Mumbai student wins RIBA scholarship

The 2011 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to Sahil Bipin Deshpande, the second student from Rizvi College of Architecture in Mumbai to win the prize.

His proposal ‘Sanitation: a case study across eight metropolises’ will take him to Delhi, Shanghai, Beijing, Oslo, Paris, Belfast, Kumasi and Johannesburg where he plans to develop a sustainable manifesto for sanitation with applications for Mumbai.

A total of 39 RIBA-accredited schools put forward candidates – a record number of applications to the scheme since its inception in 2006.

Lord Norman Foster, who led the jury, said: “To achieve a sustainable urban environment, the approach must be integrated, embracing buildings, transport, as well as infrastructure. Sanitation is part of the metabolism of a city – it is as vital to plan waste removal, as it is energy or water supply.

“The proposal aims to tackle a reluctance to deal with the issue of sanitation through what I am sure will be a fascinating and informative study. We wish both Sahil and Stuart the best of luck.”

The jury also included RIBA president Ruth Reed, writer and critic Rowan Moore, head of design and senior partners at Foster + Partners Spencer de Grey and Roger Risdill Smith, and Stephen Hodder chair of Hodder + Partners.

Reed said: “The RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for students to engage with architecture within a global context.

“This year’s prize has been awarded to a very deserving proposal that engages with a fundamentally important issue for all cities. I look forward to hearing about his travels and progress on this inspiring project which will have considerable benefits to his home city of Mumbai.”

The jury also highly commended a proposal by Stuart Taylor ‘Post-Earthquake Reconstruction in the Pacific Rim’ of Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand.