SUST.org

The first Sust. Student Award was made in July 2003 as part of the student awards run by the National Programme for Architecture, which acknowledges design talent in each of the six Scottish schools of architecture. The Sust. Award is now an integral part of the annual Six Student Awards at the Lighthouse.

Winner of the Sust. Award 2008:
JAMES TAIT - University of Strathclyde

TIME AND TIDE FOR SEAWEED
From fuel production and fertiliser to cosmetics and foodstuffs seaweeds' versatility makes it a lucrative natural resource. Scotland's shores host around 20% of the total seaweed biomass in Europe, yet Scotland only harvests 2% of Europe's seaweed. Nearly half of this can be found in the North West coast, an area which has a rich history of seaweed use both industrially and domestically.

A thriving seaweed industry would revitalise and reinvigorate the area, reconnecting it with its vast coastline, repopulating and diversifying the social mix of its towns and villages and providing much needed opportunities for its young people.

My thesis project focuses on the coastal village of Arisaig which will become a centre for 'sea vegetable' cultivation while providing seaweed based facilities for health and leisure. This will establish a flourishing seaweed industry, while providing employment and enjoyment to the people of Arisaig and its visitors, all year round.

The architectural proposal will consist of
- an offshore cultivation farm
- a farmers' bothy
- a floating restaurant and new pier
- seaweed baths and drying tower.

These elegant, innovative and poetic structures will explore all aspects of the industry through cultivation, production and consumption while remaining both culturally and visually rooted in their surrounding landscape.


Highly Commended Sust. Award 2008:
EILIDH HENDERSON, ANDREW MCEWAN, MARTIN TARNAWSKI - University of Strathclyde

ABANDONED TERRITORIES / ATACAMA, CHILE
Abandoned Territories is a culmination of a six month exchange to Santiago, Chile. Whilst embarking on our thesis we became intrigued by this geographically rich and varied country. Understanding how the country operated on a social, economical and industrial level was key to the project. Our aim was to develop a sustainable productive territory through the implementation of an opportunity strategy which reacted to the context, geography, climate, social dynamic, infrastructure and local vernacular whilst re-interpreting, reusing and re-inventing the way in which this unique formation of landscape and man made interventions is
used.

The project intends to increase the employment rate, balance national population, increase connectivity, introduce a new, diverse range of industries, produce power on a local and national scale, combating the country's energy crises and create various sensitive new settlements. Investigation into a series of locations within our chosen territory, the Atacama, allowed us to extract and utilise the latent potential of the context to promote new interventions and visions. Each of these architectural solutions are fragments of an overall
strategy for a sustainable productive territory in Region II, Chile.

To view the award-winning entry for 2008, click on the link opposite, and go to Six - Online Exhibition 2008

For information on the ACCESS to Architecture Student Awards, and the Sust. Student Award, please contact:Morag Bain, Project Director ACCESS to Architecture morag@thelighthouse.co.uk