RIBA｜The Presidents Medals Student Awards 2019
The President's Medals History
Established in 1836 when the Institute of British Architects awarded the first Silver Medal to George Godwin for his essay on the 'Nature and Properties of Concrete', the President's Medals are the RIBA’s oldest awards and are regarded as the most prestigious prizes in architectural education globally.
The current format of the awards dates to 1986, when at the celebration of their 150th anniversary, the Institute replaced a large number of student awards, scholarships and prizes with the Bronze and Silver Medals to reward outstanding design work at RIBA Part 1 and Part 2. In 2001, a Dissertation Medal was added to reward accomplished written work.
Participation is by direct invitation only to over 500 schools of achitecture located in 100 countries. Schools are invited to nominate up to 2 entries for the Bronze Medal, up to 2 entries for the Silver Medal, and 1 entry for the Dissertation Medal. In 2024, a record 372 entries were received from 118 schools located in 36 countries.
The winners receive their awards from the RIBA President at a ceremony in December of each year. This coincides with the opening of an exhibition of entries that also tours throughout the UK and internationally.
Over the last few years, this showcase of talented student work has been exhibited in countries such as Argentina, Australia, Bulgaria, Chile, China, Colombia, Egypt, Finland, France, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Kuwait, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.
Awards are made in the following categories:
- RIBA Dissertation Medal
- RIBA Bronze Medal
- RIBA Silver Medal
In addition, the judging panels of the Bronze and Silver Medals are tasked with selecting the winners of the Serjeant Awards for Excellence in Architectural Drawing and of the RIBA Awards for Sustainable Design, at both Part I and at Part II.
2019 Silver Medal Winner
NO.1 Surface Tension: Blueprints for Observing Contamination in the Sydney Harbour Estuary
Part 2 Project 2019
Victoria King
University of Melbourne | Australia
Sydney Harbour is one of Australia’s most significant biodiverse estuaries, yet it is also one of its most contaminated. Over two hundred years of industrial occupation, the topology of this fragile environment has radically transformed. Remnant wharves, shipyards and water-bound infrastructure now define a highly modified and dilapidating shoreline. In what way might the delicate ecosystem of the Sydney Harbour Estuary be renewed amidst an extant landscape of post-industrial degradation? Professor Iain McCalman claims that in times of climate uncertainty, artefacts possess the power to inspire awareness of the imminent threat of climate degradation. He suggests that because such objects “are part of history’s archive and fiction’s imaginary, they bear witness to both the deep past and the distant future.” Using drawing as a critical method for historical and material exploration, this thesis presents a survey of three sites of post-industrial instability. The maritime artefact is reconceived as productive infrastructure to form a network of monitoring and observation sites across the Estuary. The inherent qualities of these artefacts (The Cardinal Mark, The Slipway and The Vessel) afford performative functions for observation. A set of blueprints emerge from this survey, exploring instances where contamination may open opportunity for renewal within the Estuary.
Victoria King
Tutor(s)Gini LeeAlan Pert
NO.2 The Moon Catcher
Part 2 Project 2019
Piotr Smiechowicz
London South Bank University | UK
Contemporary problems in London emphasise social media hate crimes, associated to increased mental health issues that have led to a huge percentage of young people suffering anxiety, depression and even considering suicide. 2 million Londoners experienced detrimental mental health this year, largely attributable to social media technologies and emerging trends such as the Posthuman – we already have sex bots able to actualize our desires – isolating even the most intimate aspects of our lives. The Loneliness Experiment, conducted by Radio 4 indicated that 40% of people aged 16-24 feel lonely and disconnected, despite an abundance of “online” friends on social media platforms such as Facebook. Acquiescing Soho’s notorious history of nightlife culture and the sex industry; the Moon Catcher proposes a diurnal space whereby young people are able to connect with nature’s beauty, escape the blue light of the screen, and feel the pleasures offered by Epicureanism, i.e. of body and mind. During daylight, users can broaden their knowledge of cosmology and mental health, and stretch-out on the craterous urban beach. At dusk, collective moonbathing becomes the dernier cri, welcoming extra-terrestrial pleasures from the moon’s 8 phase cycle, before retiring to a private hotel room at the first light of dawn.
