Students from Coventry University took both first and second place in a national competition for budding architects.
Design Concrete is a national student competition which encourages architecture students to explore the benefits of designing sustainably with concrete.
The 2024 competition challenge was to design a sustainable concrete artist’s studio or exhibition space within a restored quarry site and teams of Architecture and Architectural Technology students from Coventry claimed first and second prizes.
The winning team – whose project was called Organic Prefabrication – was made up of Architecture students Thomas Jackson, Charlie Brooker and Umar Mahmood, and Architectural Technology student Miles Neale.
The judge’s praised the team as “a standout winner” and added in their comments that they “developed their designs with such technical rigour, logic and well-informed decision making that really stood out”, as well as noting the students’ “exceptional attention to detail and critical thinking”.
Thomas Jackson, who has since graduated and is working for an architecture firm in Coventry, said: “It was good to bring two groups of students together to work with concrete which is often seen as unsustainable but this allowed us to shed light on that and show it can be used sustainably.
“It was fantastic to speak to people who worked at the quarry and find out in depth about the materials they could source and where it goes within the industry.
“We didn’t know right until the day itself that we had won and it was brilliant.”
The Organic Prefabrication team are also leaving a lasting legacy on the competition as part of the work they created is being used to shape a mandatory element of Design Concrete in future years.
Second prize was also taken by a team from Coventry University thanks to Melania Irofte, Mohammad Fouani, Natalia Bujek and Sasha Farnsworth’s effort titled Flying Through The Fens.
The impressed judges described the project’s “very elegant and materially-efficient design inspired by the wings of birds and very achievable in concrete”.
Sasha Farnsworth said: “We had to come up with the proposal as part of coursework and we didn’t have to enter the competition but decided to on a bit of a whim. As a group we all had our own specialities so came together as a well-balanced team and when we found out we’d got the prize it was really surprising.
“Entering a competition like this is so worthwhile as it provides you with an experience that you don’t always get at university.”
The commendations didn’t finish there with two further Coventry University groups also being shortlisted. They were: Alesha Mahon, Anxhela Delishi, Joscelyne Eugene and Rhia Nandra; and Dominika Czarnecka, Taya Eames, Tsvetelina Kirova and Zahrah Ahmad.
Ahmed Al-Mallak, lecturer in Architecture and Architectural Technology, said: “This achievement stands out not just because of the collaboration between Architecture and Architectural Technology students but because of their genuine commitment to experimenting with design as a tool for societal and environmental change.
“The students showed how architecture can move beyond aesthetics to address pressing issues like sustainability. Their work reflects a deep interest in making a tangible, positive impact on the world, and that spirit of innovation and responsibility makes their success genuinely remarkable.”
