Stern Study

The Stern Study is an annual grant awarded to RAMSA staff to support a two-week research and travel program focused on understanding a location’s unique sense of place. Through independent, firsthand investigation, recipients explore the relationship between architecture, landscape, history, and culture that gives a place its distinct identity.

Established in 2016, recent recipients have traveled to Brazil, Portugal, Vietnam, Tibet, and throughout the United States and Caribbean, studying topics from urban planning in Lisbon to preservation practices in Lhasa.

Formerly known as the RAMSA Prize, the program was renamed on its tenth anniversary in honor of our founding partner, Bob Stern. Bob was instrumental in establishing the award, which reflects his lifelong commitment to architectural history, research, and travel.

The Stern Study is administered by RAMSA Research. For questions, please email sternstudy@ramsa.com.

Meng Jiang and Wenmei Zhi traveled to Lhasa and Shigatse in Tibet to study how monumental buildings—such as palaces, monasteries, and large residences—balance permanence and transformation. Their ongoing research examines how local communities maintain, renew, and reinterpret these structures through everyday use, adaptive construction practices, and collective stewardship.

Echoes of the Past: Vietnamese Architecture Through the Lens of French Colonialism

Regine Swanson and Joyce Zhou traveled to Ho Chi Minh City and Dalat to study neoclassical architecture shaped by French colonial influence. Their ongoing research examines how Vietnamese design elements were preserved, adapted, or integrated into civic and religious buildings, with close attention to architectural details and construction methods.

Baroque, The Soul of Brazil: Exploring Barroco Mineiro Along the Estrada Real 

Rabei Javaid Bhatti and Karolina Piorko traveled to Brazil to study eighteenth-century Barroco Mineiro architecture. Their research included an analysis of civic and religious buildings in several towns located along the Estrada Real in the southeastern region of the country. Through the use of photography and vibrant watercolor, they created a catalogue of Brazil’s distinct Baroque architecture.

Bairros Unbounded: Multiscalar Duality in Lisbon’s Urban and Architectural Forms

Avani Agarwal and Daniela Déu traveled to Portugal to study the architectural styles and urban settings of five neighborhoods in Lisbon. Their research included an analysis of the relationships between public and private spaces, street hierarchy, massing techniques, fenestration details, and materiality. 

Migration to the Magic City: Early Modernisms in an Ever-Expanding Miami

Alp Demiroglu and MG Lewis traveled to Miami Beach to study art deco architecture. They documented architectural landmarks through photography and on-site sketching, and met with local historians and viewed archival collections to better understand historical influences.

Renaissance: Architecture and Placemaking in Central Harlem

Amanda Iglesias and Christopher Tritt studied Harlem landmarks to better understand the challenges and triumphs of Black placemaking in the United States. Their research included a week-long series of walks through Harlem focusing on three interconnected themes for the buildings: religion, culture, and people.

Argentina Between the Wars: Housing as Style, Not Typology

Justin Lai and Ron Ostezan traveled to the Argentine cities of Buenos Aires, Rosario, and Mar del Plata to study the architectural styles of residential buildings completed between 1920 and 1940.

Governed by Hierarchy: Japan’s Samurai Districts

Brenna Decker and Caitlin B. Getman traveled throughout southern Japan to catalogue and analyze six preserved samurai districts.

Harmony of the Whole: Cities Beautiful in 20th Century India

Kristen Gates and Thomas Nye’s research focused on Sir Edwin Lutyens’s early 20th-century work for Imperial New Delhi and Le Corbusier’s mid-20th-century designs for Chandigarh—two chronologically and geographically adjacent examples of an architect developing the master plan for a new city and designing everything from public and institutional buildings, monuments, residences, down to the scale of furniture.

“Just” Housing: Dutch Social Housing from 1915–1930

Robert Cannavino and Mark Santrach’s research focused on early-20th-century social housing in Amsterdam that originated from the National Housing Act of 1902. The completion of entire neighborhoods during a small window of time between the First and Second World Wars aimed to combat the increasing overpopulation and deterioration of the city, and would promote the planning, funding, and standardization of Dutch housing for decades. “The Dutch created rich urban fabrics with just social housing,” wrote Cannavino and Santrach. “Despite lacking grand civic buildings and the benefit of incremental growth, the new neighborhoods espoused a clear hierarchy of forms, a rich network of public spaces, and a degree of picturesque monumentality.”

Understanding Regionalism: The Creation of Place in the Spanish Colonies

Robert Moldafsky and Javier Perez traveled to cities in central Mexico and port cities in the Caribbean and Central America to study Spanish Colonial architecture. Each location was selected for its unique climate, local materials, and regional differences. Moldafsky and Perez studied “how these sets of stimuli created new variations in Spanish architectural character across New Spain.”