Three grad students win the SOM Foundation 2017 China Prize

The Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Foundation recently awarded the 2017 China Prize to three graduate-student winners, who will each receive a $5,000 fellowship for travel and research outside of China. The SOM Foundation's reputable Travel and Research Fellowships for Architecture, Urban Design and Structural Engineering have offered over 200 student recipients an opportunity to travel outside of their home country to conduct research on architecture, history, culture, and design. First offered to U.S. students, the program has expanded to include students in the UK and China.

This year's China Prize recipients are (click their names to see their portfolio submissions):

Yue Wu - Tongji University, Graduate Student

Zhaoyang Luo - Harbin Institute of Technology, Graduate Student

Hanxue Wei - Tongji University, Graduate Student

The winners were chosen among a competitive group of applicants, who must currently be enrolled in the last two years of an undergraduate or graduate degree program in architecture or urban design in China. Entrants had to submit a portfolio, research proposal, and travel itinerary.

The jurors showed the most favor to entrants who exhibited a holistic, problem-solving design approach to emerging social, developmental, and environmental issues unique to cities in China.