The Wheelwright Architecture Prize (formerly known as the Arthur C. Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship) 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. Two years later, the jury comprised Whiting again, alongside Mariana Ibañez, Marina Otero, and Charles Waldheim.
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 Bradley 1937-1938: Constantine A. Pertzoff 1938-1939: Walter H.Kilham Jr. 1939-1940: Eliot Fette Noyes
1940-1949 1940-1941: Leonard James Currie 1941-1942: Phillip Emile Joseph 1942-1943: Albert Evans Simonson, William W. Wurster 1943-1944: Christopher Tunnard 1944-1945: Robert William Blachnik, Alvaro Ortega, Theodore Jan Prichard, Helge Westermann 1945-1946: William Lindus Cody Wheaton, Kurt Augustus Mumm, Ira Rakatansky, Stanley Salzman 1946-1947: Jean Paul Carlhian, Noel Buckland Dant, Martin Daniel Meyerson 1947-1948: Joseph Douglas Carroll Jr. 1948-1949: Vaughn Papworth Call
1950-1959 1949-1950: Henry Louis Horowitz, Jean Claude Mazet, Edward Chase Weren, George Elliot Rafferty 1950-1951: I. M. Pei, Jacek von Henneberg, Jerry Neal Leibman 1951-1952: Frederick D. Holister, Donald Emanuel Olsen 1952-1953: William J. Conklin, Gottfied Paul Csala, Helmut Jacoby, and Edward Stutt 1953-1954: Royal Alfred McClure 1954-1955: Ferdinand Frederick Bruck 1955-1956: Dolf Hermann Schnebli 1956-1957: George F. Conley 1957-1958: Don Hisaka 1958-1959: Paul Mitarachi 1959-1960: John C. Haro
1960-1969 1960-1961: Donald Craig Freeman 1961-1962: Albert Szabo 1962-1963: B. Frank Schlesinger 1963-1964: Paul Krueger 1964-1965: William Morgan 1965-1966: Peter Woytok 1966-1967: William Lindemulder 1967-1968: William H. Liskamm 1968-1969: Adèle Naudé Santos 1969-1970: Robert Kramer
1970-1979 1970-1971: Theodore Liebman 1971-1972: Minoru Takeyama 1972-1973: Ozdemir Erginsav 1973-1974: Klaus Herdeg 1974-1975: Alan Chimacoff 1976-1977: Corky Poster and Leon J. Goldberg 1978-1979: Nelson K. Chen and Susie Kim 1979-1980: Nelson K. Chen
1981-1989 1981-1982: Hector R. Arce 1982-1983: Joanna Lombard 1985-1986: Paul John Grayson 1986-1987: Christopher Doyle and Frances Hsu 1987-1988: Linda Pollak 1988-1989: Elizabeth A. Williams 1989-1990: Wellington Reiter
1990-1999 1990-1991: Holly Getch 1991-1992: Roger Sherman 1992-1993: Jeffrey A. Murphy 1993-1994: Richard M. Sommer 1994-1995: Edwin Y. Chan 1995-1996: Raveervarn Choksombatchai 1996-1997: James Favaro 1998-1999: Nana Last 1999-2000: Paolo Bercah
2000-2009 2000-2001: Farès el-Dahdah 2001-2002: Sze Tsung Leong 2002-2003: Jeannie Kim 2003-2004: Ker-Shing Ong 2004-2005: Cecilia Tham 2005-2006: Joshua Comaroff 2006-2007: Miho Mazereeuw 2007-2008: Carlos Arnaiz 2008-2009: Mason White 2009-2010: Ying Zhou
2010-2019 2010-2011: Elisa Silva 2013: Gia Wolff 2014: Jose M. Ahedo 2015: Erik L'Heureux 2016: Anna Puigjaner 2017: Samuel Bravo 2018: Aude-Line Dulière 2019: Aleksandra Jaeschke
2020-present 2020: Daniel Fernández Pascual 2021: Germane Barnes 2022: Marina Otero 2023: Jingru (Cyan) Cheng 2024: Thandi Loewenson 2025: Mauro Marinelli 2026: Ellen Peirson
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