Catherine Chen receives 2026 Steedman Fellowship for 'Solar Communities' research

Architectural designer Catherine Chen has been selected as the winner of the 2026 James Harrison Steedman Memorial Fellowship in Architecture, receiving a $100,000 prize to support international travel and research.

Established in 1926, the biennial fellowship is organized by the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, in partnership with AIA St. Louis. The award is open to applicants who have earned an accredited architecture degree within the past eight years and is considered one of the oldest and largest architecture travel fellowships in the United States.

The 2026 theme, “Collective Form/Forums,” honors architect and former WashU professor Fumihiko Maki and draws inspiration from his text, “Investigations in Collective Form.”

Chen’s winning proposal, Solar Communities: Architectures of the Energy Transition, explores the energy transition as a spatial and political project. Her research will examine emerging energy communities across multiple scales, from material assemblies and building typologies to settlement patterns, with a focus on governance, collective ownership, and participation.

“Catherine Chen’s proposal, Solar Communities: Architectures of the Energy Transition, situates the energy transition not simply as a technical problem, but as a spatial and political project,” said Neeraj Bhatia, jury chair for the fellowship and a 2026-27 Rome Prize winner. “By examining a series of energy communities, the research operates across scales, from material assemblies and building typologies to broader settlement patterns, foregrounding questions of governance, agency, and collective ownership.”

Chen’s work and research examine the relationships between public space, infrastructure, and collective life. With a background in art and physics, she approaches architecture as a spatial practice shaped by climatic, social, and infrastructural systems.

She holds a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she received the Alpha Rho Chi medal, and a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University. Chen is currently a visiting critic at Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, and previously taught at Harvard. Her professional experience includes work with Karamuk Kuo Architekten, Höweler + Yoon, JaJa Co, and Studio Sean Canty, among others.

The 2026 jury included Bhatia, Patty Heyda, Nahyun Hwang, Jack Self, and Peter Tao. Hwang is founding principal of NHDM and an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University.

The fellowship was organized by the Steedman Governing Committee, which includes Chandler Ahrens, Mary Ann Lazarus, and Allison Méndez, a lecturer at the Sam Fox School and principal and lead designer at CannonDesign.

The Steedman Fellowship is currently marking its 100th year. In 2027, the Fellowship committee, WashU, AIA St. Louis, and the St. Louis Public Library will present centennial exhibitions at WashU and the St. Louis Public Library Central Library branch featuring work by past Steedman Fellows.