Awarded annually from 2008—2017, the Curry Stone Design Prize (CSDP) honored innovative practices using design to address pressing social issues in local communities around the globe.
The Curry Stone Design Prize defined design broadly, to include architectural, urban, landscape, product, art activism and graphic design, as well as projects that incorporate design thinking.

Over the decade it sponsored the CSDP, the Foundation amassed a global community of visionaries, activists and game changers. Today we continue to support these practices, assist in forging connections within our network and promote our winner’s work in a way that inspires others.
The prize was borne out of the Curry Stone Foundation’s belief that while design is concerned with the built environment and people’s places within it, its application is too often limited to the upper segments of society. The Foundation’s hope was—and is, to support pioneering social design practitioners and to use their work to inspire others to apply design approaches to improving their own community’s vitality.
Nominees were chosen anonymously via a network of around 200 international design professionals. The ultimate winners were determined by a jury comprised of Foundation members and invited international experts. The financial award also varied, from $10,000-$100,000.

Beginning in 2017, the Foundation chose to direct all of our resources to the Curry Stone Design Collaborative & Foundation, forwarding slum development projects in India and to our educational initiative, supporting the Social Design Insights podcast series. Currently our allocations are directed to funding these initiatives; we do not accept any unsolicited applications for funding.

Social Design Circle Honoree
IS THE RIGHT TO HOUSING REAL?

L’OEUF (l’Office de l’Éclectisme Urbain et Fonctionnel) is a Montreal-based design practice with an international reputation for sustainable architecture, urban housing, residential and commercial renovation. L’Oeuf’s work is characterized by its broad interpretation of ‘sustainability,’ striking a balance between affordability, ecological efficiency and architectural detail.

Founded by Daniel Pearl and Mark Poddubiuk in 1992, L’Oeuf emphasizes building community over building buildings. Or, more precisely it examines the relationship between the two and the interplay between building, occupant and environment creates the potential for design innovation at multiple levels.

One of their influential projects was the world’s first government-subsidized, large-scale, community-driven neighborhood renewal project, a site called Benny Farm. Originally conceived in 1947 as housing for families of returning World War II veterans, Benny Farm was a flourishing community until the late 1970’s when it faced the challenges of aging residents and an increasingly decrepit infrastructure. In 1989, plans were made to demolish the old structures and sell some of the land to finance new buildings. L’Oeuf’s success was in navigating the competing concerns of ecological sustainability, affordability, working with government agencies and stimulating the necessary changes to legislation in order to avoid private development of the site.

L’Oeuf