1 May 2009
Architecture students compete for design award in the City of
London
Architecture students are being invited by the City of London
Corporation to design a new seating area for the Riverside Walk in
the ‘Square Mile’.
The Architecture Student Design Award 2009 has been launched, in
conjunction with the Cathedral Works Organisation (CWO), Albion
Stone Plc and The Mason's Company, to encourage architecture
students to come up with innovative design ideas, and to provide an
opportunity for selected trainee masons to develop their stone
masonry skills.
Students are being asked to design a seating form for the
Riverside Walk, which is part of the Thames Path, extending from
Victoria Embankment to Tower Pier on the north side of the River
Thames.
The objectives for the design include the following:
- to produce a striking, innovative 21st century seat design,
which can be carved from a single block of quarried natural stone
(3m³), with or without slabbing and jointing;
- to enhance its setting and complement the Riverside Walk;
- to be visually engaging, functionally useful and well
crafted;
- to be designed with long-term performance characteristics, such
as weathering, safety and ease of maintenance in mind;
and
- to take account of skateboard prevention measures.
Entries should be submitted by Friday 10 July 2009 - and by the
end of the month, the judging panel will contact three short-listed
applicants to invite them to visit the quarry and stone masons
workshop in August. The three students will present their designs
to the panel in September, and the winning design will be chosen
shortly afterwards.
The winning student will work closely with trainee masons from
CWO and the Masons Company, while his or her design takes shape
during October and November, and will watch its installation on a
chosen site along the Riverside Walk (adjacent to London
Bridge). The student will also be invited to attend the unveiling
ceremony, hosted the Lord Mayor of the City of London on Thursday 3
December 2009.
Designs will be accepted in either hand- or computer-drawn form.
Electronic submissions must be compatible with the City of London’s
software (i.e. compatible with Microsoft Office, Adobe Illustrator,
AutoCAD (.dwg or .dxf) or Adobe PDF.
The judging panel will include Deputy Christine Cohen OBE,
Chairman of Planning and Transportation Committee at the City of
London Corporation; Martin Rodman, from the City of London
Corporation’s Open Spaces Department; Adam Stone, master mason at
CWO; Michael Poultney from Albion Stone; and Sam Dawkins and Donna
Walker, who have previously won the Architecture Student Award.
For an application pack and full brief, please contact:
Jamie Bottono
Architectural Student Award Competition 2009
Department of Environmental Services
City of London Corporation
PO Box 270
Guildhall
London
EC2P 2EJ
or email
jamie.bottono@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Ends
Notes for editors
Andrew Buckingham, Press Officer, City of London Corporation,
020 7332 1452 or mobile: 07795 333 060; email
andrew.buckingham@cityoflondon.gov.uk
Jamie Bottono, Operational Support Manager, Department of
Environmental Services, City of London Corporation, 020 7332 1657,
email
jamie.bottono@cityoflondon.gov.uk
The City of London Corporation, which provides local government
services for the ‘Square Mile’, the financial and commercial heart
of Britain, works nationally and internationally to maintain and
enhance the City as a world-leading international financial and
business centre. Its other special responsibilities and
services to London and the wider UK include the Barbican Centre,
Tower Bridge, the Central Criminal Court at the Old Bailey, 10,000
acres of open space including Hampstead Heath and Epping Forest,
three wholesale food markets, two inner-London City Academies, the
City Bridge Trust and acting as London’s Port Health Authority. The
Lord Mayor of the City of London (currently Ian Luder) works
extensively at home and abroad to promote the City.
For over four decades, Cathedral Works Organisation (CWO) has
made conserving and repairing the nation's building heritage a
mission of excellence. Originally founded in 1965 to undertake the
restoration of the Norman Cathedral at Chichester in West Sussex,
CWO developed into an independent organisation which is highly
respected as one of the country’s leading stonemasonry conservation
and restoration companies. Their commitment to stonemasonry is far
reaching and they believe strongly in a continued major investment
in the craft skills of the master mason and are committed to
training at all levels of management and craftsmanship.
Albion Stone Plc has long mineral extraction leases covering all
the Crown Estate's Stone reserves. These mines and quarries yield a
full range of Portland Stones; Roach, Whitbed and Basebed. The
block extraction processes have been refined over recent years and
explosives have been replaced with the most environmentally
sensitive extraction processes in the UK stone industry. The
Portland Factory is one of the largest and most productive masonry
works in the UK. It produces a range of slabs, ashlar panels for
cladding & internal wall lining and pavers & tiles for
flooring as well as the most intricate masonry for high profile,
restoration projects.
The City of London Corporation, Albion Stone plc and Cathedral
Works Organisation have previously worked together to deliver
several prestigious projects within the City, including the
restoration of The Monument; and the restoration and return of the
Temple Bar to the City of London.
The Mason’s Company is one of the City’s oldest Livery Companies
formed in medieval times as a trade guild of the City of London to
regulate the quality of stone buildings in the City. The Company
supports the craft of stonemasonry through providing financial
assistance to students and apprentices for their instruction
courses and works closely with the Building Crafts College and with
the City and Guilds of London Art School where the emphasis is on
vocation training in the craft of stonemasonry and stone
carving.