RIBA President’s Awards - architeria.eu

RIBA PRESIDENT'S AWARDS FOR RESEARCH 2008 WINNERS ANNOUNCED


The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the winners of the RIBA President’s Awards
for Research 2008, which reward and encourage outstanding research in architecture.

The awards have three categories, PhD Thesis, University-located Research and Professional
Practice- located Research.

This year’s winner of the RIBA President’s Awards for Research for Outstanding PhD
Thesis is Marcos Cruz of the Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL, for his thesis entitled
The Inhabitable Flesh of Architecture. The thesis re-examines the work of a wide range of modernist
architects in a new light, with the aim of proposing alternative attitudes towards space, materiality
and aesthetics.

Murray Fraser from the University of Westminster with Joe Kerr from the Royal College of Art won
the RIBA President’s Award for Research for Outstanding University-located Research
with their work, Architecture and the ‘Special Relationship’: The American Influence on Post-War
British Architecture. The research investigates ways in which the United States was a source
of architectural influence, rather than just the recipient of ideas from Europe after the Second
World War.

The commendation for the University-located Research category was awarded to Alan Chandler
of the University of East London and Remo Pedreschi of the University of Edinburgh for their work
Fabricformwork.

The RIBA President’s Award for Research for Outstanding Professional Practice-located Research was
won by the ZEDfactory, for their work The ZEDbook. This project is successful in drawing the challenges
of “zero energy” development to the attention of practitioners. The ZEDbook records about 10 years
of development from “Bedzed” onwards looking at the building physics and the component elements
of a range of projects.

The judges were impressed by the diversity of the entries in all three categories. The winners will be
presented with awards at the annual RIBA President’s Medals Awards ceremony on 3 December 2008,
at the RIBA, W1.

RIBA President Sunand Prasad, said:

"This is the third year of the RIBA President's Awards for Research, and once again this year's work is
of a wide variety and an impressively high calibre. It gives me great pleasure to present these awards
and to continue to encourage research; because it is at the core of the RIBA's mission."

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The Royal Institute of British Architects' Research and Development Department launched the RIBA
President's Awards for Research in 2005, to reward and encourage outstanding research in architecture
carried out by PhD students, academics and practitioners. The awards promote and champion high-quality
research and encourage its dissemination and incorporation into the knowledge base of the profession.
The awards raise the profile of architects, practitioners and academics engaged in outstanding research,
and raise awareness of the need for research across the profession that fosters innovation and strategic
thinking.

The judges were: Chair - Richard Coyne (University of Edinburgh), Felipe Hernandes (University
of Liverpool), Peter Clegg (Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios), Sarah Featherstone (Featherstone Associates),
Brian Ford (University of Nottingham), and Sarah Wigglesworth (Sarah Wigglesworth Architects).

The other shortlisted entries for the PhD Thesis included: Oral Towns by Gil P Klein, University
of Cambridge; The Aesthetics of Emergence by Pia Ednie-Brown, RMIT University and A Whirl
of Wonders by Josephine Kane, Bartlett School of Architecture.
The other University-located Research shortlisted entries were: Architecture and Music in Renaissance
Venice by Deborah Howard, University of Cambridge; Thinkers for Architects by Adam Sharr, Cardiff
University and The Blossoming of Perspective by Penelope Haralambidou, Bartlett School of Architecture.
Shortlisted entries for the Professional Practice-located Research category included: National College
for Schools Leadership Programme Support by DEGW and 160 Tooley Street by AHMM. For further
information please see www.architecture.com For further information on the RIBA President’s Medals
2008 please see www.presidentsmedals.com

The judges’ citation for the winner of the Outstanding PhD Thesis follows:
How do we inhabit architecture’s skin? This interesting and well-argued thesis combines theoretical
analysis with a solid body of design work and exploration materialised in the form of installations
in galleries, built work and competition entries. Cruz develops a method of analysis that allows
him to re-examine the work of a wide range of modernist architects in a new light, with the aim
of proposing alternative attitudes towards space, materiality and aesthetics. He advances
on a tradition in British architectural design that can be traced back to Brutalism and Archigram,
which he successfully relates to themes of disgust and the grotesque. The thesis belongs to
a relatively new current in architectural design that explores the potential of computer technology -
combined with studies on materiality - to challenge traditional architectural approaches to design.
The thesis is vigorous, lively and conveys a sense of adventure and enjoyment in the pursuit
of the slightly ugly, abject and persistently imperfect.

The judges’ citation for the winner of the Outstanding University-located
Research follows:
How has America influenced architecture in the UK? This remarkable book covers, in great detail,
the history of twentieth-century architecture in Britain from a new angle. It presents the United States
after the Second World War as a source of substantial architectural influence rather than merely
the recipient of ideas from Europe. The book draws on and develops postcolonial discourse by focusing
on the complex relationship between two dominant nations, neither of which imposes fully on the other,
but effects various transformations. In presenting their case, the authors develop and re-locate
Edward Said’s critique of Orientalism. The book will no doubt trigger research into the complex
relationships between the architectures of other nations, and constructions outside the canon
of conventional architectural discourse. The book is very well written, lucidly combining history,
anecdote, opinion, insight and critical argument. There is no doubt this book will become required
reading for anyone studying British architecture and a valuable reference for practicing architects.

The judges’ citation for the winner of the Outstanding Professional Practice-located
Research follows:
This award acknowledges the considerable contribution of Bill Dunster and the architectural practice
ZEDFactory in drawing to the attention of practitioners the challenges of “zero energy” development.
Theirs is a serious body of work well researched and documented, with the ideas having been refined
constantly over the years. Their approach covers both building component and design output.
As a summative product of this research The ZEDbook records about 10 years of development
from “Bedzed” onwards looking at the building physics and the component elements of a range
of projects. The ZEDbook is clearly written, well illustrated and referenced and allows the reader
to dip in to specific subject areas. The book presents a body of work that has served
the profession and the cause of sustainability extremely well.


CREDITS:
Text: The Royal Institute of British Architects