Architecture graduate becomes University's fourth RIBA winner
Fri, 03 Jun 2016 10:12:00 BST
Jack Petch, a 2015 graduate of Architecture (International) BA(Hons), has incredibly become the fourth University of Huddersfield student in the past five years to win a prestigious award from the Royal Institute of British Architecture (RIBA).
Jack, who is currently on a professional practice year, was awarded with a Silver Medal in the recent RIBA Yorkshire Student Awards 2016 for his design of a Museum, Auditorium and Music school on an ancient temple site in the Yunnan province of China. This is also the exact same province the previous three winners of the award from the University of Huddersfield designed in.
As part of the Architecture International BA(Hons), students make at least one non-European field study trip of three to four weeks. In late 2014, Jack was one of a group of 42 students – representing seven different nationalities - to visit the province’s capital Kunming.
The aim of the trip – led by Professor Nicholas Temple and Dr. Yun Gao, herself a native of Kunming and Visiting Professor at Yunnan Arts University (YAU) – was to provide UK-based students a chance to understand and experience the plethora of differing cultures and peoples present in the province.
26 of the 56 different ethnic nationalities in China inhabit Yunnan alone with each differing group having their own culture, rituals, clothing and crucially architecture – on their return to the UK, students developed ideas based on their experiences of this melting pot of cultures.
Jack’s award-winning design saw him utilise the old Confucius Temple site of the City to include a combined Museum, Auditorium and Music school. Its aim; for users to connect with the past and historical traditions before they are lost in China’s continual, rapid urbanisation.
“Being nominated by my tutors was very unexpected, I had no idea that my project would be picked out by the judges for an award,” said Jack.
“The evening was a celebration of architectural design in and from Yorkshire, I’m proud to have been a part of it.
“The best part of my experience was the three week field study trip to China. The culture was fantastic to experience first-hand. Being there really affected the way my degree project was formed and how the design brief was made.”
Jack’s project, along with a number of others from Huddersfield Architecture International BA(Hons) and Sustainable Architecture(MSc), will now be celebrated at an exciting international exhibition entitled; ‘Creative Kunming’ to be held in June 2016 in Kunming.
The event – in collaboration with YAU - will display the work of students from eight universities in four countries, including; University of Huddersfield (UK), Intuit.lab, Ecole de Design et Communication Visuelle (France), Burapha University (Thailand), Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (Malaysia), China Central Academy of Fine Arts (Beijing, China), Design College of Jiangnan University (China), National Taiwan University of Arts, and YAU itself.
After completing his professional practice year, Jack says he’s planning to travel abroad before returning to the UK for his Master’s degree.
