Date: 15 July 08
Author: Caroline Ednie, Web Editor
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University of Edinburgh student Ross Perkin MArch (Design) has received 3DReid’s Student Prize – the largest practice-run prize in the UK – which recognises excellence in concept and design.
The Part II student received £1,800 in prize money, part of a £5,000 fund, having beaten off rivals from Birmingham, Greenwich, Oxford Brookes and Nottingham.
Ross explained the idea behind his winning project ‘New Worlds within the Old Town of Cadiz: EL CINÉ DE LAS TORRES Y LA ARQUEOLOGÍA ROMANA (The Cinema of Towers and Roman Archaeology):
“The project aims to reinforce and reactivate an urban block in the old town of Cadiz that is suffering the effects of unemployment, urban decay and dereliction. Excavation works have revealed that the block is situated above the remains of a Roman Circus. These excavations are an active part of the programme.
In addition, the introduction of key cultural and community support programmes, act as a catalyst for change and reactivate the spectacle of the Circus. A film centre slowly takes root. Cinema screen spaces are held above the world of archaeology and wedged between key existing masonry walls. These are treated as held vessels, like boats entangled in a dry dock, they contain the promise of taking you to a new world.”
Ross was nominated by tutor Suzanne Ewing, also a Partner with Edinburgh based Zone Architects, who explained:
“Over the course of academic year 2007-08, Ross has developed a project for a Centre for Film in Andalucia within a decaying urban area of the dense historic fabric of the old town of Cádiz, on the Atlantic coast of south-western Spain.
Early fieldwork, historical and technological research led to meticulous documentation of this part of the city, and the site became understood as a shifting ground latent with the material remains of a Roman Circus. Ideas about porosity, typologies of entrances, the potency of the subterranean, excavation and the cultural role of spectacle have informed an urban strategy which literally and metaphorically reinforces the urban fabric. The architectural strategy is to precisely insert programmatic elements of El Ciné de las Torres that are held in mutual dependency while acting as support for the existing urban blocks. The new configuration of the cleared semi-public space is activated by film projection and public route. The material and spatial arrangement and language of the architectural proposal is inventive and develops a rich dialogue concerning weight, temporality and use.”
The judges, who included Peter Murray, Director of the London Festival of Architecture and founder of Blueprint Magazine, and Paul Finch, editor of Architectural Review and former deputy chair of CABE, were resounding in their praise of Ross: “The project is a journey of discovery with a lot of depth, effort and detailed thinking. The architecture that matches the grain of the urban landscape is very elegant. It tackles complex urban site and creates a sense of adventure.”
