RIBA architecture student awards

The RIBA President’s Medals Student Awards 2010 have been announced. University of Westminster’s Jonathan Schofield has scooped the top silver medal for his project Creative Evolution: Silvertown Ship Breaking Yard.

The bronze medal has gone to Jack Hudspith from the Mackintosh School of Architecture at Glasgow School of Art, who won for his project Cook School. University of Westminster’s Clare Richards picked up the dissertation medal for her work Happy Communities.

The award, in association with Atkins, promotes excellence in the study of architecture. Previous winners have included Simon Hudspith, Mouzhan Majidi, David Adjaye, Sean Griffiths and Ole Scheeren.

Ruth Reed, RIBA president, said: “The annual celebration of the President’s Medals reward the outstanding young talent in schools of architecture in the UK and across the world, and this year is certainly no exception. Education is an area of great importance to me, and I warmly congratulate this year’s winners for their excellent work.”

A record 270 architecture schools from over 60 countries were invited to nominate two of their best student design projects at Part 1 (first degree), two at Part 2 (second degree) and one dissertation. The silver and bronze medals are awarded to the best Part 2 and Part 1 design projects respectively, with the dissertation medal awarded for the best exploration of different subjects, methodologies and presentations.

Commendations for Part 1 is awarded to the projects Data Fossils by Tobias Jewson of the Architectural Association, Monastere de L’Eau de Vie by Nicholas Shurey of the University of Bath, and to Healing Musandam: Omani Institute of Botanical Medicine by Kirsty Williams of the Bartlett School of Architecture at UCL.

One commendation for Part 2 has been given to Port of London Authority (The Rise and Fall of the Icon) by James Wignall of the Royal College of Art.

Commendations in the dissertation category were awarded to Qibao Kenneth Koh from the National University of Singapore for Unearthed: Surveys of Ground in the Heterotopic Chinese Grave. The same award goes to Morgan Lewis at University of Cambridge for Arche to Architecture: The Forum in Republican Rome, and George Wilson from Oxford Brookes University for Mourning the People’s Princess: Public Grief and the Consecration of Space.

The Skidmore Owings and Merrill Foundation has awarded travelling fellowships of £1,250 each to William Gowland from the University of Nottingham for Augmented Reverberation for Part 1, and to James Wignall, from the RCA for the project Port of London Authority (The Rise and Fall of the Icon) for Part 2.

The Serjeant Awards for excellence in drawing goes to Kirsty Williams of the Bartlett School of Architecture for her Healing Musandam: Omani Institute of Botanical Medicine at Part 1, and to Jonathan Schofield of the University of Westminster for Creative Evolution - Silvertown Ship Breaking Yard at Part 2.

The winners will be officially announced at a ceremony held at the RIBA London headquarters on 1 December followed by a public exhibition on display until the end of January 2011 after which it will move to Liverpool’s Milkandsugar gallery until 8 April 2011.