Samuels named 2026 Researcher-in-Residence by SOM Foundation, MAK Center for Art and Architecture
2026-06-01 • Sam Fox School
Sixth Street Viaduct, Los Angeles. Photo: Iwan Baan, Courtesy: Michael Maltzan Architecture.
The MAK Center for Art and Architecture and the SOM Foundation have named Linda C. Samuels the 2026 Researcher-in-Residence. Samuels is professor and chair of urban design at the Sam Fox School at Washington University in St. Louis and the inaugural director of sustainable design and environmental justice. She will receive a $5,000 stipend and a five-week summer residency in Los Angeles at the MAK Center’s Mackey Apartments designed by R.M. Schindler for work related to her research proposal, “Sixth Street Viaduct as Next Generation Infrastructure.”
The research project utilizes a combination of data-based analysis and empirical, qualitative explorations, intentionally combining quantitative information with lived experience. The outcomes will be a set of thick mappings, multi-dimensional and humanistic, that assess LA’s Sixth Street Viaduct as a mobility conduit, public space, and prototype for next generation infrastructure.
“Large, multi-agency infrastructure projects take years to complete, so it is often a challenge to study them from design through implementation and use. The Researcher-in-Residence program allows me to revisit a project I first studied during its design phase more than four years ago: the Sixth Street Viaduct that connects two sides of the Los Angeles River in downtown LA. Since completion, the bridge has become a new LA icon, but also a destination for graffiti artists, cruisers, thrill seekers, and protesters. Coming back to the bridge in its complete and activated form allows a more immersive, personal, and experiential analysis, with the luxury of dedicated time and resources,” said Samuels. “The 2026 theme for the residency, Exploring the Potential of Mobility Corridors, also helps legitimize the claims I make in my research for infrastructure as socially and environmentally productive civic space where architects, landscape architects, and urban designers are essential from the start. I am honored to be named the 2026 SOM Foundation and MAK Center for Art and Architecture Researcher-in-Residence and hope to further share the value of next generation infrastructure with the design community and our partners.”
For more about Samuels’ research proposal, visit somfoundation.com.
Chair, Urban Design; Professor; Director of Sustainable Design and Environmental Justice