Farzaneh Oghazian
Pennsylvania State University Department of Architecture

John Pecchia
Pennsylvania State University Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology

Andre West
North Carolina State University Wilson College of Textiles

Somf 2021 research prize lokko dyson proposal 01
Somf 2021 research prize lokko dyson proposal 03

Soil Sisters: An Intersectoral Material Design Framework for Soil Health

“Soil Sisters” aims to investigate a new paradigm for connecting agricultural waste to large-scale regional material supply chains, in which improving soil nutrition and soil resiliency underpins the design goal of providing cross-sectoral environmental performance through the provision of new biomaterial construction systems.

Anna Dyson
Yale University School of Architecture

Mae-ling Lokko
Yale University School of Architecture

Somf 2020 research prize jones allen holliday proposal 01

2020

Reclaiming Black Settlements: A Design Playbook for Historic Communities in the Shadow of Sprawl

Diane Jones Allen
Austin Allen
Kathryn Holliday

Somf 2020 research prize lin molix welty proposal 02

2020

Public Space and Scrutiny: Examining Urban Monuments through Social Psychology

Tiffany Lin
Lisa Molix
Emilie Taylor Welty

Somf research prize bonhevi denizen moreno harvard syllabus 2019

2019

The Right to Sewage: Digesting Mexico City in the Mezquital Valley

Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich
Seth Denizen
David Moreno Mateos

Somf 2019 research prize clare lyster summer hofford research image

2019

Hot Farms: How Emails Grow Tomatoes

Clare Lyster

Somf 2019 research prize mun bogosian lee shenzhen biennale

2018

Architectural Standards Guide from a Neurological Perspective

Biayna Bogosian
Kristine Mun

Somf research prize wayne place 2018 02

2018

Natural Light and Health in Urban Environments

Wayne Place

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