Wheelwright Prize
The Wheelwright Architecture Prize is an international architecture traveling fellowship presented annually to "talented early-career architects worldwide proposing exceptional itineraries for research and discovery." Founded in 1935 by the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the prize is entirely funded by the same institution.
History
The Wheelwright Prize was established in 1935 as the «Arthur C. Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship», and was originally open only to alumni of the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Arthur C. Wheelwright graduated from Harvard College in the class of 1887. After graduation, he spent a year working in his father's cotton commission house in Boston. However, Wheelwright then pursued a two-year study of architecture in Boston, as Harvard did not yet offer architecture courses. He went on to study art in Paris for three years, faced a period of illness, and ultimately settled into the life of a farmer and part-time artist in Westwood, Massachusetts. Three years after his death in 1932, his widow, Edith F. Wheelwright, honored his life by establishing a fellowship for "travel and study outside the United States."
The core idea of the prize was to provide a Grand Tour experience to graduates at a time when international travel was uncommon.
In 2013, the grant was renamed and reformatted to become an international competition for early-career architects who have graduated from an professionally accredited architectural program within the last 15 years.
Eligibility
The Wheelwright Prize is open to early-career architects based anywhere in the world who have graduated from a professionally accredited architecture degree program in the past 15 years. The fellowship must be granted to individual entrants, and those winners based in the United States, their research must be partially undertaken outside the country.
The recipient receives US$100,000 for travel and research-related expenses, which are expected to be spent throughout two years from its announcement. Along with the money, the recipient is invited to lecture at the school and given the opportunity to appear in a research publication of the same institution.
The 2024 jury cycle comprised Noura Alsayeh, Mira Henry, Mark Lee, Jacob Riedel, Enrique Walker, and Harvard GSD dean Sarah M. Whiting.
Laureates
Since 2013, non-GSD alumni have been allowed to apply, provided they graduated from a professionally accredited architectural program within the last 15 years. The 1968-1969 laureate, Adèle Naudé Santos, is the first female prize winner.
1936-1940
1936-1937: Newton Ellis Griffith, Paul Marvin Rudolph, Walter Egan Trevett, R. Prentice Bradley1937-1938: Constantine A. Pertzoff1938-1939: Walter H.Kilham Jr.1939-1940: Eliot Fette Noyes
1940-1949
1940-1941: Leonard James Currie1941-1942: Phillip Emile Joseph1942-1943: Albert Evans Simonson, William W. Wurster1943-1944: Christopher Tunnard1944-1945: Robert William Blachnik, Alvaro Ortega, Theodore Jan Prichard, Helge Westermann1945-1946: William Lindus Cody Wheaton, Kurt Augustus Mumm, Ira Rakatansky, Stanley Salzman1946-1947: Jean Paul Carlhian, Noel Buckland Dant, Martin Daniel Meyerson1947-1948: Joseph Douglas Carroll Jr.1948-1949: Vaughn Papworth Call
1950-1959
1949-1950: Henry Louis Horowitz, Jean Claude Mazet, Edward Chase Weren, George Elliot Rafferty1950-1951: I. M. Pei, Jacek von Henneberg, Jerry Neal Leibman1951-1952: Frederick D. Holister, Donald Emanuel Olsen1952-1953: William J. Conklin, Gottfied Paul Csala, Helmut Jacoby, and Edward Stutt1953-1954: Royal Alfred McClure1954-1955: Ferdinand Frederick Bruck1955-1956: Dolf Hermann Schnebli1956-1957: George F. Conley1957-1958: Don Hisaka1958-1959: Paul Mitarachi1959-1960: John C. Haro
1960-1969
1960-1961: Donald Craig Freeman1961-1962: Albert Szabo1962-1963: B. Frank Schlesinger1963-1964: Paul Krueger1964-1965: William Morgan1965-1966: Peter Woytok1966-1967: William Lindemulder1967-1968: William H. Liskamm1968-1969: Adèle Naudé Santos1969-1970: Robert Kramer
1970-1979
1970-1971: Theodore Liebman1971-1972: Minoru Takeyama1972-1973: Ozdemir Erginsav1973-1974: Klaus Herdeg1974-1975: Alan Chimacoff1976-1977: Corky Poster and Leon J. Goldberg1978-1979: Nelson K. Chen and Susie Kim1979-1980: Nelson K. Chen
1981-1989
1981-1982: Hector R. Arce1982-1983: Joanna Lombard1985-1986: Paul John Grayson1986-1987: Christopher Doyle and Frances Hsu1987-1988: Linda Pollak1988-1989: Elizabeth A. Williams1989-1990: Wellington Reiter
1990-1999
1990-1991: Holly Getch1991-1992: Roger Sherman1992-1993: Jeffrey A. Murphy1993-1994: Richard M. Sommer1994-1995: Edwin Y. Chan1995-1996: Raveervarn Choksombatchai1996-1997: James Favaro1998-1999: Nana Last1999-2000: Paolo Bercah
2000-2009
2000-2001: Farès el-Dahdah2001-2002: Sze Tsung Leong2002-2003: Jeannie Kim2003-2004: Ker-Shing Ong2004-2005: Cecilia Tham2005-2006: Joshua Comaroff2006-2007: Miho Mazereeuw2007-2008: Carlos Arnaiz2008-2009: Mason White2009-2010: Ying Zhou
2010-2019
2010-2011: Elisa Silva2013: Gia Wolff2014: Jose M. Ahedo2015: Erik L'Heureux2016: Anna Puigjaner2017: Samuel Bravo2018: Aude-Line Dulière2019: Aleksandra Jaeschke
2020-present
2020: Daniel Fernández Pascual2021: Germane Barnes2022: Marina Otero2023: Jingru Cheng2024: Thandi Loewenson2025: Mauro Marinelli