Mauro Marinelli has been named the 2025 Wheelwright Prize winner by the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD). The $100,000 prize supports investigative approaches to contemporary architecture with an emphasis on global research.

In his project, Topographies of Resistance: Architecture and the Survival of Cultures, Marinelli explores how design may help rural mountainous areas that are struggling with infrastructure, cultural deterioration, and climate change. By contrasting the Alps, Andes, and Himalayan environments, the study creates design ideas that support local identity, autonomy, and sustainability. Marinelli aims to develop architectural strategies that upend urban-centric prejudices and empower communities via analysis and field research.

Innovative design research that transcends architectural and cultural borders is supported by the Wheelwright Prize. Social and spatial interactions in modern Africa, the effects of sand mining on the environment and society, and new paradigms for digital infrastructure have all been winning research proposal themes in recent years.

Marinelli will travel and do study for two years thanks to the Wheelwright Prize. He intends to concentrate his efforts in China's hilly areas, the Andes of South America, and the European Alps. 

Community celebration in the square of Castelfondo, Italian Alps. Project by franzosomarinelli. Photography © Francesca Dusini

"This support enables me to investigate how architecture can actively engage with the fragile cultural systems of high mountain communities. I intend to contribute tangible insights to both the cultural vitality of mountain territories and architectural discourse," said Marinelli.

"I am thrilled to announce Mauro as this year’s winner. The architecture of our shared future must respond thoughtfully to specific cultural contexts, geographic conditions, and ecological forces—including humidity, wetlands, woodlands, coastlines, and many others," says Sarah M. Whiting, Dean and Josep Lluís Sert Professor of Architecture at the GSD. 

"Mauro’s research fosters precisely these kinds of responses, emphasizing self-sufficiency, local identity, and architectural approaches uniquely suited to the climatic, demographic, and economic vulnerabilities shared by mountainous communities around the world," Whiting added.

Public space in the small village of Bolciana, Italian Alps. Project by franzosomarinelli. Photography © Mariano Dallago

Apart from Whiting, the following individuals are on the jury for the 2025 prize: Chris Cornelius, who is the chair and professor of the Department of Architecture at the University of New Mexico School of Architecture and Planning; Grace La, who is the chair of the Department of Architecture at the GSD; Jennifer Newsom, who is an assistant professor at Cornell University's College of Architecture, Art, and Planning and co-founder of Dream the Combine; Tosin Oshinowo, who is the principal and founder of Oshinówò Studio; and Noura Al Sayeh, who is the head of Architectural Affairs for the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities.

Transformation of an abandoned area into public space in the small village of Castelfondo, Italian Alps. Project by franzosomarinelli.  Photography © Mariano Dallago

Since 2016, Mauro Marinelli, an architect with a PhD in Architecture and Urban Design, has been an adjunct professor of architectural design at Politecnico di Milano. In addition to being invited to give lectures at several other universities, he has served as a visiting professor at IUAV Venice in 2024 and a visiting lecturer at Università Federico II Naples in 2025. 

In 2017, he and Mirko Franzoso co-founded the Alps-based architecture firm franzosomarinelli, which specializes in modern design in vulnerable areas. With a strong emphasis on contextual awareness through material and spatial study, the studio's work has been published internationally and included in a number of architecture exhibitions.

In 2024, Thandi Loewenson won the 2024 Wheelwright Prize. In 2023 Marina Otero won the 2022 Wheelwright Prize. 

The top image in the article: Mauro Marinelli. Photography © Francesca Dusini.

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Harvard GSD Mauro Marinelli Wheelwright Prize