Karina Encarnacion of Yale University and Regina Gonano of the University of Pennsylvania will receive grants to pursue independent architectural research around housing and circularity in Mumbai, India.
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—a decade after Paul’s passing—the foundation selected Mumbai, India as the study location for the award recipients. The winning research topics engage with major questions facing the architectural community today: housing, preservation, material innovation, and environmentally sustainable practice.
Karina Encarnacion’s proposal examines the potential of reclaiming abandoned textile mills as affordable housing, honoring Mumbai’s cultural history while providing for today’s workforce. Regina Gonano will focus on Mumbai’s construction and demolition waste streams and explore more circular approaches that engage local artisans, urban recycling networks, catalyzing material innovation.
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.