Overview

The Researcher-in-Residence is a $5,000 award and four-to-eight-week summer residency at R.M. Schindler’s Fitzpatrick-Leland House in Los Angeles, California. The residency is awarded annually to an architect, artist, and/or researcher based in the United States to conduct original research that contributes to the current topic. The Researcher-in-Residence Program was jointly established in 2024 by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture and the SOM Foundation to provide space and time for rigorous work that addresses pressing issues related to the built environment.

The deadline for application is March 08, 2024.

Topic

This year’s topic seeks to explore affordable, equitable, and innovative modes of multifamily housing that respond to current and future needs. These housing strategies need to consider changing demographics, collectivity, economy, work patterns, and the environment, through the exploration of design strategies, community engagement, economic models, and legal policies. With housing costs continuing to escalate and adequate housing remaining inaccessible for many in our communities, we need to think and build in a smart and sustainable way, update existing housing developments, and foster the adaptive reuse of other existing typologies to create thriving communities and healthy neighborhoods.

Eligibility

The Researcher-in-Residence program is open to US-based professionals researching or practicing in a discipline that relates to the built environment.

The SOM Foundation and the MAK Center recognize that research and innovation benefit from a diverse range of perspectives, backgrounds, and approaches. That said, successful applicants will likely demonstrate a history of commitment to one or more of the following disciplines: architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, engineering, architectural history, sociology, writing, and/or visual art.

• Applicants must be based in the US. US citizenship is not required.
• Currently enrolled students are ineligible to apply, however doctoral candidates who have completed all coursework (ABD) may apply.
• Couples are eligible to apply together, however only one amount will be awarded, and the residency room must be shared.
• MAK Center employees, SOM Foundation board members and paid consultants, and SOM employees are ineligible to apply.
• Previously awarded SOM Foundation fellows may apply

Dates &
Location

The deadline for application is March 08, 2024.

The term of this residency is four-to-eight weeks between June 1 and July 31, 2024. Exact dates during this timeframe are flexible. The residency is located in Los Angeles at the Fitzpatrick-Leland House. Originally designed by R.M. Schindler as a model home in 1936, the Fitzpatrick-Leland House also serves as the MAK Center’s Study Center. The residency includes a private bedroom, work space, bathroom, and access to communal kitchen and social spaces of the Fitzpatrick-Leland House. The residency spaces are located on the second floor of a residential house, which require one flight of stairs. Due to space constraints, the residency is unable to accommodate additional family members or pets (except service animals).

Award

A $5,000 award will be provided on the following schedule: 50% within 30 days upon signing the residency contract; and 50% within 30 days after the successful completion of the residency. The $5,000 award is intended to cover residency expenses such as flights, rental car, gas, food, materials, etc., as these expenses are not covered by the residency. Please note that the Fitzpatrick-Leland House is located at Mulholland Drive and Laurel Canyon, which is in a residential neighborhood and best accessed via car (a car is not provided by the residency).

Outcomes

During the research period, the MAK Center and the SOM Foundation will schedule periodic check-ins with the recipient. The MAK Center and the SOM Foundation will provide mentorship and networking support to recipients. Each residency will culminate with a public talk or program related to the recipient’s research and interests. The nature of this program is flexible and will be proposed by the recipient and organized with MAK Center staff. The public talk or program can present work in progress or can be final. Work and research conducted during the residency can be continued after the residency period. Research projects are not required to be directly related to Los Angeles in order to be considered.

Apply

For more information about the application process, please visit the SOM Foundation for additional information. The deadline for application is March 08, 2024.

FITZPATRICK-LELAND HOUSE

Each resident is given exceptional access to the three-level hillside house designed by R.M. Schindler.

About Fitzpatrick-Leland House

HISTORY OF RESIDENCIES AT THE FITZ

From 2008-10 the Fitzpatrick-Leland House served as a base for the MAK Center’s Urban Future Initiative (UFI), a fellowship program in which cultural thinkers from diverse nations entered into dialogue about urban space with Los Angeles scholars and practitioners. The fellowship provided for two month residencies at the Fitzpatrick-Leland House to promote meaningful exchange between cultural thinkers and Los Angeles practitioners in order to explore the complexity of "the city" in relationship to the built environment, growth and migration, economics, politics, gender, and the natural environment. The fellowship’s mission was to cultivate visionary conceptions of the urban future. In 2022, in partnership with the Danish Art Foundation, the MAK Center hosted Chris Halstrøm and Pettersen-Hein as Designers-in-Residence.

Since then, the MAK Center has dedicated the house to small-scale events and the lodging of international cultural researchers visiting Los Angeles for artistic and scholarly pursuits.