Beyer Blinder Belle Foundation Announces 2018 Fellowship and Grant Winners

March 21, 2018
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The Beyer Blinder Belle Foundation has announced the winners of the Foundation's inaugural awards program.

Launched in 2017, the program supports the advancement of architecture, planning, and preservation through three parallel initiatives providing financial support for graduate students, community-based planning, and youth education. The programs and awardees are:

  • The John Belle Travel Fellowship: Miguel Sanchez Enkerlin, Yale School of Architecture

  • Community Planning Grant: Pratt Center for Community Development

  • Youth Education Grant: ACE Mentor Program of Greater New York
     

The John Belle Travel Fellowship

Pratt Center

Miguel Sanchez Enkerlin's research, "Becoming Magical: Architecture and Preservation in the Pueblos Magicos of Mexico," will explore a federally-sponsored program in Mexico, established in 2001 by The Secretariat of Tourism, that designates municipalities' "magical" status based on their natural setting, historical relevance, or cultural riches. Building on his academic study of the history, site, and urban context of structures in architecture, Miguel's investigation of the Pueblos Magicos program will present a case study on how preservation can be leveraged to create value–economically, culturally, and architecturally.

The Community Planning Grant

ACE Mentor Program of Greater New York

The Community Panning Grant is awarded to the Pratt Center for Community Development in support of their initiative "Informal Units: the next frontier for preserving and creating affordable housing." The goal of the project is to develop pathways to legalization for basement apartments in East New York, Brooklyn, which would also influence policy citywide. The Pratt Center's objectives to enable safe, legal and affordable housing, conserve existing urban fabric, and create a replicable model resonates strongly with the Foundation's mission to strengthen the physical and social fabric of our communities.

The Youth Education Grant

Beyer Blinder Belle

John Belle (left) and Miguel Sanchez Enkerlin

The Youth Education Grant is awarded to the ACE Mentor Program of Greater New York, funding two scholarships for graduating high school students pursuing careers in architecture, urban design and planning, or historic preservation. ACE's mission to educate and support the next generation of the architectural profession advances the Foundation's goals to inspire young people entering the practice of architecture. The two students will be chosen by the ACE Scholarship Committee in May 2018 and announced by the BBB Foundation shortly thereafter.

About the Beyer Blinder Belle Foundation

The Beyer Blinder Belle Foundation advances the role of architecture, planning, and preservation in strengthening the physical and social fabric of our cities, communities, and institutions.

Through fellowships, grants, and other initiatives, the Foundation engages the full cycle of design, from inspiring young people to enter the profession, to supporting graduate research, to enabling thoughtful, socially-conscious design and planning that directly benefits communities.

This mission is inspired by the core values of Beyer Blinder Belle, which from its founding defined an approach to design focused on architecture empowering people–through their interaction on streets and in neighborhoods, and through their connections to the surrounding built environment.

CONTACT

  • Beyer Blinder Belle Foundation
  • (212) 353-6798
  • info@beyerblinderbellefoundation.org