Architecture student wins eco-design competition
A student from the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) has won first prize in an international design competition.
Jeffrey Adjei, who is studying for his Graduate Diploma in Architecture at UCA Canterbury, saw off hundreds of entrants from 26 countries to win the Design for Adaptable Futures ideas contest.
Jeffrey, who is 25 and from Croydon, said: "I'm surprised and very grateful to win this competition.
"It feels great to have my work recognised in this way and will give me the motivation and confidence I need going into the final year of my degree in September."
The competition - set by the Adaptable Futures research centre - asked students to create a sustainable proposal which illustrated how the life of their design would unfold over time, be that an hour, day, decade, or century.
Jeffrey's winning proposal focused on the social structures within a community space in New Addington, Croydon. It featured the concept of self-building and looks extensively at a continual collaborative process by linking the community with a vast network of charity and government organisations.
He said: "With the site for my project being located in my home town, this project was very personal to me. It felt like a unique opportunity for me to represent the best way to improve my local community."
Daisy Froud, Director of architecture firm AOC and part of the competition's judging panel, said: "I'm really glad that Jeffrey's won because it shows a very different approach to an architecture competition - he dealt with social sculpture and its speculations, based on research into a specific cultural and perhaps even 'small-p' political context."
Fellow judge David Rowley, of architecture firm Nightingale Associates, added: "Jeffrey's submission fully embraced adaptability with sustainability in its broadest sense, taking into account social and political factors as well as accounting for the visual environment and longevity."
Jeffrey won £1,250 and the opportunity to present at the Adaptable Futures autumn conference in London.
For more information contact:
David Reilly, Press Officer, UCA
T: 01252 892939
E: dreilly@ucreative.ac.uk
