The American Institute of Architects (AIA)’s College of Fellows Fund has awarded the 2025 Latrobe Prize to a nine-person research team exploring how building facades can function as air purifiers. The $150,000 grant supports a two-year research program aimed at addressing substantial architectural or built environment challenges. Previous winning proposals have explored a range of topics, including utilizing sensor networks to identify hyperlocal environmental conditions (2022); designing educational facilities to improve learning outcomes (2019); and building structures and cities that can adapt to future change (2017). The focus of this year’s Latrobe Prize is human health, specifically how design can improve community health and wellbeing.

The winning team, led by Doris Sung, associate professor at the USC School of Architecture, as principal investigator, also includes Russell Fortmeyer, a former senior editor of and frequent contributor to RECORD. Fortmeyer, who is a Los Angeles–based sustainability principal at Arup, serves in the role of consultant on the team. The project aims to produce cost-effective, locally fabricated panels for bus shelters in the L.A. area, with the goal to benefit populations particularly vulnerable to air pollution, such as children and the elderly. In phase one, the team will test a variety of filtration methods, including hydrophobic adsorbents, like activated carbon, HEPA filters, and biological/living systems, such as fungi and lichen. In phase two, the team will work to identify surface contours or striations that promote airflow into the tubes; from there, they will design the form of a partially covered bus shelter with the goal of maximizing airflow.