A student from the University of Western Australia’s (UWA) Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts has been awarded the 2016 Royal Institute of British Architects’ Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship.
The scholarship is awarded annually to one student to fund international research on a topic in a location of their choosing.
Abel Feleke, who is studying a Master of Architecture at UWA, received the $11,500 RIBA scholarship for his proposal on “Weaving the Urban fabric: Examining the Significance of Community.”
The 22-year-old’s proposal examines the benefits of researching the social networks of high-density urban communities (informal settlements) to understand the social connections in these communities and how they might inform future architectural developments.
“The main aim of my research is to create a dialogue to understand how we can better aid the development of strong communities through architecture, both at home and abroad,” Feleke said.
“It’s a really great opportunity to learn abroad and travel to places I would otherwise not have had the opportunity to visit. It will be great to study different perspectives and societies and the way people live and interact with one another,” he added.
Feleke will study in China, India, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Mexico and Brazil.
The jury highly commended a research proposal from Bartlett School of Architecture student Seyedeh Tahmineh Hooshyar Emami entitled “Mapping In-Betweenness: A multi-disciplinary study of transient refugee camps.”
The jury for the Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship comprised of Lord Norman Foster (chair), Julia Barfield (Marks Barfield Architects), Jane Duncan(RIBA President), Professor Flora Samuel (University of Reading), Stefan Behling, Spencer de Grey, and Piers Heath (Foster + Partners).
