Architecture graduate receives Serjeant Award for Excellence in Architectural Drawing
07 December 2022
Falmouth Architecture BA(Hons) graduate Nathan Tipping-Stevenson has been named as a recipient of one of the RIBA’s prestigious President’s Medals – winning a Serjeant Award for Excellence in Architectural Drawing.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced the winners of the 2022 President’s Medals during its annual awards for the world’s best architecture student projects.
Architecture BA(Hons) graduate Nathan has already been making his mark as a recipient of University awards as well as a nomination for The Architects Journal student prize. RIBA judges were impressed by his proposal for a Museum of Mining within a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Cornwall.
His submission Leow Keskorra ha Dyski: A Place to Assemble and Learn was selected for the award by RIBA’s Bronze Medal judging panel, with RIBA stating that his Serjeant Award for Excellence in Architectural Drawing was among the most accomplished out of all entries received from across the globe.
Nathan’s entry was one of a record number of entries for the President’s Medals, following RIBA’s call for nominations to 500 Universities in 100 countries.
Congratulations to the Serjeant Award for Excellence in Drawing winner Nathan Tipping-Stevenson (Part 1 @FalmouthUni) for his project ‘Leow Keskorra ha Dyski: A Place to Assemble and Learn’.
— RIBA Education (@RIBAEducation) December 6, 2022
? View the winning project: https://t.co/mDAiitnyrD #RIBAPresidentsMedals pic.twitter.com/QH7RfgCdaD
Falmouth afforded me the time and resources to explore and experiment with my work and take ownership and care over whatever process I used. The ideas I presented were valued and treated with respect and as a result it was great to feel the confidence in both myself and my work grow.
Speaking of his award win, Nathan said: “The scale of the competition and the publicity surrounding it served as a great source of inspiration. My only aspiration was that my work would hold up among what looked like brilliant nominations. The news that I’d won came as a very welcome surprise.
“I’ve always been drawn to the creation of physical things. Falmouth afforded me the time and resources to explore and experiment with my work and take ownership and care over whatever process I used. It never felt as though my passions were in jeopardy. The ideas I presented were valued and treated with respect and as a result it was great to feel the confidence in both myself and my work grow.”
Since graduating, Nathan has undertaken freelance work and is now working full-time with Cornwall-based startup. In a bid to balance his requirements for flexibility and commitment to a charity in Calais, he has since joined forces with fellow Falmouth graduates who have founded a creative Community Interest Company Social Designs CIC. He shares:
“As a CIC (Community Interest Company) the studio strives to achieve participatory design and climate resilience within its projects - we are currently developing plans for a multi-use community building at Loveland, Penryn, to be crafted from salvaged materials. The trust and autonomy they afford me within Social Designs’ commissions is fantastic....”
Unique and meaningful architecture is derived from and informed by a deep reading of a place through research, observation and behaviours more akin to that of an artist. Nathan has excelled in this approach and his hard work and determination is evident throughout his work.
Tom Ebdon, course leader for Architecture BA(Hons) and MArchitecture, is incredibly proud of Nathan’s achievement and praises his dedication to considering architecture in direct relationship to people and place. “Unique and meaningful architecture is derived from and informed by a deep reading of a place through research, observation and behaviours more akin to that of an artist. Nathan has excelled in this approach and his hard work and determination is evident throughout his work.
“I would also like to extend thanks and appreciation to the whole Architecture BA(Hons) course team that have worked tirelessly to embed the course with guided principles that consider people, place and the climate emergency as the defining issues for the future of architecture.”
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