RIBA Announces Winners of 2020 President’s Medals, World’s Best Student Architecture Projects

Written by Christele Harrouk
Published on December 02, 2020

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has just announced the winners of the 2020 President’s Medals. The annual awards for the world’s best student architecture projects, gathered in this edition, the highest number ever of entries with 336 nominations from 118 schools of architecture located in 32 countries.

+ 4

The RIBA Silver Medal was awarded to Robert Beeny (University of Westminster) for Devil’s Valley Geothermal Co-operative. The RIBA Bronze Medal went to Tengku Sharil Bin Tengku Abdul Kadir (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) for One Tree Manual. The RIBA Dissertation Medal was awarded to Lizzie Osborne (University of Huddersfield) for Cesspits of Filth: Queer Vernaculars in West Yorkshire 1975 -1985. Moreover, the Serjeant Awards for Excellence in Drawing was awarded to Edwin Davis Maliakkal (University of Nottingham) for The Fifth Orchestration at Part 1, and to Aine Walker (University College Cork) for Anamnesis: Connective (Re)Collections at Part 2.

Last but not least, for the second year, RIBA has presented the RIBA Awards for Sustainable Design, “recognizing the importance of climate action in the development of architectural design proposals”. At Part 1, the award went to Sonakshi Pandit (Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture) for Urban Ca[r]talyser, and at Part 2 went to Aisling Mulligan (University College Dublin) for A Methodology for Reuse: Embracing a Circular Economy in a Carbon-Conscious Construction Sector.

Read on to discover the list of winners and commendations.

RIBA Silver Medal

Devil’s Valley Geothermal Co-operative/ Robert Beeny (University of Westminster)

RIBA Announces Winners of 2020 President’s Medals, World’s Best Student Architecture Projects - Image 2 of 9 — Robert Beeny- The RIBA Silver Medal . Image Courtesy of RIBA 2020 President’s Medals

This project is situated in an area of Tuscany, Italy known as the Devil’s Valley, which has become known for its production of renewable and geothermal energy over the past century. To protect the livelihood of local communities relying on that energy source, Robert proposes a new rural self-build development, powered by a geothermal well, with a pipeline and manufacturing spaces cascading down the valley landscape.

Commendations in the RIBA Silver Medal category:

Lisa Edwards (University of Kent) for Reclaiming the Sento.
Daniel Tihanyi (University of Strathclyde) for Preservation & Enhancement: Vision for a Yemeni Mountain Settlement.
Yip Wing Siu (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) for Designing With Bata: New Doggerlands, A Dynamic Masterplan for Enabling the East Tilbury Commons.

RIBA Bronze Medal

One Tree Manual/ Tengku Sharil Bin Tengku Abdul Kadir (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL)

One Tree Manual explores timber production and waste in Sweden, in light of the climate emergency. Sharil proposes a timber institute in suburban Stockholm, strategically located in Stockholm’s unprotected forest region, and constructed using a single tree – advocating a sustainable and holistic approach.

Commendations in the RIBA Bronze Medal category:

Kate Buurman (Newcastle University) for The Mothers of Gingerbread.
Nabil Haque (University of Cambridge) for Mono No Aware.
Heba Mohsen (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) for Florida Peak.

RIBA Dissertation Medal

Cesspits of Filth: Queer Vernaculars in West Yorkshire 1975 -1985 / Lizzie Osborne (University of Huddersfield)

Lizzie’s dissertation studies the history of The Gemini Club, Huddersfield's iconic gay club in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which was closed in 1983 following a series of raids. Their dissertation reflects on the impact of police brutality, the surveillance of queer spaces, and the emergence of subcultures within the town – and the importance of studying their influence on the development of the architectural design.

Commendations in the RIBA Dissertation Medal category go to:

Amy Bettinson (University of Westminster) for A Laboratory for Contextualism.
Joanna Leigh-Bedford (University of Cambridge) for Peace in the Pipelines: Hydro-Social Infrastructure Development in Bosnia’s Urban Borderland.
Jordan Whitewood-Neal (University of Brighton) for The Floor is Lava: An Autoethnographic Study of Non-Normative Embodiment and the Entangled Ontologies of Body, Tool and Landscape.