Catherine Chen wins 2026 Steedman Fellowship in Architecture

Architectural designer Catherine Chen has been selected as the winner of the 2026 James Harrison Steedman Memorial Fellowship in Architecture.

Established in 1926, the biennial Steedman Fellowship is organized by the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design at WashU’s Sam Fox School, in partnership with the American Institute of Architects St. Louis. The $100,000 prize, which supports research through international travel, is awarded on the basis of applicant proposals and open to anyone who has earned an accredited degree in architecture within the last eight years. It is among the largest and oldest such fellowships in the United States.

This year’s theme, “Collective Form/Forums” honors the legacy of celebrated architect and former WashU professor Fumihiko Maki (1928-2024) by taking inspiration from his text, “Investigations in Collective Form.” Neeraj Bhatia, the fellowship’s jury chair and 2026-27 Rome Prize winner, shared that the theme “asks us to reconsider the nature of the collective — how it is constituted, how it is spatialized, and architecture’s role in both convening publics and giving form to shared arrangements.”

“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,” Bhatia said. “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. Ultimately, it probes how emergent energy paradigms might reconfigure forms of collectivity and participation, and how architecture can act as a mediator within these shifting frameworks.”

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 embedded within broader climatic, social, and infrastructural systems. Chen posits architecture as a medium through which these forces can be brought into productive relation, shaping spaces that foster reciprocity between environments and publics.

Chen holds a Master of Architecture from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, where she was the recipient of the Alpha Rho Chi medal, and a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University. She is a visiting critic at Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, and previously taught at Harvard. She has practiced in Zürich, Boston, Princeton, and New York, with the offices of Karamuk Kuo Architekten, Höweler + Yoon, JaJa Co, and Studio Sean Canty, among others. Chen has worked on a wide range of projects and competitions, from housing and exhibitions to civic infrastructure and education. 

In addition to Bhatia, the jury included Patty Heyda, professor in WashU’s Sam Fox School; Nahyun Hwang, founding principal of NHDM and adjunct associate professor at Columbia University; Jack Self, architect and editor-in-chief of Real Review; and Peter Tao, founding principal of Tao + Lee Associates.

The 2026 fellowship was organized by the Steedman Governing Committee: Chandler Ahrens, associate professor and chair of graduate architecture at the Sam Fox School; Mary Ann Lazarus, architect with the Cameron MacAllister Group; and Allison Méndez, AIA, NCARB, lecturer at the Sam Fox School and principal and lead designer at Cannon Design.

Now celebrating 100 years, the Steedman Fellowship is supported by an endowment given to the Sam Fox School’s College of Architecture in honor of James Harrison Steedman, who earned a degree in mechanical engineering from Washington University in 1889. A decorated veteran, he served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy during World War I and died in 1921. The memorial was established by Steedman’s widow, Virginia Clark Weddell, and his brother, George Fox Steedman. In 2027, the Fellowship committee, WashU, and AIA St. Louis, in partnership with the St. Louis Public Library, will present centennial celebration exhibitions at WashU and at the St. Louis Public Library Central Library branch featuring past Steedman Fellows’ work both during their travels and subsequent careers. More details will be available in late 2026.