Bartlett student wins 2014 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship

We are delighted to announce that Joe Paxton, an MArch Unit 11 student at The Bartlett School of Architecture, has been awarded the 2014 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship for his proposal, ‘Buffer Landscapes 2060’.

Taking the threat of floods, droughts, melting glaciers and rising temperatures as a starting point, his research will investigate 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. The £6,000 travel grant will allow him to study a range of locations, from Kamerik Polder in the Netherlands to São Paulo and Los Angeles, as well as investigating ‘glacier grafting’ in the Himalayas and large-scale flood planning in New York.

Professor Bob Sheil, Director of the Bartlett School of Architecture, said: “We’re very proud that Joe has been awarded this prestigious accolade which provides him with funding to undertake study abroad on mitigating the effects of global warming and flood protection. The RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship is a highly competitive and highly sought-after award, and together with The Bartlett’s international reputation for design excellence, places Joe’s interests at the forefront of our priorities as architects today”.

The jury was chaired by Lord Foster and comprised Stephen Hodder, RIBA President; Christine Murray, Editor of The Architects’ Journal; Edward Williams, architect; and Spencer de Grey, Stefan Behling and Narinder Sagoo of Foster + Partners. Applications were received from 36 universities in 12 countries.

The high standard of entries led to a lively discussion around several of the proposals, however I congratulate Joe Paxton as the worthy winner,” said Lord Norman Foster. “The locations that he plans to visit have been carefully researched and he approaches the issue of global warming and flood protection from an interesting perspective, in looking at the wider opportunities that these resourceful landscapes may present. I am delighted that the scholarship can support him in this valuable research.”

Further information

For press enquiries please contact Michelle Lukins, m.lukins@ucl.ac.uk