Wallenberg Studio

The final design studio in the undergraduate studio sequence, the Wallenberg Studio, honors the legacy of Taubman College alumnus Raoul Wallenberg. Guided by an overall studio theme that changes annually and focuses on a broad humanitarian concern, each studio section explores architecture’s relationship to the humanitarian, asking how the discipline of architecture can contribute directly to global issues.

In 1944, as First Secretary of the Swedish delegation in Budapest, Raoul Wallenberg is credited with saving more than 100,000 Jews from death at the hands of the Nazis. The following year, he was captured by the Russians. Seven decades later, his fate remains unknown.

The Wallenberg Studio Awards – Travel Awards

Each year the architecture program exhibits and juries the best work from the final undergraduate design studio. Awards, funded by the Raoul Wallenberg Scholarship Fund established in 1985 by the Benard L. Maas Foundation in memory of Wallenberg, are offered in the form of a stipend for international travel to a country of the student’s choosing.

Born in 1896, Benard Maas achieved success as an innovator and industrialist for the automotive industry. He dedicated himself and his fortune to enhancing the lives of young people, and became one of the state of Michigan’s most generous philanthropists. The Benard L. Maas Foundation continues his lifelong support of higher education through grantmaking, including the gift to establish the Raoul Wallenberg Scholarship Fund.

In establishing these travel awards, it was hoped that students would engage in the culture of the country they visited, exploring architecture and culture, and getting acquainted with the people. Students are inspired and humbled to learn that Wallenberg was once an architecture student like themselves who had the courage to do the right thing during terrifying and dangerous events in history. It was expected that students would return with a broadened understanding of the world and an appreciation and feeling for the people they encountered.

Students must submit a report about their travel and experience upon their return.

Wallenberg Studio Award Winners

2025 Recipients

  • First Place:
    Ranya Liu and Ella Pelican
    “COAL (1748-2025)”
    Instructor: Gina Reichert
    Studio: Above & Beyond: Time Travel in the Here & Now
  • Second Place:
    Malak Atwi
    “BETWEEN US: ROOTED ASSEMBLIES”
    Instructor: Zain AbuSeir
    Studio: Narratives of Displacement
  • Third Place:
    Elana Ho
    “In Memory”
    Instructor: Zain AbuSeir
    Studio: Narratives of Displacement

2024 Recipients

  • First Place: Emmalyn Kukura and Mason Magemeneas
  • Second Place: Isa Cirulis
  • Third Place: Jake Nader and Jacob Yu

2023 Recipients

  • Ella Edelstein, Ann Borek
    “Curb Appeal”
    Ana Morcillo Pallares Studio
  • Man Lam Cheng, Dalia Schwarzbaum
    “Salt”
    Anya Sirota Studio
  • Amely Wackerbauer
    Zariah Hernandez
    Natalie Brown & Sierra Shibuta
    Lauryn Leuenberg
    Syvion Thomas & Ian Merida
    Yiran (Lisa) Liu & Raul Deniz Altin
    “All Studio” – Leah Wulfman Studio
  • Ximena Zuleta, Sierra Safian
    “Glitched Productions”
    Alina Nazmeeva Studio

2022 Recipients

  • Madeleine Smith, “In Transit Exposing Negligence through Intervention in Order to Remake”
  • Muzi Li, “MANUFACTURE REFORM Community-making and Identity Building”
  • Audrey Louie, “Polaris Medical Center”
  • Madeira Booy de Graaff, “Like a Version”
  • Sydney Cleveland-Datesman, “Shaping Domestic Space Shifting Women’s Domestic Labor to be a Labor of Love”

2020 Recipients

  • Phillip Allore, “Storied Ground”
  • Cayman Langton & Natsume Ono, “Alternating Duality”
  • Clare Coburn, “Irrational Territories: Counter-Tactics for a Post-Petroleum Future”
  • Jamie Johnson & Peyton Stimac, “The Reformatorium”
  • Gian Anovert & Jesica Yu, “New Kids on the Block”
  • Yangtian Yan, “Depth of Panels”

2019 Recipients

  • Evan Troy Crawford for “Objective Algorithms”
  • Angel Tang for “New Ground”
  • Siyuan Zhang for “Timeframe”
  • Markus Boynton for “Twice as Good”
  • Malcolm Brom and Lejia Li for “Desert Currency”

2018 Recipients

Prize Winners:

Christopher Myefski, Re-ranging the American Construct

Nadim Hajj Ahmad and Ellis Wills-Begley, Burkinabe International Center for Image Production

Willow Davis, Cloaked Communications

Honorable Mention:

Julia Muntean and R. Michie Nimsombub, Cash-4-Data: Pawning the Attic, the Basement, and the Could

2017 Recipients

First Place:

Karen Duan“MASS INUREMENT: COMMODITY KING” (Gilpin)

Second Place:

Sasha Pfeiffer“Flutterby: A Memorial to Migration Across the US Mexico Border” (Trandafirescu)

Sarah “Jordan” Turkomani“Under the Counter” (Wilkins)

Third Place:

Taylor Boes“Not Mine” (Robinson)

Jiashi Yu“Chicken Republic” (Robinson)

2016 Recipients

  • Eunsung Tiffany Cho
  • Jamie Lutz
  • Kitae Kim (special commendation)
  • Kati Albee (honorable mention)
  • Diego Garcia (honorable mention)

2015 Recipients

  • Grace Alli
  • Genevieve Doman
  • Lauren Grzibowski (honorable mention)
  • Jamie Waxter (honorable mention)
  • Stella Zhang (honorable mention)

2014 Recipients

  • Christina Xuefei Yan
  • Muhammad Alshadood (honorable mention)
  • Zachary Angles (honorable mention)
  • John Arnold (honorable mention)
  • Jeff Burgess (honorable mention)
  • Katherine Lanski (honorable mention)

2013 Recipients

  • Carly Gertler
  • Rob Michel (Honor Award winner)

2012 Recipients

  • Patrick Brinnehl
  • Whitney Hansley
  • Andrew Frame (Honor Award winner)
  • Sheena Shah (Honor Award winner)

2011 Recipients

  • Simon Rolka
  • Grant Weaver
  • Ian Sinclair
  • Jacqueline Kow (honorable mention)
  • Timothy Harmon (honorable mention)

2010 Recipients

  • De Peter Yi
  • Lindsey May
  • Shawn Lettow

2009 Recipients

  • Marc Leland Maxey
  • Alexander R. Timmer
  • Richard John Cosgrove
  • Jakub Jan Szerszen (honorable mention)
  • Marie Wafia Matta (honorable mention)
  • Lauren Elaine Gregoricka (honorable mention)
  • Brooke Kowal Goodman (honorable mention)
  • Eva Tsang Lynch (honorable mention)

2008 Recipients

  • Sarah Faruki
  • Hattie Stroud
  • Enesh Eastlick
  • Andrew McIntyre
  • Grant Jefferies
  • Monica Musialowski
  • Karl Schmeck
  • Jamie Galimberti
  • Brooklyn Posler
  • Nicole Allen
  • Rajeev Arapalli
  • Peter Shaw
  • Donna Marion
  • Leonardo Caion-Demaestr

2007 Recipients

  • Alex Jackson
  • James Munk
  • Lauren Hepner