Piotr Smiechowicz
Tutor(s)Ms Lilly KudicLuke Murray
No.3 London Euston
Part 2 Project 2019
Finbar Charleson
Bartlett School of Architecture (UCL) | UK
The train terminals of the 19th century embodied a celebration of innovation and urban identity, an ambition set for a renaissance as emerging technology of the 21st century is met with a deeper understanding of civic life to create spaces of complexity and humanity. With the construction industry accountable for 40 per cent of global carbon emissions, a recently declared climate crisis demands a radical reappraisal of our movements and habits.Drawing upon the rich history of construction from renewable resources, ‘London Euston’ leverages research into engineered timber to inform the design of a market hall and wintergarden above the new rail infrastructure of Euston Station. Research into material science, sculpture, furniture, naval architecture and aviation provide a knowledge base for tests in wood lamination. Emerging tools for analysis and fabrication are utilised to test the natural anisotropic properties of timber with a high level of engineering precision. Tools and techniques are synthesised and augmented for the design of a forest of branching vaults; sheltering high-speed trains, markets and gardens. The long span structure is developed through structural analysis alongside physical prototyping, promoting the use of timber as a primary construction material to meet the demands of the city.
Finbar Charleson
Tutor(s)Jakub KlaskaDirk Krolikowski
2019 SOM Winner
NO.1 SEED of Havana: Dissolving Condensers
Part 2 Project 2019
Sun Yen Yee
University of Westminster | UK
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes” Marcel ProustBuilding on the spirit of collectivity and equal right to the city that Cuba has developed over the past 60 years of post-revolution era, the thesis takes a theoretical approach to invigorate the revolution aspirations by liberating Soviet Constructivists’ social condenser concept.
Challenging the architect's pride in creating exquisite, the project proposes an alternative architectural approach where the proposed scheme appears, dissolves and reappears across the city.
The SEEDs (Socio-Economic Empowerment Device) act as the dissolving condensers which are distributed and injected across the urban voids to construct situations for collective empowerment. The thesis mediates between the socialist structure and the rapid arrival of global capitalists in Cuba, forming a gentle subversion against the conventional façade-centric heritage conservation approach.
The proposed condensers - SEEDs growing from the voids forge new collective hope in rebuilding the city and reassembling architecture from crumbling façade leftovers, an evident Cuban resiliency of ‘creating something out of nothing’.
The project becomes a process in perpetuity and eventually the city itself evolves into an ultimate version of new condenser of our time.
Sun Yen Yee
2019 SOM Winner
NO.1 SEED of Havana: Dissolving Condensers
Part 2 Project 2019
Sun Yen Yee
University of Westminster | UK
“The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes” Marcel ProustBuilding on the spirit of collectivity and equal right to the city that Cuba has developed over the past 60 years of post-revolution era, the thesis takes a theoretical approach to invigorate the revolution aspirations by liberating Soviet Constructivists’ social condenser concept.
Challenging the architect's pride in creating exquisite, the project proposes an alternative architectural approach where the proposed scheme appears, dissolves and reappears across the city.
The SEEDs (Socio-Economic Empowerment Device) act as the dissolving condensers which are distributed and injected across the urban voids to construct situations for collective empowerment. The thesis mediates between the socialist structure and the rapid arrival of global capitalists in Cuba, forming a gentle subversion against the conventional façade-centric heritage conservation approach.
The proposed condensers - SEEDs growing from the voids forge new collective hope in rebuilding the city and reassembling architecture from crumbling façade leftovers, an evident Cuban resiliency of ‘creating something out of nothing’.
The project becomes a process in perpetuity and eventually the city itself evolves into an ultimate version of new condenser of our time.
Sun Yen Yee
2019 Serjeant Award
Avian Air – A Tropospheric Bird Sanctuary
Part 2 Project 2019
Rachel Wakelin
University of Westminster | UK
This Tropospheric Bird sanctuary is an investigation into how Architectural storytelling can communicate anthropological concepts otherwise unseen. Traditional storytelling is fundamental to the way in which societies function and perception is propagated. By engaging with the story of an everyday, familiar entity, affected by climate change, perhaps our changing environment can become more tangible. Migration patterns of birds are dramatically changing globally and the link to climate change is fundamental. This bird watching tower is a hybrid typology of bird watching and a data park, displaying migration and climate data as experienced by the bird in its’ journey throughout the troposphere. It is based in Myanmar, one of the world’s most highly bird populated countries due to being within two of the worlds ten migration flyways.
This project has been an exploration into physically manifesting large dynamic data sets relating to psychrometric air qualities architecturally, thus data is not only displayed, but experienced. The data is entirely informative of the Architecture, in both form and internal climate, through the development of a complex building skin, passively inducing state change within the air. The experiential journey converges human and avian experience, through the various avian territories of the troposphere.
Rachel Wakelin
Tutor(s)Lindsay Bremner
John Cook
Ben Pollock
