AJ Student Prize 2023: Robert Gordon University

About the Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and Built Environment

Location Aberdeen | Courses BSc (Hons) Architecture, MArch | Head of school David Antonio Vila Domini | Full-time tutors 17 | Part-time tutors 12 | Students 210 | Staff to student ratio 1:17

Calum McLeod-Petrie

Course BSc (Hons) Architecture
Studio/unit brief Democracy is Messy (Stage 3 Studio)
Project title Crimmonmogat Square and Market, Aberdeen

Project description The brief called for a citizen’s assembly building to serve the needs of a specific community. This Crimmonmogat development seeks to improve the presence of its surrounding landmarks – a Gothic Revival spire, Georgian temple front and flamboyant granite cupula – with a civic centre comprising a market hall, debating chamber and community facilities to bring visual connection and create continuity with the past. The development acts as a machine for community activity with integrated market stalls and seating that can be folded or moved depending on the use of the market hall. 

Tutor citation This is a resolved scheme which shows spatial organisation, form, composition and aesthetics. It substantially support the aims of the concept, which is mature and thoughtful. David Wilson

Postgraduate

Maxwell Wilson

Course MArch
Studio/unit brief Orkney (Unit 2)
Project title Life between Glass and Stone: Orkney farm and distillery

Project description This proposal is for an agricultural facility in Finstown, Orkney, which combines food production, distilling and a new way of living. A large greenhouse complex is combined with the distillery and the surplus heat from the distillation process is used to heat the growing environment. The scheme includes training residences under the greenhouse glass. It also forms part of an imagined Pomona, a fertile development of the town which uses stone from the local quarry to modify the microclimate through the introduction of garden walls in the manner of 19th-century Parisian walled garden-orchards. 

Tutor citation This is a visionary project centred on low-carbon community living, in which food production, energy and living are interconnected in a rich and fertile manner, making the most of local culture and resources. David Vila Domini, Neil Gillespie, Tim Bayman