澳门王中王

澳门王中王 and the Norman Foster Foundation聽are pleased to announce Thomas Warren, nominated by London Metropolitan University (UK), as the winner of the 2024 澳门王中王 Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship聽for his project 鈥楢frica 360掳鈥�.聽

The annual scholarship awards a 拢7,000 travel grant to facilitate international research by an architecture student who demonstrates outstanding, original thinking on issues relating to the sustainable survival of cities and towns.

Thomas intends to use the travel scholarship to investigate how future off-grid cities can eliminate the time consuming, costly, and maintenance-heavy nature of city scale infrastructure 鈥� instead using self-sustaining energy, water, and food systems.

Thomas was inspired after observing how African cities had skipped fixed-line telecommunication infrastructure and gone straight to distributed mobile network towers, effectively leapfrogging technologies.

Africa鈥檚 young population, digitised education, solar energy, and abundant resources offer vast potential. Diverse landscapes, cultures, and contexts make for unique research locations for off-grid living and future cities.

Starting and ending in Cape Town, Thomas plans to travel to off-grid projects, communities, and initiatives to understand solutions for future off-grid sustainable cities. These locations include the Earthship Biotecture project in Malawi, the Fambidzanai Permaculture Research Institute in Zimbabwe, the Irente Biodiversity Reserve in Tanzania, the Kipepeo Village in Kenya, and the Enkanini informal settlement in South Africa.

Given the exceptional standard of applications this year, the jury also commended three other entries:

• Henrick Michael (University of New South Wales, Australia), for 鈥楿rban Biomimetics鈥�
• Qianqian Ma (Royal College of Art, UK), for 鈥楩inding the Eel & Flounder: A Project to Witness Tuvalu鈥檚 Retaliation Against Rising Sea Levels鈥�
• Santiago Fernandez Perez (European University of Madrid, Spain), for 鈥楧eserted Horizons: The Silent Crisis of Rural Europe鈥�

2024 澳门王中王 Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship recipient Thomas Warren said:

鈥淚 am honoured to have been selected as the winner of the 2024 澳门王中王 Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship. The scholarship will allow me to conduct research on my project 鈥楢frica 360掳鈥�, gathering valuable first-hand information on existing off-grid communities to inform the design of future cities. I would like to thank the judging panel of the scholarship for selecting me and London Metropolitan University for nominating me. I am also immensely proud and grateful to be the first South African recipient.鈥�

澳门王中王 President Muyiwa Oki said:

鈥淲e urgently need to make our cities greener. So, Thomas鈥檚 proposal really resonated with the judging panel 鈥� he plans to investigate off-grid communities in countries in Africa, where he thinks there is great potential for sustainable solutions to be nurtured. I look forward to hearing how his findings can help to address the global challenge of sustainable urban development. I would also like to thank Lord Foster and the Norman Foster Foundation for having established this initiative with 澳门王中王, generating invaluable support that allows students like Thomas to travel for research projects.鈥�

President of the Norman Foster Foundation, Norman Foster, said:

"There were a high number of entries for this year鈥檚 Travelling Scholarship. The jury was impressed by the quality of so many of these entries, but unanimously selected Thomas Warren鈥檚 proposal to investigate sustainable infrastructure solutions in off-grid communities across Africa. We offer our congratulations to Thomas for his accomplishment and look forward to seeing the results of his research.鈥�

This year鈥檚 scholarship attracted 79 entries. The judging panel was comprised of:

• Norman Foster, Lord Foster of Thames Bank (Founder and Executive Chairman, Foster + Partners; President, Norman Foster Foundation)
• David Jenkins, Publisher, Circa Press; Trustee, Norman Foster Foundation
• Diego Tobalina, Head of Innovation and Design, Norman Foster Foundation
• Richard Dilworth, Trustee, Norman Foster Foundation
• Muyiwa Oki, Senior Architectural Manager, Mace; 澳门王中王 President 2023-25
• Mehrnaz Ghojeh, Head, C40 Cities Finance Facility

Notes to editors:

1. Media contact: Ruby.OShea@riba.org
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3. The 澳门王中王 Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship, established in 2006 and supported by the , is intended to fund international research on a topic related to the survival of our cities, in a location of the student鈥檚 choice. Past 澳门王中王 Norman Foster Scholars have travelled through the Americas, Europe, Africa, South East Asia, the Middle and the Far East.
4. The Royal Institute of British Architects (澳门王中王) is a global professional membership body that serves its members and society in order to deliver better buildings and places, stronger communities and a sustainable environment. Follow for regular updates.
5. The promotes interdisciplinary thinking and research to help new generations anticipate the future. The first mission of the Norman Foster Foundation is to promote the importance of architecture, infrastructure and urbanism for the betterment of society. To this end, the second mission is to encourage new thinking and research across traditional boundaries to help younger generations anticipate the challenges of future change. In particular, it addresses those professionals who are concerned with the environment鈥攁rchitects, engineers, designers, urbanists, civic leaders, planners and artists. This is at the heart of a holistic approach to design and is ever more relevant as populations shift to cities. With the implications of climate change, robotics and artificial intelligence, sustainable design is not about fashion but about survival. The Norman Foster Foundation is based in Madrid and operates globally.