The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest aspirations to enhance the design of the built environment.
Elizabeth Claypool
Schoonschip. Floating sustainable housing collective in Amsterdam, Netherlands. © Isabel Nabuurs.
3D representation of Los Angeles habitats. Courtesy of Maya Livio.
Gabriel Cuéllar
De Peter Yi
A series of strategies aimed at overcoming the minimum lot size zoning ordinance and designing across lot lines. © Gabriel Cuéllar.
Ian Caine
Esteban López Ochoa
Rudy Niño, Jr.
Christine Quattro
Wei Zhain
The research team will create a taxonomy of vacant or underutilized parcels, establishing parameters related to size, cost, zoning, location, and use. © Ian Caine, J. William Arch, Melanie Bartholomew, Devon Duffin, Phuoc Luu, Diana Rodriguez, Evey Santillan, and Michelyn Smith.
Aerial view of the urban fabric and context of Southwest Besòs in Barcelona. © REARQ UPC.
Pere Joan Ravetllat
Còssima Cornadó
Marta Domènech
Sara Vima-Grau
Fitzpatrick-Leland House, Los Angeles. Photograph: Tag Christof, 2021. Courtesy MAK Center.
Xianglan He
Bolun Qiu
Shuaibo Shi
The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest aspirations to enhance the design of the built environment.
Upcoming Call for Applications
Research Prize Applications Open in September 2024
European Research Prize Applications Open in September 2024
Robert L. Wesley Award Applications Open in September 2024
2015 UK Award Part 1
Douglas Miller
University College London
Bartlett School of Architecture
On Wednesday, June 5, the SOM Foundation will organize a fellows reception in Washington, DC coinciding with the AIA Conference on Architecture 2024. Read
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 Structural Engineering Fellowship. Elizabeth Claypool will receive $20,000 to conduct original research. This year’s topic, “Adapting Housing Strategies to Respond to New Realities,” seeks to explore affordable, equitable, and innovative modes of multifamily housing that respond to current and future needs. With her proposal, “Exploring Innovative Housing: A Playbook for Optimism” Claypool aims to create a playbook for optimism: a survey of nineteen case studies to identify innovative solutions that create meaningful impacts on housing outcomes.
The SOM Foundation and the MAK Center for Art and Architecture are pleased to announce the winner of the 2024 Researcher-in-Residence. Maya Livio is an interdisciplinary curator, writer, scholar, and media artist, as well as Assistant Professor of Climate, Environmental Justice, Media and Communication at American University. Livio will receive a $5,000 stipend and an eight-week summer residency in the live/work space at R.M. Schindler’s Fitzpatrick-Leland House in Los Angeles for work related to her research proposal entitled “Hospes: Housing Justice and Multispecies Cohabitation at the Wildland-Urban Interface.”
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the winners of the 2023 SOM Foundation Robert L. Wesley Award. Three fellows, Lauren Jian (University of Southern California, School of Architecture), Noelle Robinson (North Carolina State University, College of Design), and Emmelea Schatz (University of Kansas, School of Architecture & Design) will each receive a $10,000 award in addition to a yearlong mentorship program that connects the students with leading BIPOC practitioners and educators. In addition to the three fellows, the jury decided to expand the number of fellows to include two $5,000 unrestricted awards to Antonia Pacheco (Texas Tech University, Huckabee College of Architecture) and William Pyle (Texas Tech University, Huckabee College of Architecture).