The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest aspirations to enhance the design of the built environment.
Hao Chang
Reclaiming the Negative Space. © Hao Chang.
Lu Ming
Axonometric drawing of the inner part of the city wall in the waterfront area. © Lu Ming.
Zhang Nan
Scene of the transformation of the space under the viaduct in the Discover Eco-corridors project. © Zhang Nan.
Miro’s Chicago, Chicago, 1981. Photograph by Hedrich Blessing Photographers. © Successió Miró / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris 2025.
Pablo Castillo Luna
A Tent for Lovers, A Garden for Pollinators, 2022. © Pablo Castillo Luna.
Rebecca Henig
Coral Rubble at Moore Reef after MARRS star installation. Courtesy of Mars Incorporated and GBR Biology.
Aurélie Frolet
Jillian Maxcy-Brown
Emily McGlohn
The Rural Studio cluster system demonstration site is in Newbern, a rural Black Belt Alabama town. © Tim Hursley.
Dingliang Yang
Jennifer Yoos
Maura Rockcastle
Ross Altheimer
Roger Cummings
Daniel Carlson
Changó Cummings
Mapping of the “Soft-Urban Riverfront” along the Mississippi River in the Twin Cities, highlighting Pig’s Eye as a crucial site with a history of pollution, rich Indigenous heritage, and ecological significance. © Dingliang Yang and Michael Keller.
Map of Clew Bay in County Mayo. © Helen McFadden.
Steve Larkin
Helen McFadden
“Glitched Systems” is a product of manipulating established architectural works, reinterpreted through the theme of “glitch.” © Ferras Coulibaly.
Kalamazoo Post Office Branch. © Erin Kurtycz.
Treehouse—Consequences of Your Actions. © Beni Lawson.
“Framing Mobility Through Space.” © Salma Rodriguez.
The SOM Foundation supports individuals with the highest aspirations to enhance the design of the built environment.
Call for Applications
Research Prize Applications Now Open. Deadline: November 10, 2025
European Research Prize Applications Now Open. Deadline: November 10, 2025
Robert L. Wesley Award Applications Now Open. Deadline, November 13, 2025
2022 Structural Engineering Fellowship
Luis Berg
University of California, Berkeley
Escuela Nacional de Arte, Havana, Cuba, 2022. © Luis Berg.
Escuela Nacional de Arte, Havana, Cuba, 2022. © Luis Berg.
Imagining Future Cities: Global and Minnesota Visions, Past and Present examines the enduring pursuit of the Future City, both globally and in Minnesota. The concept of future cities as a means to create more habitable, just, and sustainable places for people to live, work, and play has captivated visionaries across place and time. The exhibition at the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis has been supported in part by the SOM Foundation as part of the 2024 Research Prize. Read
The SOM Foundation is pleased to announce the speakers for the third William F. Baker International Research and Design Forum in Madrid. This year’s edition will take place on Thursday, November 6, 2025, and will be organized in partnership with the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) on the campus of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid.
Architect Rosa Cervera, founder of Cervera Arquitectos and former Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Alcalá, will be honored during the third William F. Baker International Research and Design Forum for her contributions to the field of architecture through scientific inquiry and innovation.
The SOM Foundation, in partnership with the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM), is pleased to announce the third William F. Baker International Research and Design Forum. This year’s edition will take place on Thursday, November 6, 2025, and will be organized in partnership with the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid (ETSAM) on the campus of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. The full-day event will include presentations by academics and industry leaders whose body of work, creativity, and expertise inspire the future of materiality, assembly, and technology in the built world.