Four Winners of 2012 RIBA President's Awards for Research Announced

The Royal Institute of British Architects today recognized four outstanding architectural research projects with the RIBA President's Awards for Research.

RIBA President's Awards for Outstanding Practice-located Research: 
Alastair Parvin of Architecture 00:/ in collaboration with the University of Sheffield for the publication ‘A Right to Build’

Judges citation: "Original and refreshing, this publication on self-provided housing opens up and carefully examines the ideas and facts we rarely question; this is the stuff of true architectural research."

RIBA President's Awards for Outstanding University-located Research:
Harry Charrington of the University of Bath for his book ‘Alvar Aalto: Conversations with the atelier’

Judges citation: "An extraordinary, tantalizing and rigorous study of Alvar Aalto, the mystical character behind the works, and the adventure of designing in this self-conscious studio."

RIBA President's Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis:
Steve Parnell of the University of Sheffield for his thesis ‘Architectural Design, 1954-1972 : The contribution of the architectural magazine to the writing of architectural history’

Judges citation: "A very well-written and intriguing PhD, this is not simply an historical account of an extraordinary period of post-war architecture and its publication in Architectural Design Magazine, but also an ambitious and scholarly exploration of architectural journalism as critical method."

RIBA President's Award for Outstanding Master's Degree Thesis:
Amy Thomas of the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL for her thesis ‘'Mart of the World': An architectural and geographical history of the London Stock Exchange’

Judges citation: "A convincing and thorough piece of research which persuasively examines the financial and institutional practices which shaped and were in turn shaped by the architecture of the successive homes of the London Stock Exchange, demonstrating a breadth of knowledge exceptional for an MA student."

The judges for the 2012 RIBA Presidents Awards for Research were Greg Penoyre (Chair) - Penoyre & Prasad; Gerry Adler - Kent School of Architecture; Cany Ash - Ash Sakula; Barnabas Calder - University of Strathclyde; Jonathan Hale - University of Nottingham; Ruth Morrow - Queens University Belfast; Doina Petrescu - University of Sheffield; Adam Sharr - University of Newcastle; Bob Sheil - The Bartlett School of Architecture; Cindy Walters - Walters and Cohen; and Andrew Waugh - Waugh Thistleton.

All images courtesy of RIBA.