Brock Carmichael Architects have won the RIBA competition to design a more sustainable future for the Tristan community.

Brock Carmichael win Tristan Design Competition

Administrator Alex Mitham reports that, during their meeting on 13th September 2016, the Tristan da Cunha Island Council have chosen Brock Carmichael as winners of the RIBA organised competition titled 'Designing a More Sustainable Future for the Tristan da Cunha's Community'. The Council felt that Brock Carmichael had the best design, and an in-depth understanding of the issues.

The competition, run by RIBA on behalf of the Government of Tristan da Cunha, encouraged architects to submit “innovative and cost-effective proposals for the re-design and consolidation of Tristan’s government (community infrastructure) buildings” in the community of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, the only permanent settlement on the island.

The remote nature of the community demands residents live a lifestyle built around planning for the future. The competition brief called for initiatives to assist this lifestyle, including improvements to the performance of residential properties and the island’s agrarian systems to support livestock grazing and year-round farming.

The winning scheme from Brock Carmichael Architects (with Oval Partnership, Arup International Development, Multi QS and Dr Gerda Speller from the University of Surrey) was selected from a shortlist of teams including: Lateral Office (Toronto, Canada); John Puttick Associates (New York, USA); Scott Brownrigg (Cardiff, UK) and Javier Terrados and Fernando Suárez (Seville, Spain).

“The Tristanians are very grateful for all the hard work involved and the different ways in which teams responded to the Brief and the unique set of challenges posed by delivering a project on the World’s remotest inhabited island,” said Administrator Alex Mitham, “The Island Council felt the Brock Carmichael team had developed a very strong set of proposals that demonstrated both a practical approach and an in-depth understanding of the issues.”

Arrangements will now be made for members from the winning team to visit the island to begin the first steps towards realizing the project. “We are delighted and honoured to have been chosen as the winners of this unique competition and would like to pass on our thanks to the people of Tristan for selecting our team,” said Martin Watson, Partner at Brock Carmichael Architects. “We are very much looking forward to forging a long-term partnership with the community to deliver practical solutions for the benefit of future generations to come”.

See design images and more on the competition from the winning bid on: RIBA Competition.