image courtesy of Harvard GSD

The Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) is pleased to announce the fourth round of the Wheelwright Prize, an open international competition that awards $100,000 to a talented early-career architect to support travel-based research. The 2016 Wheelwright Prize is now accepting applications; the deadline for submissions is February 8, 2016. This annual prize is dedicated to fostering new forms of architectural research informed by cross-cultural engagement.

The Wheelwright Prize is open to emerging architects practicing anywhere in the world. The primary eligibility requirement is that applicants must have received a degree from a professionally accredited architecture program in the past 15 years (after 2001). An affiliation to the GSD is not required. Applicants are asked to submit a portfolio, a research proposal, and a travel itinerary that takes them outside their country of residence.  

Wheelwright 2015 finalists. from left to right: Variable Measure Photography © Ben Premeaux,Zoo, or the Letter Z, just after Zionism Photography © Johannes Schwarz,a factory building facade  Photography © Kenneth Choo.

In 2013, Harvard GSD revamped the Arthur W. Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship, which was established in 1935 in memory of Wheelwright, Class of 1887. Intended to encourage the study of architecture outside the United States at a time when international travel was difficult, the award was available only to GSD alumni; past fellows have included Paul Rudolph, Eliot Noyes, William Wurster, Christopher Tunnard, I. M. Pei, Farès el-Dahdah, Adele Santos, and Linda Pollak.

Wheelwright 2014 finalists. from left to right: Masaaki Iwamoto: Partner at Vo Trong Nghia Architects, Ho Chi Minh City. Wheelwright proposal: Tropical Skin: Study on New Building Envelope for Tropical Megacities. Ana Dana Beros: Think Space, Zagreb, Croatia. Wheelwright proposal: INTERMUNDIA: Re-Imagining Border-Scape in Mediterranean Countries. Jose Ahedo: Studio Ahedo, Barcelona. Wheelwright Proposal: Domesticated Grounds: Design and Domesticity Within Animal Farming Systems. Alison Crawshaw: Alison Crawshaw Architecture, London. Wheelwright proposal: The Poison and the Cure: Rubbish in the Information Age. Sean Lally: Weathers, Chicago. Wheelwright proposal: Climate Design: The Architecture of Energies. Kaz Yoneda: Takram Design Engineering, Tokyo. Wheelwright proposal: Utopics of Cities: Amorphous Contemporaneity of Ideal. Jimenez Lai: Bureau Spectacular, Chicago. Wheelwright proposal: Caricatures, Fictions and Hyperboles: A Revisit of the World of Wonders. images courtesy of Wheelwright Prize.

In the press release, Mohsen Mostafavi, Harvard GSD Dean remarked that  “We are pleased to see the enormous response to the prize over the past three years.'' “Having reviewed hundreds of applications from every corner of the globe, it’s clear that, worldwide, there is an emerging generation of architects with a strong desire to push the boundaries of this profession, to consider political, social, cultural, and environmental issues. Beyond giving a boost to talented young architects, the Wheelwright Prize is helping to define new territories of concern for the profession.”

Winners of the revamped prize are: 2015, Erik L’Heureux, Singapore (BArch 1996, Washington University in St. Louis, and MArch 2000, Princeton University), for his proposal to study architecture in five dense cities in the equatorial zone; 2014, Jose M. Ahedo, Barcelona (BArch 2005, Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de la Universitat de Catalunya), for his research on the architecture and organization of structures related to animal farming; and 2013, Gia Wolff, Brooklyn (MArch 2008, Harvard GSD), for her study of the spectacular, temporary, urban-scale float structures that transform Rio de Janeiro during carnival. Wolff presented her research as part of the GSD’s Spring 2015 lecture series, along with the 2015 finalists L’Heureux, Malkit Shoshan, and Quynh Vantu. Please Click here for a link to Wolff’s lecture, and here to view the finalists’ presentations. 

An international jury will be announced in January 2016. In addition to Wheelwright Prize Organizing Committee members Dean Mostafavi, Professors K. Michael Hays and Jorge Silvetti, previous juries included the following: Craig Evan Barton, Preston Scott Cohen, and Sarah Herda (2015 Jury); Iñaki Ábalos, Sílvia Benedito, Pedro Gadanho, Linda Pollak, and Shohei Shigematsu (2014 Jury); Yung Ho Chang, Farès el-Dahdah, Farshid Moussavi, and Zoe Ryan (2013 Jury). 

Applicants will be judged on the quality of their design work, scholarly accomplishments, originality or persuasiveness of the research proposal, and evidence of ability to fulfill the proposed project. Applications are accepted online only, at wheelwrightprize.org. A winner will be named in April 2016.

please see WA previous media coverage here.

> via wheelwrightprize.org