RIBA Bronze Medal High Commendation for ESALA alumnus

A computer generated image showing the elevation of a four-storey building, in pale stone. The lower two floors have green awnings over each door/window. There's a bare tree in the open space in front of the building. The corner of a tower block sits next to it.

Civic Stone: Kirkgate Square

MA (Hons) Architecture graduate Devon Tabata has received a High Commendation from the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in the Bronze Medal category of the 2024 RIBA President’s Medals.

The High Commendation was for Devon’s project Civic Stone: Kirkgate Square, which he describes as “A project for a new public space in Leith, framed by an ensemble of civic buildings. Through careful urban moves, the project reintegrates Kirkgate House (a 1960s tower block) and a forgotten patch of land at its base back into the city.”

Devon, who graduated earlier this year and now works at David Chipperfield Architects, said: “It’s very special to be recognised by a historic institution and a judging panel of respected architects. It’s still very strange to see the project made public. Tutors at ESALA helped me to develop a personal way of working, encouraging my interests rather than dictating them. For this, I’m very grateful. It was a rich, intense period of learning and experimentation.”

For 188 years, the President’s Medals have recognised the world’s best work by architecture students, and this year received 372 entries, the most in its history. Judges award one medal and up to five commendations in each of the Silver, Bronze, and Dissertation categories. A High Commendation, as received by Devon, may be awarded to one of these five when the judges feel that it stands above the other Commendations and is on a quality level very close to the medal. It is a particularly exceptional achievement in a year that welcomed a record number of entries, meaning Devon’s work was recognised as one of the best design projects produced at Part 1 (or equivalent) in the last academic year worldwide.

Congratulations also to ESALA tutors Kieran Hawkins, Nicky Thomson and Darren Park.

Head of the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (ESALA), Dr Miguel Paredes Maldonado, said: "Being the most significant international award for undergraduate architecture students, earning a High Commendation for the RIBA Bronze Medal constitutes a major accolade for both Devon and his tutors.

"It is not only a testament to their very hard work, but also to their creative commitment to timely, urgent topics pertaining to our built environment – such as the sustainable, low-carbon regeneration of urban neighbourhoods. Devon's work strongly resonates with ESALA's ethos, which aims to educate ethical practitioners, thinkers, and creators who will make a positive social impact."