The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has today (30 November 2018) announced Professor Murray Fraser as the recipient of the 2018 RIBA Annie Spink Award for excellence in architectural education.
Fraser, who is Professor of Architecture and Global Culture and Vice-Dean for Research at the Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL), will be presented with the award at the President’s Medals ceremony in London on Tuesday 4 December.
The prestigious biennial prize is awarded to an individual who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of architectural education in a school of architecture anywhere in the world that offers courses validated by the RIBA.
RIBA President, Ben Derbyshire, said:
“Congratulations to Professor Murray Fraser on winning the 2018 RIBA Annie Spink Award. Murray’s extensive career has influenced the development of thousands of students at Oxford Brookes University, at the University of Westminster, and at the Bartlett School of Architecture, as well as over many other aspects of architectural education. The academic rigour of his teaching of design, and history and theory, and his passionate commitment to sharing architectural knowledge in the most diverse publishing formats, make him a most deserving winner of this award.”
On receiving the award, Professor Murray Fraser, said:
“This award means everything to me. Since I began teaching in the 1990s I have worked hard to raise ambitions in design studio and architectural history and theory through a more collaborative and student-centred approach. I have been fortunate to have worked in three excellent architectural schools – Oxford Brookes, Westminster and the Bartlett – alongside brilliant students and colleagues, from whom I have learnt a great deal about being an architect and an educator. This award is as much theirs as it is mine.”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1. For further press information contact Abigail.Chiswell-White@riba.org.
2. Biography of Professor Murray Fraser:
Professor Murray Fraser is a qualified architect and academic who studied for five degrees at the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, prior to working in architectural practices and starting his teaching career, initially at Oxford Brookes University and after that, at the University of Westminster. He took up his current post as Professor of Architecture and Global Culture at the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture in 2011 and was made Vice-Dean of Research for the wider faculty in 2012.
He has had extensive involvement in academic strategy and administration, especially in relation to professional organisations. He has served as a member of the ARB Assessment Panel and of the ARB/RIBA Visiting Board Pool from 2000-05 (including as Chair of Visiting Boards). He was a member of the team that in 2000 wrote the undergraduate QAA Benchmark Statement for Architecture. He has been external examiner for a variety of Part 1 and Part 2 courses at institutions such as the Universities of Bath, Cambridge, Greenwich, Nottingham, East London, and Westminster, as well as on MA courses at UCL and University College Dublin. He was especially appointed as Senior Visiting Professor at the Technical University of Malaysia between 2005 and 2008 and has also acted as external examiner for many PhD theses in the UK, Ireland, Belgium and Australia, as well as a student mentor for the Stephen Lawrence Trust.
He has provided external scrutiny / advice on courses and research programmes at the Bartlett School of Architecture, Architectural Association, Central St Martin’s College of Art, Robert Gordon University, Innsbruck University, KTH Stockholm, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Technical University of Malaysia, and Queensland University in Australia. He was an assessor for the Australian Research Council and, the Executive Academic Advisor for Nazeer Hussain University.
Over the years he has given many keynote lectures or seminars/workshops on architectural design, architectural history and theory, urbanism, and architectural education at institutions in the UK, Ireland, continental Europe, USA, Australia, Turkey, Malaysia, Singapore and elsewhere. In 2008, he ran the Design Research forum at the international Oxford Conference on Architectural Education, and in June 2013 he was appointed as a member of Guest Faculty for the Metropolis Masters Programme in Architecture and Urban Culture, run by the Universitat Pompey Fabre/Centre de Cultura Contemporania in Barcelona. Between 2012 and 2013 he helped run the World Architectural Festival.
Professor Fraser is a founding member of the European Architectural Research Network (ARENA), editor-in-chief of the Arena Journal of Architectural Research (Ajar), and is general editor of the 21st edition of the Sir Banister Fletcher’s Global History of Architecture, scheduled for publication in May 2019.
3. The 2018 Annie Spink judging panel included:
John-Paul Nunes – RIBA Head of Education Projects (non-voting Chair)
Alan Jones – RIBA President Elect; Director of Professional Practice at Queen’s University Belfast
Roy Khatchadourian – RIBA Dissertation Medallist 2016; Architect at PDP London
Lilly Kudic – Head of Architecture at London South Bank University
Helen O’Connor – Head of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Dundee
Samir Pandya – Assistant Head of the School of Architecture and Cities at the University of Westminster
4. The £10,000 Annie Spink Award is financed by the Annie Spink Trust Fund, which was established in 1974 by architect Herbert Spink FRIBA. He bequeathed the trust as a lasting memorial to his wife Annie, who died in 1938, as an honour for the ‘advancement of architectural education’. Past recipients of the Annie Spink Award include Christine Hawley, Florian Beigel, Nigel Coates, Peter Cook and Dalibor Vesely.
5. Click here for further information about the award or contact John-Paul Nunes, Head of Education Projects on 020 7307 3604.
6. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a global professional membership body that serves its members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. Follow @RIBA on Twitter for regular updates.
