Within the context of a built environment that is working hard to decarbonise an ever increasing number of architects, designers, structural engineers and clients are discovering that the solution might just be found in the original sustainable material: natural stone.
Natural stone is durable, beautiful and versatile and, compared with equivalent steel or reinforced concrete structures, it can offer significant carbon reductions.
There is a fresh excitement and optimism within the stone sector as the objective, statistical embodied and whole life carbon savings of using natural stone are cutting through the noise of the greenwashing of some of the other, less sustainable material choices.
It is from a desire to support and celebrate this growing engagement with the sustainability, beauty and versatility of natural stone that Stone Federation decided to create a student architect prize.
Stone Federation is the trade association for the natural stone industry with over 100 years of experience in connecting architects, designers and clients with the best materials and companies. They are passionate about promoting natural stone as the ideal sustainable material choice.
Stone Federation has established this prize to recognise outstanding student projects that showcase the use of natural stone, and to support and encourage the next generation of architects to make good use of natural stone in construction.
This prize offers a platform for student projects that demonstrate a thorough understanding of natural stone and make a compelling case for its use and/or reuse.
While seeing more senior architects engaging with stone’s sustainability potential is fantastic, it is perhaps even more encouraging to see the next generation of architectural talent enthused and inspired by how stone can help to deliver a more sustainable and beautiful built environment.
The prize welcomed projects at any scale- from a modest domestic extension, private or public new build or retrofit, urban public realm, rural landscape, or national context. Each project needed to include design proposals that have a clear relationship with a particular site, and that demonstrate viability in construction.
The project could have included one or more of the following:
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Load bearing/structural uses of natural stone
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Use of the full geological range of the chosen stone
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Celebrating the natural beauty of the material
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Natural Stone as a vernacular material, and how this continues to influence building typologies
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How natural stone might contribute to more sustainable building practices
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Using/reusing natural stone in a heritage/conservation context
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Natural Stone’s durability and longevity; the reuse of natural stone
Each entrant was asked to submit around 1000 words and 10 images, at least one of which should be a scale construction detail in plan and/or section.
The prize was open to any architecture student currently enrolled on an ARB/RIBA Part 1 or Part 2 course within the UK and was so encouraging to see were the entries that came in from across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom.
The stone renaissance is not limited to one city or university, there are a growing number of university lecturers who are encouraging students to explore natural stone and connecting them with knowledge from the stone industry to help them to fully utilise this beautiful, natural material.
The dozens of entries featured students from architectural courses in Kingston, Brighton, London, Sheffield, Glasgow, Cambridge, Nottingham, Oxford Brookes, University of West Scotland, Newcastle University, Coventry and Liverpool demonstrating how widespread the interest in stone has spread.
The entries themselves were incredibly impressive. Each one demonstrated a good understanding of not just the prize brief, but stone as a material and the potential it provides.
The Judges had a tough job choosing the prize winner and acknowledged just how strong the entries has been.
They eventually whittled the entries down to a shortlist of three, Toby Barlow, Sasha Farnsworth and Falak Fatima Syed.
Toby’s project was a quarry design project creating practical guides for using stone in construction, fitting buildings into quarry landscapes, and making old quarries ecologically and socially beneficial. Tested through various building types, these guides help build with stone in different ways, integrate structures naturally within a quarry, and restore unused quarry land by involving locals and creating community spaces.
His proposal demonstrate new ways to use quarry stone and revitalize quarry sites.
Sasha’s entry proposes abandoning modern, high-emission construction for ancient stone and tree techniques, using slow, human-powered transport as an annual ritual.
The "Lunar Concept" highlights the moon's influence and incorporates lunar-aligned matriarchal festivals, with the central ritual zone and annual "Festival of the Rocks" fostering community engagement and a shift towards natural building.
Falak’s project proposed a balanced integration of mixed reality (MR) with dry stone walling, enhancing its longevity and ecological aspects without losing its human core. Research explores using augmented digital templates (HoloLens) to aid complex forms, embedding site-specific feedback and traditional logic. Key questions address MR's role in integrating tacit knowledge, providing real-time environmental guidance, and revitalizing heritage crafts.
While digital tools offer precision, MR can bridge the gap between machine logic and human intuition, leveraging technology to extend the craftsperson's capabilities in increasingly complex projects.
As you can see, an incredibly diverse shortlist, but all in their own way, providing an exciting development for the stone industry.
