2007

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RIBA President's Awards for Research winners announced

Date:

08 November 2007

Press office contact:

Mina Vadon
T: +44 (0)207 307 3761
E: mina.vadon@inst.riba.org

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the winners of the annual RIBA President's Awards for Research, which reward and encourage outstanding research in architecture.

The awards have three categories, PhD Thesis, University-located Research and Professional Practice-located Research. This year's winner of the RIBA President's Awards for Research for Outstanding PhD Thesis is Matthew Barac of the University of Cambridge for his PhD, entitled 'From Township to Town: Urban Change in Victoria Mxenge TT Informal Settlement, Cape Town, South Africa'. The thesis examines how symbolic and practical interpretations of city-making compete to transform the post-apartheid terrain into a more democratic living environment.

Professor Jeremy Till and Dr Tatjana Schneider of the University of Sheffield won the RIBA President's Awards for Research for Outstanding University-located Research with their work, 'Flexible Housing'. Their research investigates ways of planning housing that can adapt to different uses and technologies over time. The team collected over 150 historical examples of flexible housing for their research.

The RIBA President's Awards for Research for Outstanding Professional Practice-located Research was won by Short and Associates for their work 'Design for the Warming Environment'. This project, lead by Professor Alan Short, looked to extend the capability of naturally ventilated buildings with minimal additional carbon emission to cope with warming city centres, such as London, and warmer continental type climates. The theories were tested at the UCL School of Slavonic & East European Studies in London and the new hybrid natural/mechanically ventilated and cooled Academic Centre at Judson University, Chicago.

The judges were impressed by the quality and diversity of the entries in all three classes. The winners will be presented with awards at the annual RIBA President's Medals Student Awards ceremony on 28 November 2007, at the RIBA, W1.

RIBA President Sunand Prasad, said:

"This is the second year of the RIBA President's Awards for Research, and we are very heartened at the quality and extent of research work, which is now being recognised by these awards.  The diversity of the work presented exemplifies the dynamic nature of the practice and theory of architecture.  It gives me great pleasure to present these awards and I know there will be many more outstanding achievements in theory and practice to celebrate in the future ."

 

Notes to editors

  1. For further press information contact Mina Vadon in the RIBA Press Office on 020 7307 3761; mina.vadon@inst.riba.org
  2. The Royal Institute of British Architects' Research and Development Department launched the RIBA President's Awards for Research in 2005, to reward and encourage outstanding research in architecture carried out by PhD students, academics and practitioners. The awards promote and champion high-quality research and encourage its dissemination and incorporation into the knowledge base of the profession. They raise the profile of architects, practitioners and academics – engaged in outstanding research, and raise awareness of the need for research across the profession to foster innovation and strategic thinking.
  3. The judges, chaired by Professor Jane Rendell, Director of Architectural Research at the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, comprised; Peter Clegg, Senior Partner at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; Richard Coyne, Head of School of Arts, Culture and Environment at the University of Edinburgh; Sarah Featherstone, Director at Featherstone Associates; Brian Ford, Head of School of the Built Environment at the University of Nottingham; Felipe Hernandez, Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Liverpool.
  4. The other shortlisted entries for Outstanding PhD Thesis included: Nicola Dempsey of Oxford Brookes University for 'The Influence of the Quality of the Built Environment on Social Cohesion in English Neighbourhoods'; Kahina Amal Djiar of the University of Westminster for 'War on the Casbah: Housing, Culture and French Colonialism in Algiers' and Robin Wilson of the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, for 'Image, text, Architecture: Sites of Utopic Critique'
  5. The runner up for the Outstanding University-located Research category is Professor Edward Ng, Lead researcher of the Chinese University of Hong Kong for his work 'Feasibility Studies for Establishment of Air Ventilation Assessment System'. The other shortlisted entries included: Andre Viljoen of the University of Brighton for 'Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes CPULs: designing urban agriculture for sustainable cities' and Professor C. J. Lim of the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL for 'Guangming Smart city: A New Chinese City'.
  6. Shortlisted entries for the Professional Practice-located Research category included: Dr William Fawcett of Cambridge Architectural Research Ltd for 'New Generation Whole-life Costing' and Nick Willson of Bells Travers Willson for the 'Virtual Craftsman Project'.
  7. For further information please see www.architecture.com For further information on the RIBA President's Medals 2007 please see www.presidentsmedals.com
  8. The judges' citation for the winner of the Outstanding PhD Thesis follows:
    This is a beautifully written and highly sophisticated piece of research, which examines the passage from township to town in South Africa through a comprehensive on-site study of the way in which people have appropriated an area of the city in order to make homes. With attention to Victoria Mxenge, TT, Cape Town, South Africa, the thesis extends its philosophical position – that of phenomenological hermeneutics – to argue for an understanding of architecture's role in articulating what it calls a 'slow topography'. The thesis articulates the emancipatory possibilities of the future as 'freedom' while carefully avoiding the pitfalls of the didactic, the ideological and the idealistic. At a time when South African cities are rapidly expanding, this thesis is extremely relevant in considering the complex circumstances and speed of urban growth.
  9. The judges' citation for the winner of the Outstanding University-led Research follows:
    An exemplary body of architecturally-relevant research. The work deals with the myths and controversies encountered in the pursuit of flexibility, through extensive case studies. It is realistic about cost, social and industry pressures. The format is original offering comparative design plans, well-researched historical referencing, a new classification system and a practical manual/tool kit. An innovative and brave approach, which employs a manual to suggest a set of design rules/guides for designing 'flexible housing' but still manages to keep this 'loose' and not too dogmatic. References and insights to the everyday keep this project accessible and grounded.
  10. The judges' citation for the winner of the Outstanding Professional Practice-located Research follows:
    Highly original and unique, as a body of knowledge and a design approach that has been developed over many years and several schemes, this work is exemplary. It is an original project that gives new insights into the dilemma and challenges of implementing passive ventilation systems in large public buildings, where the impact of the research, in terms of reflection, monitoring and assessing, is integral to the methodology. The work is extremely significant in the worldwide body of knowledge that deals with passive and natural ventilation and cooling systems. The investigation of all kinds of simulation techniques through research integrated into the design process, combined with post occupancy evaluation, and has produced a body of research that is exemplary by the most rigorous academic standards.

 

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