The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced the President’s Medals Student Awards at a special event today in London. The awards, recognised as the world’s most prestigious in architectural education, were inaugurated in 1836 (making them, including the RIBA Gold Medal, the institute's oldest award). Three medals in particular—the Bronze for a Part I student (Bachelor level), the Silver for a Part II student (Masters level), and the Dissertation Medal—are awarded to “promote excellence in the study of architecture [and] to reward talent and to encourage architectural debate worldwide.” In addition to these, the winners of the Serjeant Award for Excellence in Drawing and the SOM Foundation Fellowships alongside a rostra of commendations have also been announced.
RIBA Silver Medal: Thomas Chee (Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Crafts Vault: The V&A Academy of Artisanal Crafts
Responding to the uncertain future of traditional crafts industry in the UK threatened by the economic downturn and the rise of new manufacturing technologies, the proposal by introducing crafts workshops into a new extension of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, tries to promote a new typology of museum building for storing and exhibiting crafts that could help bringing the lost touch of crafts back to the modern city.
Tutors: Peter Winston Ferretto, Ingrid Schroder
RIBA Bronze Medal: Allan Chong (Newcastle School of Architecture)
‘Formless’ – An Alternative Typology for Preservation
This project takes a theoretical path in creating an alternative typology for preservation. It introduces a compromise between the desire for preservation and the cultural shift necessary for architectural expansion in the city’s future. Interpreting the concept of ‘formless’ in preservation means that architecture and heritage are no longer seen as permanent objects, but they keep transforming to re-frame their key spaces.
Tutors: Josep-Maria Garcia-Fuentes, Aldric Rodriguez Iborra
Dissertation Medal: Roy Khatchadourian (University of Liverpool)
A Juxtaposition of Ideological Expressions: Evaluating the urban transformations of Yerevan (Armenia) during 1915-2015
What determines our sense of belonging to a territory? How can an identity be maintained, or created? Yerevan – the crown jewel and capital city of Armenia – has been grappling with these issues in a quest of rediscovering its national pride, after years of political oppression, even genocide. This dissertation explores the role of architecture in this endeavour through Alexander Tamanyan’s work, an overlooked master whose contribution forms today’s city branding…
Tutor: Iain Jackson
The Serjeant Award for Excellence in Drawing (Part 1) went to Lucian Mocanu (University of Greenwich, tutored by Rahesh Ram and Tom Noonan) for New Greenwich Civic Centre: A transformative architecture. The project proposes an alternative centre for Greenwich that can be adapted for society’s needs.
The Serjeant Award for Excellence in Drawing (Part 2) was awarded to James Bussey (University of Kent, tutored by Adam Cole and George Thomson) for The Company, a dystopian graphic novel exploring architecture, isolation and Potemkin villages through the eyes ofa fictional German revolutionary exiled to the island of Helgoland.
The UK office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) also awarded SOM Foundation Fellowships to Jack Bailey (Kingston University, UK, tutored by Michael Lee) and Shenpei Ha (The Cass, London Metropolitan University, UK, tutored by Signy Svalastoga, Edward Simpson and Jonathan Cook).
Silver Medal Commendations
- Molly De Courcy Wheeler, University of Westminster, UK, tutored by Sean Griffiths / More or Less, Bricks
- Roven Rebeira, City School of Architecture, Sri Lanka, tutored by Tamara Wijayapala / Centre for Ethno-Elephantology: A cross-species design initiative
- Mikki Ristola, Aalto University, Finland, tutored by Pekka Heikkinen / Visitor Centre for Petäjävesi Old Church
Bronze Medal Commendations
- Muneeb Ali Khan, London South Bank University, UK, tutored by Nicolas Pople / Lewes Art Foundry
- Paolo Pisano, Architectural Association, UK, tutored by Ryan Dillon / The Thirty Years of Architecture: A short guide on abandoning accumulated memories at the mercy of an inclement weather
- Samiur Rahman, University of Greenwich, UK, tutored by Rahesh Ram and Tom Noonan / Nuclear NOW!
Dissertation Medal Commendations
- Tessa Forde, University of Auckland, New Zealand, tutored by Kathy Waghorn and Aaron Paterson / The House that Politics Built: Parliament Aotearoa
- Phillipa Longson, The Cass, London Metropolitan University, UK, tutored by Joseph Kohlmaier / Are You My Mother? An exploration into the bonds between people and places
- Robin Farmer, Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, UK, tutored by Brent Carnell / A Flâneur’s Guide to Boystown: Performativity, pride and place
Juries for the Medals
Silver Medal
- Chair: David Gloster, RIBA Director of Education
- Mel Dodd, Programme Director of Spatial Practices, Central Saint Martins
- Winka Dubbeldam, Chair and Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania School of Design
- Alan Jones, RIBA Vice-President Education
- Nathalie Rozencwajg, Director, RARE
Bronze Medal
- Chair: David Gloster, RIBA Director of Education
- Alessandra Cianchetta, founding partner of AWP - Office for Territorial Reconfiguration
- Nic Clear, Head of the Department of Architecture and Landscape, University of Greenwich
- Alan Jones, RIBA Vice-President Education
- Charlotte Skene Catling, Director, Skene Catling de la Peña
Dissertation Medal
- Chair: Peg Rawes, Senior Lecturer, Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL)
- Harriet Harriss, Senior Tutor in Interior Design and Architecture, Royal College of Art
- Katie Lloyd Thomas, Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Newcastle University
- Philip Ursprung, Dean of the Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich
Correction [07.12.2016]: this article previously attributed Allan Chong to the Mackintosh School of Architecture rather than the Newcastle School of Architecture.
