RIBA announces 2020 President's Medal student recipients

The annual RIBA President's Medal awards program recognizes the best architecture student projects. This year the program received the highest number of project entries in its history. According to RIBA, 336 entries were nominated by 118 schools of architecture across 32 countries. 

RIBA President Alan Jones shares, "I am inspired by the range of exceptional proposals with climate emergency, ethics, equity, and social purpose at the heart of their investigation and problem-solving. The RIBA President's Medals continue to acknowledge work of the highest caliber and technical and social relevance, essential to future architects wishing to tackle our global challenges. Congratulations to all of this year's winners, and thank you to the schools of architecture and the tutors, who have educated and nurtured their talent."

See the winning projects below.

RIBA Silver Medal [For the best design project produced at RIBA Part 2 or equivalent] 

Awarded to: Robert Beeny (University of Westminster)
Project: Devil’s Valley Geothermal Co-operative

Project Description: This project is situated in an area of Tuscany, Italy known as the Devil’s Valley, which has become known for its production of renewable and geothermal energy over the past century. To protect the livelihood of local communities relying on that energy source, Robert proposes a new rural self-build development, powered by a geothermal well, with a pipeline and manufacturing spaces cascading down the valley landscape.

Silver Medal Commendations

• Lisa Edwards (University of Kent) for Reclaiming the Sento
• Daniel Tihanyi (University of Strathclyde) for Preservation & Enhancement: Vision for a Yemeni Mountain Settlement
• Yip Wing Siu (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) for Designing With Bata: New Doggerlands, A Dynamic Masterplan for Enabling the East Tilbury Commons

RIBA Bronze Medal [For the best design project produced at RIBA Part 1 or equivalent] 

Awarded to: Tengku Sharil Bin Tengku Abdul Kadir (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL)
Project: One Tree Manual

Project Description: One Tree Manual explores timber production and waste in Sweden, in light of the climate emergency. Sharil proposes a timber institute in suburban Stockholm, strategically located in Stockholm’s unprotected forest region, and constructed using a single tree – advocating a sustainable and holistic approach.

Bronze Medal Commendations

• Kate Buurman (Newcastle University) for The Mothers of Gingerbread
• Nabil Haque (University of Cambridge) for Mono No Aware
• Heba Mohsen (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) for Florida Peak

RIBA Dissertation Medals

Awarded to: Lizzie Osborne (University of Huddersfield)
Project: Cesspits of Filth: Queer Vernaculars in West Yorkshire 1975 -1985

Project Description: Lizzie’s dissertation studies the history of The Gemini Club, Huddersfield's iconic gay club in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which was closed in 1983 following a series of raids. Their dissertation reflects on the impact of police brutality, the surveillance of queer spaces and the emergence of subcultures within the town – and the importance of studying their influence on the development of architectural design.

Dissertation Medal Commendations

• Amy Bettinson (University of Westminster) for A Laboratory for Contextualism
• Joanna Leigh-Bedford (University of Cambridge) for Peace in the Pipelines: Hydro-Social Infrastructure Development in Bosnia’s Urban Borderland
• Jordan Whitewood-Neal (University of Brighton) for The Floor is Lava: An Autoethnographic Study of Non-Normative Embodiment and the Entangled Ontologies of Body, Tool and Landscape

RIBA Awards for Sustainable Design

• [at Part 1] Sonakshi Pandit (Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture) for Urban Ca[r]talyser
• [at Part 2] Aisling Mulligan (University College Dublin) for A Methodology for Reuse: Embracing a Circular Economy in a Carbon-Conscious Construction Sector

Serjeant Awards for Excellence in Drawing

• [at Part 1] Edwin Davis Maliakkal (University of Nottingham) for The Fifth Orchestration
• [at Part 2] Aine Walker (University College Cork) for Anamnesis: Connective (Re)Collections

To learn more about the President's Medal Awards click here.