Architecture Competitions

Harvard GSD’s 2020 Wheelwright Prize for emerging architects open for submissions

November 17, 2019

The Harvard Graduate School of Design has called for submissions for the 2020 Wheelwright Prize, an open international competition that awards $100,000 to a “talented early-career architect to support expansive, intensive design research.” This annual prize is dedicated to advancing original architectural research that is informed by cross-cultural engagement and that shows the potential to make a significant impact on architectural discourse at large.

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 need to submit a portfolio and research proposal that includes travel outside the applicant’s home country. The entrants are expected to dedicate roughly two years of concentrated research related to their proposal, and to return to Harvard GSD to present a lecture on their findings.

Since 1935, Harvard GSD has awarded the annual Arthur W. Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship, established in memory of Wheelwright, Class of 1887. Intended to encourage the study of architecture outside the United States, the prize was formerly available only to GSD alumni; past fellows include Paul Rudolph, Eliot Noyes, William Wurster, Christopher Tunnard, I. M. Pei, John Haro, Klaus Herdeg, Farès el-Dahdah, Adele Santos, and Linda Pollak.

In 2013, Harvard GSD recast the Arthur W. Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship—established in 1935 in memory of Wheelwright, Class of 1887—into an open, international competition; previously intended to encourage the study of architecture outside the United States at a time when international travel was difficult, the Fellowship had traditionally been available only to GSD alumni. The winning entrant will join previous winners such as Aleksandra Jaeschke (winning project pictured above) in 2019, Aude-Line Duliere in 2018, Samuel Bravo in 2017, and Anna Puigjaner in 2016.

The 2020 Wheelwright Prize is now accepting applications online; the deadline for submissions is Sunday, January 26, 2020. The 2020 Wheelwright Prize winner will be named in Spring 2020.

Since 1935, Harvard GSD has awarded the annual Arthur W. Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship, established in memory of Wheelwright, Class of 1887. Intended to encourage the study of architecture outside the United States, the prize was formerly available only to GSD alumni; past fellows include Paul Rudolph, Eliot Noyes, William Wurster, Christopher Tunnard, I. M. Pei, John Haro, Klaus Herdeg, Farès el-Dahdah, Adele Santos, and Linda Pollak.

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