Congratulations to MArch graduate Maria Wood on receiving a commendation for the RIBA Silver Medal 2024
The awards were presented at the RIBA President's Medal Ceremony on Wednesday 4 December
6 December 2024
Maria Wood graduated from our MArch programme in 2024 and was in the Beyond the Walls studio led by Professor Adam Sharr.
Maria was awarded a commendation for the RIBA Silver Medal for her "Architecture Class" thesis project. Speaking about receiving the award Maria said, "I'm beyond grateful to so many of the staff and my fellow peers at Newcastle university, for all of the support, encouragement and feedback over the course of the year. I'm especially thankful for the support of my design tutor Adam Sharr, for pushing me out of my comfort zone, and fostering such a positive studio environment where I felt empowered enough to tackle such a huge topic which is so close to my heart."
Architecture Class
'Architecture class' responds to the underrepresentation and exclusion of people from working-class backgrounds in architecture and the built environment. Class inequality is particularly prevalent in the culture of architectural education. Because of the strict, regulated routes to qualifying as an architect within the UK, the culture of architecture school, undoubtedly impacts the wider profession.
The thesis proposes an alternative way of learning architecture, where architecture students and students learning building trades or crafts work collaboratively on live build projects, building their own school facilities, as well as designing for the community in which they are situated. The school buildings become part of the community’s social infrastructure, designed as shared use facilities, with an end use for the community when the school moves to a new site at the end of its 5-year cycle.
This model for education is also about improving access to architecture on a wider community level, not just for the future architects of the world. It is designed to help to break the closed cycles of social, cultural and educational reproduction which exist within architectural education, offering an alternative route which is collaborative, transparent and multidisciplinary, creating a profession of socially aware building professionals and tradespeople.
