The RIBA Silver Medal for the best design project produced at RIBA Part 2 or equivalent, is awarded to Annabelle Tan at The Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, for A Journey through Past, Present and Post-Tropicality.
A Journey through Past, Present and Post-Tropicality is an investigation into notions of ‘tropicality’ in the context of Singapore. Spanning 4.2 km, Annabelle’s scheme is a socio-ecological continuum linking a threatened forest to a national nature reserve. It includes housing, educational spaces, and areas for civic engagement made from regenerative materials produced along the site.
Commendations in the RIBA Silver Medal category:
- Nadir Qazim Mahmood (Manchester School of Architecture) for Nirvana
- Dario Biscaro (Royal College of Art) for Spolia Tectonic
- Oliver Reynolds (London Metropolitan University) for A Campus for Flour: Between Horizontal and Vertical
The RIBA Bronze Medal (for the best design project produced at RIBA Part 1 or equivalent) goes to Mary Holmes (University of Cambridge) for Out of the Closet, Into the Garden.
Mary proposes the queering and retrofitting of two rows of terraced houses in the heart of a suburb in Harlow. In this context, mutual support and collectivity are centred to create an enduring queer space.
The judging panel of the RIBA Bronze Medal awarded a High Commendation to Common Ground | Leith by Inka Eismar (Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture) and Commendations to:
- Chon Kei Lam (University of Melbourne) for Symbiosis
- Felix Wilson (Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture) for A Scarcity of Attention // Plans for 111-115 Constitution Street
The RIBA Dissertation Medal is also awarded to Annabelle Tan (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) for Past, Present and Post-Tropicality: Viewing Singapore through an ‘Infra(-)structural’ Field.
Commendations in the RIBA Dissertation Medal category go to:
- Mohsin Ali (Manchester School of Architecture) for Mapping Migrant Trajectories: A Study of South Asians in Diaspora through the Bradford High Street
- Thomas Faulkner (Architectural Association) for The Art of Getting By: From Domestic Abuse to Social Housing
- Kieran Ka Ming Tam (University of Cambridge) for Beyond Humanitarianism: From States of Violence to Futures of Care in Northern France
Recognising the importance of climate action in the development of architectural design proposals, the RIBA has awarded the RIBA Awards for Sustainable Design for the fourth year. At Part 1, the award went to Inka Eismar (Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture) for Common Ground | Leith. At Part 2, it went to Annabelle Tan (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) for A Journey through Past, Present and Post-Tropicality.
The Serjeant Awards for Excellence in Drawing have been awarded to Nathan Tipping-Stevenson (Falmouth University) for Leow Keskorra ha Dyski: A Place to Assemble and Learn at Part 1, and Nadir Qazim Mahmood (Manchester School of Architecture) for Nirvana at Part 2.
RIBA President Simon Allford said:
“This year’s RIBA President’s Medals celebrate the talent and work of architecture students from around the world. The record number of entries this year address contemporary topics with immense social and environmental significance. As ever the range, scope and scale of their inquiry is extremely impressive.
Congratulations to the winners and thank you to the tutors and schools of architecture who have fostered and encouraged such promising minds. I look forward to seeing how they develop these speculations on architecture and life in the years to come.
We have been running these awards for many decades and opened them up to the wider world of non-validated schools when I was VP for education over a decade ago. As well as being a celebration of this year's student preoccupations, the work now adds to our quite extraordinary archive of a long history of student inquiry.
On a personal note, I fondly remember awaiting the result of our Silver Medal nominated project with my partners at AHMM over 30 years ago - we were unplaced but of course we consoled ourselves with the fact we were involved!”
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- Media contact: Ryan.Johnston@riba.org
- Images from this year’s winners can be downloaded here
- The RIBA President’s Medals were established in 1836 and are the RIBA’s oldest awards. www.presidentsmedals.com features all nominations made since 1998. The site includes a comprehensive visual archive of tens of thousands of images and statements produced by students, as well as photographs and films of the judging of entries, the awards ceremonies, and interviews with the winners.
- In 2022 the RIBA President’s Medals had the highest ever number of entries in their 186-year-old history: 347 entries nominated by 100 schools of architecture located in 27 countries.
- RIBA Future Architects is our community for future and emerging architects, designed to support, inspire and provide a voice during the transition from study to practice. Follow us on Instagram @RIBAEducation for advice and information about studying architecture, exclusive events and opportunities.
- 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.
- This year’s judging panels included:
Silver Medal:
- Chair: Tracy Meller – Senior Partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners; Honorary Professor of Architecture at the University of Nottingham, UK
- Anupama Kundoo – Founding Director of Anupama Kundoo architects (with studios in Berlin, Germany, and Pune and Pondicherry, India); Professor of Architecture at the Potsdam School of Architecture, Germany; and Head of Urban Design at Auroville, India
- Nicholas Lobo Brennan – Co-founder of Apparata Architects; Associate Professor of Tectonics at Kingston University, UK
- Thandi Loewenson – Architectural Designer and Researcher; Tutor of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, UK
- Ken Okonkwo – Associate Director at Haworth Tompkins architects; visiting Architecture Critic at the University of Sheffield, UK
- Sofie Pelsmakers – Environmental Architect, Educator and Researcher; Associate Professor at the Faculty of Built Environment of Tampere University, Finland, and Visiting Professor of Architecture at the University of Sheffield, UK
Bronze Medal
- Chair: Tracy Meller – Senior Partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners; Honorary Professor of Architecture at the University of Nottingham
- Victoria Farrow – Practising Architect; Course Leader for the BA Architecture at Birmingham City University
- Adam Nathaniel Furman – Artist and Designer; trained as an Architect
- Smith Mordak – Director of Sustainability and Physics at Buro Happold; Practising Architect, Engineer, Writer, and Curator
- Stephen Slaughter – Practising Architect; Chair of Undergraduate Architecture at Pratt Institute in New York, USA
- Ramsey Yassa – Practising Architect; Founding Director at NOOMA Studio
Dissertation Medal
- Chair: Lesley Lokko – Founder & Director of the African Futures Institute in Accra, Ghana
- Thomas Aquilina – London-based architect and academic
- Kuukuwa Manful – PhD candidate at SOAS University of London
- Samir Pandya – Assistant Head of the School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster
- Tanja Poppelreuter – Lecturer in the History and Theory of Architecture and Director of Postgraduate Research Studies at the University of Salford
- Huda Tayob – Lecturer in Architectural Studies at the University of Manchester
