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Bartlett student wins medal for architectural drawings

2 December 2009

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Pascal Bronner's design work pascalbronner.com/" target="_self">Work by Pascal Bronner
  • UCL Bartlett School of Architecture
  • Royal Institute of British Architects
  • A postgraduate student from the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture has won an award for his wildly imaginative architectural drawings.

    Pascal Bronner won a Royal Institute of British Architect's (RIBA) President's Medals Student Award: the Serjeant Award for Excellence in Architectural Drawings Part 2.

    The award is given annually to students at RIBA-recognised schools in the UK and abroad to promote excellence in the study of architecture, to reward talent, and to encourage architectural debate.

    Pascal's winning submission was inspired by the fictional lost city of Malacovia from The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, a book by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi. The book takes the form of a catalogue of fantasy lands, islands, cities, and other locations from world literature.

    Pascal re-imagined the tale as the blueprint for his sustainable 21st-century city 'New Malacovia: The Endless Laboratory'. His vision of New Malacovia is a hybrid of rural and urban landscapes where familiar everyday materials are used to perform unfamiliar architectural and urban tasks. The main protagonist is the humble potato - an ingenious element for harvesting renewable energies to power the city, and for preserving culinary traditions.

    His tutors were CJ Lim, Professor of Architecture and Cultural Design, and Bernd Felsinger at the Bartlett.

    Professor Lim said: "The project is an exemplary demonstration of innovative research, strategic design thinking and working methodologies; and a sophisticated witty proposition that will revolutionise the way we think about sustainable urban living."

    Pascal's drawings will be on display at RIBA's headquarters in Portland Place, London, between 2 December and 28 January.

    Image: two designs from Pascal Bronner's 'New Malacovia: The Endless Laboratory' project


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