Architecture students receive prestigious awards

IDP is passionate about giving the next generation of architects opportunities to learn their chosen profession in a practical setting.  Our business offers positions for students to work during their placement year and for graduates looking for their first foothold in the profession.

We are proud to announce that two of our students have been presented with awards during their end of year graduation ceremonies, for projects they have been working on.

Andreea Buzuloi, working as an Architectural Assistant, has been nominated for the Architects Journal student prize by her university, Birmingham City University.  The winners will be revealed at a prize-giving event in October 2023.  Andreea’s project is a response to the demolition of Central Hill Estate, a modernist social estate in London.

She explains: “Currently, many of the homes on the estate are very poor quality, and suffer from damp, mould, cold, poor sound proofing and have accessibility issues.  My alternative proposal aims to refurbish and save the estate and the existing community.  By harvesting elements of the estate, the intervention would celebrate modernist architecture”.

Andreea has also received a Highly Commended for her comprehensive housing axonometric drawing, at the inaugural Malcolm Booth Drawing Prize 2023.  The prize has been set up and is sponsored by Associated Architects with the Birmingham School of Architecture in memory of Malcolm Booth, one of the founding partners of the practice and former student and tutor at the school.

Isabelle Piorkowska is a student at Oxford Brookes University and is working as an Urban Design Assistant here at IDP.  She has won first prize in the ‘Child-friendly cities’ category for her individual project that was part of an overall international design project for ‘Urban Design in Challenging Contexts’.

She explains: “The original group project stage developed a report and masterplan for an area in Ahmedabad, India.  For the individual part of the assessment, I decided to focus on child friendly designs within the Indian cultural context for the site.

“The design aim was to create an urban playground for children and their caregivers within a high-density urban neighbourhood. Overall, the project aimed to create a pedestrianised central zone with highly active frontages and promoting play for various age ranges, as well as an active travel network which children could safely use without parents needing to restrict freedom of movement.

“This was all whilst achieving a residential density of around 800pph.  This project was extremely challenging but ultimately so rewarding as a child friendly city is a place where all people can thrive.”

Isabelle’s second award was for a group project in which she played a key role.  The team took first place for the Best Morphology Study Award, for their project which centred around a morphological study of Exhibition Road in London.

“The group distributed various tasks to complete the report”, she says.  “My tasks involved organising the group’s field trip route and leading the walk for the day, as well as creating a thorough historical assessment of the area, studying character areas, sensory experience, townscape features as well as an in-depth building typology assessment.

“I am very proud of my contributions to the team.  The overall project was a great learning experience for understanding the evolution of built form, and how social and political movements can affect the growth and urban fabric of a neighbourhood”.

Ben Flippance, Design Director said: “On behalf of the entire team at IDP, I’d like to congratulate Andreea and Isabelle on their incredible achievements, each receiving two prestigious awards from their universities.  We recognise the importance of giving placements to students of architecture, so that they can get practical, hands-on experience that can’t always be learned from books.  Andreea and Isabelle are valued members of our team, and we are extremely proud of them”.

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