The SOM Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2015 SOM Foundation fellowships, which since 1981 have been conferred annually to graduating students of architecture, design, urban design, and structural engineering. Funded through an endowment established by the partners of SOM, the awards are internationally recognized for their mission to nurture future leaders in design.
The SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill) Foundation exemplifies what is known as a corporate foundation…Awarding fewer but bigger prizes meant that more money could be shifted into direct action, Abadan explains, adding that the decision “elevated” the SOM Foundation's work over other travel fellowships being established at the time. The award allows recipients to “delve more deeply into a subject and gives our program a public face.”
On December 3, 2014, the SOM Foundation awarded its annual UK Award to students Kent Gin and Mike Lim. Gin, who is enrolled at the University of East London, won for his submission titled “Cultural Perforation of Madrid, Disruption of the Defined.” Lim, a student at the Royal College of Art, won for his entry, “Untitled, 2014. Mixed Media.”