The Harvard Graduate School of Design is pleased to announce the 2019 cycle of the Wheelwright Prize, an open international competition that awards $100,000 to a talented early-career architect to support travel-based research. The 2019 Wheelwright Prize is now accepting applications; the deadline for submissions is Sunday, January 27, 2019. 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. 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. Finalists will be asked to travel to the GSD for finalist presentations on March 14, 2019.
In 2013, Harvard GSD recast the Arthur W. Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship—established in 1935 in memory of Wheelwright, Class of 1887—into its current form. Intended to encourage the study of architecture outside the United States at a time when international travel was difficult, the Fellowship 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.
“The overwhelming response to the prize reflects the strong desire of an emerging generation of architects to push the boundaries of the profession,” says Dean Mohsen Mostafavi. “Having reviewed hundreds of applications from around the world, it’s clear that young architects everywhere are interested in alternative practices tied to a global spectrum of political, social, cultural, and environmental concerns.”
Winners of the prize since 2013 are:
2018, Aude-Line Dulière (Brussels) for her proposal to examine construction methods and supply systems in the global film industry
2017, Samuel Bravo (Santiago) for his proposal to examine traditional architectures and informal settlements, revisiting the subject of “architecture without architects”
2016, Anna Puigjaner (Barcelona) for her proposal to study exemplars of collective housing in Brazil, Sweden, Russia, Korea, and elsewhere
2015, Erik L’Heureux (Singapore) for his proposal to study architecture in five dense cities in the equatorial zone.
2014, Jose M. Ahedo (Barcelona) for his research on the architecture and organization of structures related to animal farming.
2013, Gia Wolff (Brooklyn) for her study of the spectacular, temporary, urban-scale float structures that transform Rio de Janeiro during carnival.
An international jury will be announced in January 2019. In addition to Dean Mohsen Mostafavi and Professors K. Michael Hays and Jorge Silvetti, previous juries have included Jose Ahedo, Edward Eigen, Frida Escobedo, Mark Lee, and Michelle Wilkinson (2018 jury); Gordon Gill, Mariana Ibañez, and Gia Wolff (2017 jury); Rafael Moneo, Kiel Moe, Jeannie Kim, Benjamin Prosky, and Eva Franch i Gilabert (2016 jury); Craig Evan Barton, Preston Scott Cohen, Sarah Herda, and Elisa Silva (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. Finalists MUST be available to travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for finalist presentations on March 14, 2019, at the GSD. A winner will be named in Spring 2019.