In December, the winners of the 2017 Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President’s Medals were announced. The annual program recognizes exemplary architecture students in the United Kingdom. Awards are made in various categories, including Bronze, Silver, and an SOM Foundation Fellowship. SOM’s Danielle Fountain received a commendation in the RIBA Silver Medal category.?
Jurors selected the two winners of the SOM Foundation Fellowship. The jurors were: SOM Design Partner Kent Jackson; John-Paul Nunes, Head of Education Projects at RIBA; Alex De Rijke, Director at dRMM Architects; and Andy Bow, Senior Partner at Foster + Partners. Said Jackson, “Every year I find myself astonished by the quality of the submissions we receive, and 2017 has been no exception. Seeing so many designs of such a high caliber has left me in no doubt about the bright future in store for British architecture.”
Andres Souto of the Royal College of Art in London was the winner of this year’s SOM Fellowship Part 2 for his project The Aesthetics of Hope & the Newest Basilica of Guadalupe. The winner of the SOM Fellowship Part 1 was Andres-Ciprian Cojocaru from the University of Greenwich in London, for 24 Hour Soho Entertainment Centre. Claire Longridge of the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture received a commendation in the Part 2 category, while Luca Garoli from Queen’s University Belfast received a Part 1 commendation.
First awarded in 1836, the Presidents Medals are RIBA’s oldest awards. In 1996, the SOM Foundation partnered with RIBA to sponsor the SOM Foundation Fellowship.