The 2010 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to Andrew Mackintosh, a student of the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture at the Robert Gordon University Aberdeen.Greenland and Iceland, seeks to gain an understanding of what ‘north’ means and how the design of public spaces might counter any perceived loss of regional identity.

A total of 35 RIBA-accredited schools put forward candidates, with proposals from 11 different countries – the highest number of applications since the scholarship was launched in 2006. The jury, led by Lord Foster, included senior representatives from Foster + Partners and the RIBA, as well as architecture critic, Jonathan Glancey and architect, Greg Penoyre.

The jury highly commended two further proposals: ‘Case Studies in 8 Cities Across the World on Squatter Communities’ by Hugh Magee of the University of Ulster and ‘The Nuclear-Urban Condition’ by Stefan Joksic of the University of Technolgy, Sydney. Both students will be awarded £500 towards their research.

RIBA President Ruth Reed said:

“I am delighted that so many students have been able to benefit from this very generous scheme; the scholarship provides students of architecture a unique opportunity to pursue a research project that will no doubt influence and inspire for many years to come.”

Lord Foster said:

“Andrew’s proposal relates to a critical principle in the design of public space – respect for the culture of place – with its history, traditions and identity. We were particularly impressed with the clear goals that he has set out to achieve. I wish him the best with his trip and look forward to learning about his findings later in the year.”