Collective Form/ Forums
Call for Proposals: Architect Fumihiko Maki (1928-2024), in his seminal text “Investigations in Collective Form,” grapples with architecture’s role in an increasingly pluralistic society, with growing heterogeneity of institutions, and rapidly changing technologies and methods of communication that were affecting regional cultures. For Maki, Collective Form emerged when buildings came together to produce something larger than the sum of their parts. While today many of these same challenges exist, the notion of Collective Form has also expanded to consider how we assemble, produce new forums, engage overlooked subjects (both human and non-human), and provide a venue for design to have increased political agency. This is particularly important as the challenges that loom on the horizon, such as climate change, require us to come together at a moment when what we collectively value and identify with is increasingly difficult to determine. Collective Form / Forums ask us to reckon with what collective is, how it is formed, and architecture’s role in both gathering us together and providing form to our collective arrangement.
The Steedman 2026 jury seeks mindful research proposals on architecture’s role in producing collective forms/ forums that catalyze a more politically engaged discipline and citizenry. The award for the 2026 winning proposal will be $100,000.
