Architecture graduate, Jamie Williams, and his tutor from the School of Architecture and Cities, Ben Pollock, have won the overall prize and an honorary mention respectively for their submissions to MIT’s ‘Projection 16 – Visualising Cities’ awards this year.
MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) is one of the most prestigious universities in the world, and its ‘Projection 16 – Visualising Cities’ celebrates data visualisations that analyse city dynamics to inform urban planning practice and advocate for just, safe, and equitable cities. This year, the institute received submissions from over 31 countries worldwide, which highlighted visually compelling stories exposing pressing urban issues.
Former MArch DS18 graduate Jamie Williams was named winner of the Best Visualisation Award for his “The Atlas of the Carbon Economy” piece, which combined rigorous research and visual storytelling to unpack the geopolitics of carbon trading. By mapping each country's contribution to the carbon economy and the role they are undertaking to offset their carbon footprint, the visualization highlights the countries that contribute the most to the climate crisis.
Jamie will also be exhibiting his research and project work from last year in a COP26 fringe event in Imagine Glasgow 2021, an event with showcases the best architectural talents from across the UK across themes of climate action, climate justice, environmental change, sustainability and transport.
MArch DS18 tutor, Ben Pollock, received an honourable mention for his “Why and Where We Need to Change, London 2020” for highlighting the compound effect that social factors, environmental stress, and climate threats have in London neighbourhoods.
Commenting on the prize, Ben Pollock said: “It has been a pleasure for John, Laura and myself to tutor Jamie the past two years in Design Studio 18 of the MArch. Despite the adversity of studying during this period, this achievement is a fitting testament to the quality and rigour of his research as well as the criticality that led him to visualise and map such important and timely work.
"To be selected as winner and honourable mentioned is a fantastic achievement in a global call from a prestigious publisher. Within which, it is particularly bitter-sweet, and deserved, to be trumped to the top prize by your own student!
"Responding to the project call in general and selection of work submitted, it helps to highlight the growing role of architectural designers in visualising complex data and making tangible visual narratives with regards to climate change, carbon, urban development et cetera, and its spatial and material entanglements with our global or immediate environments.”
Find out more about the Project 16 Visualising Cities exhibition.
Find out more about the School of Architecture and Cities.
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