Daniel Pope Wins AJ Sustainability Prize

The AJ Student Prize 2021 rewards the best and brightest projects from students across the UK. With work submitted from every RIBA and ARB-accredited school in the UK, students can win in three categories: undergraduate, postgraduate and sustainability. 57 entries were shortlisted before the judges made their final decisions.

Daniel Pope won the sustainability prize for his project, ‘The Earthen Land Registry’, which proposes reusing London clay excavated for tunnelling projects and basement excavations for a new housing typology and retrofit of existing homes. The material is currently displaced during civil engineering tunnelling and sent to landfill. The project offers an elegant solution, using this abundant waste stream with 3D printing technology to insulate existing housing stock, while maintaining vapour permeability and honouring the material’s heritage. 

The judging panel was chaired by AJ technical editor and deputy architecture editor Frances Williams, with a panel comprising: 

• Harriet Hariss, Dean of the Pratt Institute School of Architecture in New York
• Edmund Fowles, Architect at Feilden Fowles
• Ramsey Yassa, Architect at NOOMA Studio
• Rachel Hoolahan, Sustainability Co-ordinator at Orms and recipient of the AJ100 Sustainability Champion award

The judges commented that Daniel’s ‘provocative and brilliant’ project stood out ‘for being about process’. They said, the porject 'really makes you think about its application, and for that reason it’s really compelling’.

“I'm so happy to have been awarded the Architects Journal sustainability prize. I really wanted the project to showcase what can be done using the excessive waste earth material that leaves our cities every day. I am continuing the research on the Earthen Blanket retrofit which brings new clay systems back to historic London Brick architecture. I love the project, I love the material and I’m excited to carry on this work collaborating with fantastic tutors I have met during my time at The Bartlett."

- Daniel Pope

The prize was announced at a ceremony at Pearson Lloyd studios in Hackney, East London on Tuesday 9 November.

It has been a successful year for Daniel. His project was awarded the Sir Banister Fletcher Prize and Medal at The Bartlett Summer Show, and also received an honourable mention in Parsons Healthy Materials Lab’s Role Models Student Contest.

Daniel graduated from the  Architecture MArch programme in 2021 with a Distinction. His unit, PG16, was tutored by Matthew Butcher and Ana Monrabal-Cook.

More information

• Read about the AJ Student Prize on the AJ website 
• See Daniel Pope’s project at the Summer Show 2021 archive
• Find out about Architecture March
• Visit Matthew Butcher’s profile
• Visit Ana Monrabal-Cook’s profile

Images: 'The Earthen Land Registry' by Daniel Pope, Architecture MArch, PG16, Y5