The RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship 2017 has been launched inviting RIBA validated schools of architecture around the world to nominate one exceptional student to submit a proposal. Entries will be assessed by a panel of judges which will include Lord Foster and RIBA President Jane Duncan.
The selected scholar will receive £7,000 (an increase from the previous award of £6,000) to travel anywhere the world in order to pursue research on the subject of the future survival of our cities and communities.
Lord Foster said:
“As a student I won a prize that allowed me to spend a summer travelling through Europe and to study first hand buildings and cities that I knew only from the pages of books. It was a revelation – liberating and exhilarating in so many ways. Today it is my privilege to fund the RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship, which I hope will have a lasting legacy – offering the chance for discovery and the inspiration for exciting new work – for generations to come.”
RIBA President Jane Duncan said:
“This scholarship provides a unique opportunity for students to engage with architecture outside of the academic context, and develop their own research interests and methods as part of a rewarding and enlightening experience. As we celebrate this scheme’s 10th anniversary, we remain deeply grateful to Lord Foster for his support of the future generation of architects, and are delighted with his generous decision to increase the funds awarded to scholars as of this year.”
Further details and an application form can be downloaded from the RIBA website www.architecture.com/fosterscholarship.
Notes for editors:
- First established in 2006, the scholarship is now in its tenth year and is intended to fund international research on a topic related to the survival of our towns and cities, in a location of the student’s choice. Past RIBA Norman Foster Scholars have travelled through the Americas, Europe, Africa, South East Asia, the Middle and the Far East, and Russia.
- Proposals for research might include: learning from the past to inform the future; the future of society; the density of settlements; sustainability; the use of resources; the quality of urban life; and transport.
- Past recipients of the RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship:
- 2016: ‘Weaving the Urban Fabric: Examining the Significance of Community’ by Abel Feleke of University of Western Australia, which explored how a strong sense of community binds informal settlements.
- 2015: ‘Cycling Megacities’ by Charles Palmer of Sheffield University School of Architecture, which explored how policies, investments and campaigns are transforming urban public space in a bid to make the bicycle a transportation option for all social classes.
- 2014: ‘Buffer Landscapes 2060’ by Joe Paxton of the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London, which investigated some of the measures taken to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as reservoirs, artificial lakes and rivers – and the opportunities that these landscapes offer for habitation, as well as flood protection.
- 2013: ‘Charles Booth Going Abroad’ by Sigita Burbulyte of Bath School of Architecture, which takes the poverty maps of Victorian social reformer Charles Booth as the starting point for an exploration of slum communities across four continents
- 2012: ‘Material Economies: recycling practices in informal settlements along African longitude 30ºE’ by Thomas Aquilina, Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, part of the University of Edinburgh, UK
- 2011: ‘Sanitation’ by Sahil Deshpande, Rizvi College of Architecture, Mumbai, India
- 2010: ‘In Search of Cold Spaces – a study of northern public space’ by Andrew Mackintosh, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
- 2009: ‘Ancestral Cities, Ancestral Sustainability’ by Amanda Rivera, University de Bio Bio, Chile
- 2008: ‘The Role of Public Transport in Shaping Sustainable Humane Habitats: Case Studies Across Three Continents’ by Faizan Jawed Siddiqi, Rizvi College of Architecture, Mumbai, India
- 2007: ‘Emerging East: Exploring and Experiencing the Asian Communist City’ by Ben Masterton-Smith, UCL, London, UK
