News

The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Robert L. Wesley Award. Four fellows, Ferras Coulibaly (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, School of Architecture), Erin Kurtycz (University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning), Beni Lawson (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, School of Architecture), and Salma Rodriguez (Texas Tech University, Huckabee College of Architecture) will each receive a $10,000 award in addition to a yearlong mentorship program that connects the students with leading BIPOC practitioners and educators. Awardees will also be supported by Black Spectacles as they work toward becoming licensed architects.

The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 European Research Prize. A team from the Technological University Dublin will receive a €20,000 prize to conduct original research that contributes to this year’s topic, “Advancing Toward a Water-Secure Future.” The European Research Prize was created in 2021 to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time.

The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Research Prize. Two teams—one from Auburn University and one from the University of Minnesota—have been awarded the 2024 Research Prize, and will each receive $30,000 to conduct original research that contributes to this year’s topic, “Advancing Toward a Water-Secure Future.” The Research Prize was created in 2018 to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time.

As part of a series highlighting the history and initiatives of the SOM Foundation, in this piece we look at John Whiteman’s leadership of the Chicago Institute for Architecture and Urbanism, from 1988 to 1991.

The (Im)material Matters Lab at the University of California, Berkeley, led by Professor Liz Gálvez, presents Collective Comfort: Airing on Possibilities, an innovative exhibition examining climate resilience in desert cities. The exhibition at the Center for Architecture + Design in San Francisco highlights design-research, full-scale prototypes, and student work that address the urgent need for alternative cooling solutions in regions facing extreme heat.

The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the 2024 Robert L. Wesley Award. The award supports BIPOC undergraduate students enrolled in architecture, landscape architecture, interior architecture, urban design, or engineering programs in the United States. This year, three students will receive a $10,000 award in addition to a yearlong mentorship program that connects the students with leading BIPOC practitioners and educators. The award is named in honor of Robert L. Wesley, the first Black partner at SOM.

The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the 2024 Research Prize. Two $30,000 prizes will be awarded to faculty-led interdisciplinary teams based in the United States to conduct original research that contributes to this year’s topic, “Advancing Toward a Water-Secure Future.” The Research Prize was created in 2018 to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time.

The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the opening of the 2024 European Research Prize. The €20,000 prize will be awarded to a faculty-led interdisciplinary team based in Europe to conduct original research that contributes to this year’s topic, “Advancing Toward a Water-Secure Future.” The European Research Prize was created in 2021 to cultivate new ideas and meaningful research that addresses the critical issues of our time.