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The SAH David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award recognizes the most outstanding doctoral dissertation in the field of architectural history completed during the two years prior to the submission date. In recognition of Professor Brownlee’s wide-ranging interests, there will be no geographical or chronological limitation placed on the subject. The award will recognize thorough primary research, original analysis, and exceptional writing.

To Apply:

The Award consists of a certificate and citation that will be presented at the Society's Annual International Conference, along with a stipend up to $1,000 designated for the recipient to travel to the conference to receive the Award. Like other SAH awards, the recipient will be announced in the SAH Newsletter. 

  • Dissertation must be written in English (translations into English are not eligible).
  • Doctoral dissertation must have been completed during the two years prior to the submission year. For the 2026 award year, this is July 31, 2023–July 31, 2025.
  • SAH membership is encouraged but not required to apply.

All submissions must include the following and be assembled into a single PDF document in this order.  

  • Letter of application (500 word limit)
  • Contact information, including a valid email address
  • Dissertation Abstract
  • Full dissertation as filed
  • Transcript or equivalent showing degree completion date

Letter of Application: Submit a cover letter in which you select one chapter for the committee to read first; choose a chapter (other than the introduction) that you feel best represents your dissertation. 

Dissertation Abstract: Submit the official abstract that was submitted with the dissertation. 

Full Dissertation: Submit a full dissertation as submitted when the dissertation was filed. 

Transcript or Equivalent: Proof of eligibility requires official university documentation, such as the official transcript, affirming that the dissertation was completed and successfully passed in the eligibility period.

Please use the following naming convention for your PDF file: Last name _dissertation title (may be truncated)

Example: Young_SAH_and_the_New.PDF

Please include your contact information within your letter of application so that we may contact you with questions about your application and notify you of the review committee's decision.

Dissertations may be submitted twice (two consecutive years), but no more than twice. There will be one award recipient each year.

Applications are closed for the 2026 award. Submissions for the 2027 prize will open June 2026.

We will update all applicants for the 2026 Award by January 10, 2026 on the status of their submission.

2025 Award Recipient

Adam Przywara

“The Materiality of Ruins: Rubble, Salvaged Bricks, and Waste Aggregates in the Postwar Socialist Reconstruction of Warsaw” (University of Fribourg, 2024)

The Materiality of Ruins stood out among the entries as it made us think differently about something we assume we know: recycling in architecture. Investigating the materiality of ruins in postwar Warsaw, Adam Przywara introduces a Marxist understanding of nature in architectural history, breaching the distinction between its historical and material conceptualization. The dissertation explores the metabolism of ruins during the socialist reconstruction of the city, operationalizing rubble, salvaged bricks, and waste aggregates as key historical categories. It contributes to the interdisciplinary understanding of the human–nature relationship by tracing the transformation and socialization of rubble and documenting how manual workers, builders, architects, engineers, and politicians engaged with ruins, shaping their meanings and values. By highlighting the impact of ruins on the reconstruction efforts, the socialist construction industry, and transnational engineering expertise, the dissertation makes significant contributions to the history of memorialization, industrialization, and modernization in postwar architecture.
 

David Brownlee Dissertation Award, 2025 Committee: Sheila Crane, Anatole Upart, Caren Yglesias, Joseph Williams, Mantha Zarmakoupi, Chair

Past Recipients

2024: Maura Lucking, “Settler Campus: Racial Uplift, Free Labor, and Land Tenure in American Design Education, 1866-1929”

2023: Davide Spina, "Christian Democrats, Architecture and Capitalist Development in Post-War Italy: Società Generale Immobiliare (SGI), 1945–75"

2022: Will Davis, "Palm Politics: Warfare, Folklore, Architecture"

2021: Esther Miriam Choi, "The Organization of Life: Architecture and the Life Sciences in Britain, 1921–1951"

Background

In April 2018, three former students of David Brownlee approached the then Board President Sandy Isenstadt and Executive Director Pauline Saliga with the desire to establish a new SAH award that would honor the distinguished career of David B. Brownlee. The Award will recognize his impact as a scholar, teacher, and mentor to his many doctoral students at the University of Pennsylvania. The Committee had approached fellow Brownlee advisees who pledged financial support to help establish the SAH David B. Brownlee Dissertation Award. The SAH Board of Directors approved creation of the Brownlee Award in April 2019. 

Brownlee2_cardDavid B. Brownlee, the Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania, is a historian of modern architecture and urbanism whose interests embrace a wide range of subjects in Europe and America, from the late-eighteenth century to the present. A graduate of Harvard, he has taught at Penn since 1980. He is a recipient of the University of Pennsylvania’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching.

Professor Brownlee, a Fellow of the Society of Architectural Historians and a member since 1973, has won numerous fellowships and grants, and his work has earned the book, exhibition catalogue, and article Publication Awards of the Society of Architectural Historians. From 2007 to 2012 he served as editor of the JSAH, during which time he and SAH leadership created a unique publishing platform designed to illustrate scholarly articles with zoomable images, 3D models, video, and interactive maps. 

Active in civic affairs, Professor Brownlee served for 15 years on the Philadelphia Historical Commission and chaired its designation committee. During this time the Commission created the Rittenhouse and Society Hill historic districts. He was a founding member of the Design Advocacy Group of Philadelphia, on which he now serves as a vice chair. In January 2017, he received a lifetime achievement award from the Global Philadelphia Association for his contributions to the growth of the city.