Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
RIBA Award Success
A Leeds Beckett student is celebrating after winning the Best Presentation Prize (Part 1) at the recent RIBA North East and Yorkshire Student Awards 2019 for his final year design project, beating entries from six schools of architecture.
In his project titled ‘The Analogue Bank’ William Gains offers a new solution to identified failings of the digital economy, consciously moving away from the current dependence upon digital technologies in favour of harnessing analogue techniques and applications impervious to digital attacks.
Playful in nature, Will’s work offers a critical alternative to digitalised systems of trade within the City of London. Drawing upon historic analogue ‘technologies’ including pigeons, pneumatic networks and defunct train lines he identifies a new system of banking whose architecture joyously celebrates a reinvention of the old. Cash can now be deposited in a bank with no digital footprint, making it impervious to hacking and attractive to all.
Dr Claire Hannibal, the Undergraduate Course Director for Architecture at Leeds Beckett, said: ‘It has been a pleasure to work with Will on his thesis design project, and it is fabulous that his work has been recognised on a regional level, having already been widely celebrated within the Leeds School of Architecture. He should be incredibly proud of what he has achieved’.
Dr Claire Hannibal
Claire is the course leader of the BA (Hons) Architecture. She leads a design studio, lectures in architectural history and theory and is a PhD supervisor.
