Double award win for Hallam architecture graduate

A Sheffield Hallam University graduate has seen his design skills recognised at the double as he picked up awards at two prestigious design competitions.
Adam RichAdam Rich
Adam Rich

Adam Rich, who graduated with a first class architecture degree in 2017, won the Silver Part 1 at the 2017 RIBA Yorkshire Student Awards – the most competitive student architecture awards in the region.

Adam received the award for his final year project, Blackburne Blood Centre, in which he designed a blood donation centre to be situated on Hope Street, Liverpool, with the purpose of encouraging more people to donate blood and providing a more comforting environment in which to do so – especially for first time donors.

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The location for the building was strategically chosen due to the high proportion of people based in the area from BME backgrounds – traditionally a community which donates less blood.

Adam also recently won the Young Designers competition as part of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE) conference.

His research entry, Architectural Applications of Auxetics, explored the novel use of auxetic materials in architecture. Such materials are known for their unusual mechanical properties, which expand when pulled.

Adam now works as a RIBA Part 1 architectural assistant at Studio Cullinan Architects in London. He said: “It’s fantastic to be recognised for your hard work so I’m delighted to have won these two awards.

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“For the RIBA award, I used the experience I have had in giving blood in the past, in which the buildings haven’t been the most inviting. I thought a new architecture to encourage donation could assuage the discomfort that people might experience when they go to donate blood.“I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to push certain boundaries within architecture whilst working alongside experts who have helped me realise my ambitions. My tutors at Sheffield Hallam, particularly Gabriel Tang, have been incredibly supportive and helped me take my projects to a level I couldn’t have imagined.”

Gabriel Tang, senior lecturer in architecture at Sheffield Hallam, said: “We are very proud of Adam, His curiosity, talent and hard work with these projects allowed him to come up with really interesting and innovative design ideas and to recognised by two such prestigious bodies is well deserved.”

Adam’s IABSE project was supported by the sponsorship from the University’s Staff Student Research Project (SSRP), which aims to promote a culture of research within the Department of Natural and Built Environment. By giving students the opportunity and resources they need to undertake a research project, alongside the supervision of a member of staff.