Dr Albena Yaneva of the Manchester Architecture Research Centre (MARC) and the Manchester School of Architecture (MSA) has been awarded the RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding University-located Research for her work An Ethnography of Architecture.
The judges said: "This type of sociological and anthropological research into design practice is significant for architecture, adding a new perspective to the way we understand architectural processes. The two books are enjoyable to read, linking through hypertextual narratives an impressive quantity of historical information and technical data, stories and anecdotes, theoretical research and empirical observations."
Dr Yaneva describes her work as being “intrinsically transdisciplinary” crossing “the boundaries of science studies, cognitive anthropology, architectural theory and political philosophy.” Her current research projects are Moving Networks: Architectural Tools for Tracing the Social and The Architectural Presentation: Techniques and Politics. Her work also includes the Mapping Architectural Controversies project. The two books that formed part of the research output by Dr Yaneva, “Made by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture” and “The Making of a Building: A Pragmatist Approach to Architecture” were both published in 2009 and are available for purchase.
Dr Ralf Brand, also of MARC and MSA, was also short listed for the same award for the project “The Urban Environment – Mirror and mediator of Radicalisation?”
For full details of the RIBA awards read the full press release here.
