RIBA announces Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship winner THE 2013 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to Sigita Burbulyte of Bath School of Architecture for her proposal, ‘Charles Booth Going Abroad’. She will be granted £6,000 to develop her research study, which takes the poverty maps of Victorian social reformer Charles Booth as the starting point for an exploration of slum communities across four continents. The jury was chaired by Lord Foster and included Roz Barr, RIBA Vice-President Elect Education, architecture critic Ellis Woodman, architect Zohra Chiheb and Spencer de Grey, Stefan Behling and Narinder Sagoo of Foster + Partners. Applications were received from 40 universities in 13 countries. The jury also highly commended ‘Room for Improvement’ by Tom Haworth of the University of Cambridge – a critical analysis of global approaches to flood protection and land reclamation, with implications for the Cambridge area. Lord Foster said: “Once again, the jury was impressed by the quality of all the entries. However, we were unanimous in choosing Sigita Burbulyte’s highly original approach to urban analysis, which learns from the past and recognises the importance of infrastructure, in physically shaping a community. Perhaps most interestingly, the mapping of the relationship between slum areas and their wider urban context is a move toward defining and transforming these informal settlements. She has set herself an ambitious task, which I expect will absorb her in years to come.” RIBA President Angela Brady said: “The RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship continues to set the bar high with innovative and impressive winning projects. Our 2013 winner, Sigita Burbulyte excels in this with her project ‘Charles Booth Going Abroad‘, which will set her off on a journey around the world visiting modern cities.” like Hanoi, Nairobi, La Paz and Sofia, building on Booth’s pioneering research and aiming to better understand poverty in our cities.” Meanwhile, following a unanimous verdict from the judges, the winner of the RIBA and Vauxhall One’s international design competition has been announced. London based Erect Architecture and J&L Gibbons will now work with Vauxhall One to re-design the public realm in the Vauxhall area of Nine Elms on the South Bank. Over the last month the three shortlisted entries have had a chance to expand their initial ideas, along with a Green Infrastructure Audit from the Mayor’s Office, before presenting back to the judging panel. In winning the competition Erect Architecture have landed a five year programme of work in which they will work with the Vauxhall One team to realise their plans. The winning plan demonstrated understanding of the site, history and context, offered exceptional design flair and innovation, and exhibited excellent understanding of Green Infrastructure. In addition the design was quirky and fun. The design entitled The Promenade of Curiosities, focuses on the creation of a Vauxhall Walkway and improvement to the Vauxhall Gardens and Railway Arches.Chris Law, Public Realm and Development Director for Vauxhall One, commented: “We were absolutely delighted wtih all the entries. It shows what level of design interest there is in Vauxhall. But the Erect/J&L Gibbons entry was really special. It has so many quirky and innovative features. We really want to make a difference by regenerating Vauxhall through green and sustainable measures and their entry was outstanding.” The competition was judged by a panel of high profile figures (including Sue Illman, President of Landscape Institute, Stephen Crisp, Head Gardener to the US Ambassador, Christopher Woodward, Director of the Garden Museum and Doreen Lawrence, mother of Stephen Lawrence) and entries were judged on a number of criteria including opportunities for green intervention, inventiveness, viability and complimenting of existing planning to ensure a joined up and considered public realm for the entire area. The aim is to create a striking new identity for the area in and around Vauxhall - a stretch of land dubbed the ‘Missing Link’ between the new US Embassy and London’s South Bank. Vauxhall is at the heart of Nine Elms on the South Bank, the £15 billion opportunity area between Lambeth Bridge and Chelsea Bridge which includes Vauxhall town centre, the new US Embassy and Battersea Power Station.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Jun 2013 08:00:36 +0000
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