Designing for Uncertainty: Adaptive Strategies for Evolving Environments 

Apply for up to $20,000 in research funding

 
As society faces ongoing disruption and rapid transformation, designers and architects are uniquely positioned to reimagine the spaces where we work, learn, heal and gather. The ONEder Grant invites bold, interdisciplinary proposals that apply strategic foresight and adaptive experimentation to the challenges and opportunities in the evolving fields of workspace, collaboration, learning environments, healthcare and community housing design. 

Today’s realities demand more than incremental improvements—they call for innovative, human-centered solutions that support resilience, well-being, and performance in the face of uncertainty. This grant seeks to support research and prototyping that explores new models, tools, and strategies to create environments that are not only functional, but also responsive, inclusive, and future-ready.

We believe design has the power to create environments that elevate the human experience. The ONEder Grant fuels this belief by supporting unique research into new and evolving learning in the field of workplace, healthcare and learning environments design. Since its introduction in 2019, the ONEder Grant program has awarded twenty-four $20,000 grants to A/D firms across Northern California and Washington State resulting in unique, relevant, and timely results. Research from our 2024 winners can be found on our main ONEder Grant page and all previous work is available for reference in the ONEder Grant Archives.

We invite you to submit a ONEder Grant proposal application. We will award up to $20,000 for each grant to selected Bay Area, Sacramento and Washington state design firms.

ONEder Grant proposals are judged against a published set of criteria, by a panel of judges comprised of past grant winners, industry professionals and One Workplace leadership.

Schedule

Program Parameters

• Applicant offices must be based in the following geographies.  One of the SF Bay Area counties: Santa Clara, Alameda, San Francisco, Marin, Sonoma, Napa, Solano, San Mateo, Monterey, or Contra Costa; Sacramento, CA regional area; or Washington state.
• Online Grant application must be submitted by June 6th, 2025.
• All grant applicant teams share proposal concepts verbally (2-3 minute presentation - June 18th). No presentation materials required.
• Grant recipients receive funding in two payments: 50% at Kick-off and 50% halfway through the program.
• Grant recipients are required to meet monthly with their Grant Program coach to review status and resources.
• Final submission of research findings include a written report (white paper or slide deck) and a single page abstract.
• Grant teams own their work product.
• Grant teams will record ONEder podcasts once projects are complete, prior to the presentation date.
• One Workplace and Grant design firms will co-brand and co-market all ONEder Grant results.
• Grant teams deliver final research and insights to the design community (presentation format and length to be determined closer to the presentation date.)