Sam Fox School, AIA St. Louis announce Steedman Fellowship theme

Architecture is not merely a lineage of great structures, argued Fumihiko Maki (1928-2024) in his influential manifesto “Investigations in Collective Form,” (1964). Cities and towns evolve organically, over time, in many directions. The built environment is always the result of many hands and many decisions.

But what does collective form mean today? What is architecture’s role in fostering the urban fabric? And how might a more collaborative architectural culture address contemporary social and ecological challenges?

These are the questions posed by “Collective Form/Forums,” the 2026 James Harrison Steedman Fellowship in Architecture. The biennial research competition — organized by the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, in concert with AIA St. Louis — invites early-career architects from around the world to investigate and reimagine the fundamental systems, facilities and services that underlie contemporary life.

The 2025-26 cycle will mark the Steedman’s 100th anniversary. The first competition call was issued in 1925; the first recipient, architect Paul James Saunders, was announced in 1926. For this year’s iteration, the Steedman Fellowship award, long among the largest in the United States, underwriting up to a year of international travel and research, has increased to $100,000.

“The Steedman Fellowship has supported young architects for nearly a century,” said Chandler Ahrens, associate professor of architecture at the Sam Fox School and a member of the Steedman governing committee. “This year’s theme, developed by jury chair, acclaimed architect and urbanist Neeraj Bhatia, invites participants to grapple with Maki’s legacy, the state of regional cultures in a globalized world, and the role of collective form today.”

Maki, winner of the 1993 Pritzker Prize, taught at WashU from 1956-62 and co-founded the university’s Master of Urban Design program. “Collective Form” was largely written during his time on campus and published by WashU. The university also commissioned Maki’s first completed structure, Steinberg Hall (1960), as well as the Maki-designed Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum and Earl E. and Myrtle E. Walker Hall (both 2006).

Bhatia’s work resides at the intersection of politics, infrastructure, housing and urbanism. He is co-founder of The Open Workshop, a design-research practice, and associate professor at the California College of the Arts, where he co-directs The Urban Works Agency. His publications include “New Investigations in Collective Form” (2023), which explores strategies for producing collectivity.

“For Maki, collective form emerged when buildings came together to produce something larger than the sum of their parts,” Bhatia wrote in his call for proposals. “While today many of these same challenges exist, the notion of collective form has also expanded to consider how we assemble, produce new forums, engage overlooked subjects (both human and non-human), and provide a venue for design to have increased political agency.”

This year’s Steedman Fellowship, Bhatia added, “asks us to reckon with what collective is, how it is formed, and architecture’s role in both gathering us together and providing form to our collective arrangement.”

In addition to Bhatia, jurors include Patty Heyda, professor of urban design and architecture at the Sam Fox School; Nahyun Hwang, founding principal of N H D M and an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University; London-based architect Jack Self, who curated the British Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale and is editor-in-chief of culture magazine Real Review; and Peter Tao, founding principal of St. Louis-based Tao + Lee Associates and a WashU architecture alum.

The Steedman Fellowship is open to practicing architects worldwide who have received an accredited degree in architecture within the past eight years.

Application materials will include a portfolio, research proposal, budget and time frame. Extra consideration will be given to creative proposals that minimize carbon footprint. Fellows must be able to complete their projects within 18 months of receiving the award and must be available afterward to share their research with the WashU and AIA St. Louis architectural communities.

Registration is now open, and proposals are due Nov. 1. For more information, visit steedmanfellowship.washu.edu.