Two students from Dundee University have won a competition sponsored by Dundee Civic Trust. Run in association with the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning, students submitted their fourth year projects for scrutiny by members of the Civic Trust board.
Dundee Civic Trust exists, among other aims, to encourage the best standards of design in architecture and town planning. It is therefore fitting that we should support and encourage young, talented students who are about to embark on their careers. We are delighted to be associated with the University of Dundee in sponsoring the first of what will be an annual competition for students in Architecture and Urban Planning.
In this first year, the University selected a short list of four fourth year Architecture students who have submitted their year’s projects. The judging panel was very impressed by the well argued, interesting and logical solutions that were proposed for urban problems, in Dundee and old Shanghai.
The winner is Calum Ramsay, with runner up Mishell Parodi.
The judging panel said, ‘Calum’s work was extremely professional, well-argued and very well presented. He added a personal voice as an outsider to his understanding of Shanghai. He made use of work from lectures to good effect and was able to incorporate his own findings into potential solutions for Shanghai’s problems of overcrowding. Shanghai, like many cities, deals with old, unsanitary buildings by demolishing them and replacing them with high rise tower blocks at such high prices and rents such that the displaced community cannot afford to live there. Our local example in Dundee is similar, with the decanting of communities from the central areas. Calum’s solution for Shanghai was to create buildings of a more human scale with communal areas and green spaces where the displaced communities could return and function with their old familiar networks. It was a very interesting piece of work.’