2025 Design and Wellness Fellowship

2025 Design and Wellness Fellowship

APPLICATIONS
Due Friday, March14th, 2025, at 5:00pm PST

Perkins Eastman designs for people.

We design to enhance the human experience and leave a lasting and positive impact on people’s lives and the world we inhabit. Our annual fellowship sponsors creative individuals who are interested in investigations focused on connections between wellness and design in the built environment. Fellows contribute to and expand on the firm’s current research. We welcome qualified candidates from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to:

ARCHITECTURE

DESIGN RESEARCH

ENVIRONMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY

HEALTHCARE DESIGN

URBAN DESIGN

URBAN PLANNING

FELLOWSHIP

Perkins Eastman will select one student for a paid, in-person fellowship between June and August. The fellow will take the lead on an existing research project, driving the study with guidance and support from Perkins Eastman design staff.

GOALS

Explore the connection between design and wellness through research and project work.

FOCUS

This year’s fellowship offers active research pathways that will allow the fellow to lead a project that aligns with Perkins Eastman’s ongoing investigations. Please select from the following tracks:

• Carbon Mapping
  • Expand and refine an interactive “carbon map” that tracks the carbon flow and decision-making processes across all systems associated with and around the built environment. This project aims to provide a comprehensive tool for understanding and reducing carbon impact.
  • Preferred locations: New York City or Washington, DC
  • Skills and Qualifications:
    • Background in architecture, urban design or planning, or a related field
    • Strong knowledge of sustainability as it relates to the built environment at a variety of scales, from a single building to larger urban and regional landscapes
    • Strong experience with graphic design and/or data visualization and associated tools
• Measuring the Impact of “Human by Design”
  • “Human by Design” is Perkins Eastman’s core guiding principle, shaping our approach to creating spaces that enhance the human experience. The fellow will help develop a standardized firmwide tool to measure the impact of “Human by Design” across projects. This pilot tool will establish measurable benchmarks based on existing research in environmental psychology and related fields.
  • Preferred locations: Toronto; Pittsburgh; San Francisco; Washington, DC
  • Skills and Qualifications:
    • Background in design research, environmental psychology, or a related field
    • Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills
    • Experience with survey design and data analysis
    • Familiarity with post-occupancy evaluations or human-centered design metrics is a plus
• Classroom Acoustics
  • Analyze data from an enhanced acoustics study at an elementary school and develop a report with design recommendations for optimizing soundscapes in classroom environments to improve learning outcomes.
  • Preferred location: Washington, DC
  • Skills and Qualifications:
    • Background in architecture, design research, or a related field
    • Knowledge of and experience with acoustic design preferred
    • Strong experience with graphic design and/or data visualization and associated tools
• Restorative Care Villages
  • Conduct a literature review and case study analysis of LA County Restorative Care Villages to develop evidence-based design strategies supporting holistic healing and patient well-being at behavioral-health residential treatment facilities, addressing interrelated issues of homelessness, substance use disorders, and mental illness.
  • Preferred Location: Los Angeles
  • Skills and Qualifications:
    • Background in architecture, environmental psychology, healthcare design, or a related field
    • Strong research and analytical skills, particularly in literature review
    • Interest in behavioral health, therapeutic environments, and evidence-based design
    • Ability to synthesize findings into clear, actionable design recommendations

ELIGIBILITY

Graduate students and undergraduates with a minimum of three years of course work.

APPLICATION

Candidates should provide the following in PDF format:

• Resume/CV
• Portfolio of recent design or academic work, including relevant design projects or writing samples based on the chosen fellowship track
• Statement of interest explaining why you are pursuing a particular research project and how it aligns with your interests and/or goals

Compensation may vary based on experience, qualifications, location, and education. Typical salaries range from $23.00 per hour to $25.00 per hour.

Perkins Eastman is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer and a participant in the US Federal E-Verify program. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, protected-veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

Salary : $23 - $25