Gyo Sun Hwang of the University of Pennsylvania and Savalee Tikle of Harvard University will receive grants to pursue independent architectural research in London, England.
Established in honor of the life and works of late KPF Principal and President Paul Katz, the fellowship invites students to propose a study topic for architectural research in a different global city each year. This year—eleven years after Paul’s passing—the foundation selected London, England, as the study location for the award recipients. The global city is the site of both students’ winning research topics, which have a specific focus on issues of transit and transit-oriented development.
Gyo Sun Hwang’s research will examine how the River Thames has been reshaped by engineered infrastructure, redevelopment, and changing urban priorities and how architectural interventions might help restore more reciprocal relationships between the city and its ecological ground.
Savalee Tikle’s proposed study topic will engage London’s new Elizabeth Line as a distributive justice experiment, asking whether transit-led growth produces inclusive urban form, or whether it standardizes speculative, market-driven housing typologies that deepen socio-spatial stratification.
The Paul Katz Fellowship is awarded to internationally focused students to support the independent study of global urbanism upon graduation from a Masters of Architecture program from one of the five schools at which Paul studied or taught: Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania. Scholars are selected by a jury of leading architects and urbanists appointed by the KPF Foundation on a rotating basis. The fellowship is supported through the generosity of people who worked closely with Paul Katz, including friends, clients, colleagues, and the firm.
