How can architecture gather a collective in an increasingly pluralistic society? How do rapidly changing technologies and methods of communication, as well as the growing heterogeneity of institutions, affect how people assemble?
In his influential manifesto, “Investigations in Collective Form” (1964), Fumihiko Maki (1928-2024) argued that collective form emerges when buildings come together to produce something larger than the sum of their parts. But what does collective form mean today? How do we assemble, produce new forums, engage overlooked subjects (both human and non-human), and provide a venue for design to have increased political agency?
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, an 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 and 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 first 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).
Read more on the Sam Fox School website.
