Bartlett Alumni Win RIBA Rethink: 2025 Competition

Rethink: 2025 invited architects and students to consider what life and the built environment could look like by 2025, and to create new designs for a post-pandemic world. Out of 147 entries from 18 countries, Architecture MArch graduates Naomi Rubbra and Dominic Walker produced two of the three winning entries. 

Streets are Made for Walking, by PeopleMatter (Naomi Rubbra and Leopold Taylor)

Naomi and her partner Leopold Taylor won the Streets category with their proposal for a two-stage programme to accelerate a transition towards cleaner, greener, safer and happier streets.

Their proposal uses Holloway Road, an arterial road in North London, to show how streets in any city could be redesigned to make high quality public space for those living either side of traffic corridors.

• Find out more about their project
• Follow PeopleMatter on Instagram

Greater London Agriculture, by Dominic Walker and Tim Rodber

Dominic and Tim’s proposal seeks to transform London’s metropolitan area into an ecologically diverse, agricultural landscape, addressing the premise that industrialised food production has made us vulnerable to diseases transmitted from animals to humans.

The project proposes to introduce agroecology (sustainable farming that works with nature) to London by embedding growing spaces within and around the city. It introduces funding for agroecological education that would allow farmers to learn and pass on the skills and knowledge.

• Find out more about their project
• Find out how Dominic and Tim are already putting their project into action

RIBA President, Alan Jones, said:

“It’s clear that many of the impacts of COVID-19 will be long-lasting and will continue to shape how we live for years to come. These winning proposals demonstrate the crucial role that architects can and must have in delivering places and spaces for communities of the future. I’m delighted to see that sustainability and community are at the very core of all three of the winning proposals – my congratulations to them all.

More information

• Read more about all of the winning projects on the RIBA website

Image descriptions

Lead image: A close-up of Streets are Made for Walking by PeopleMatter (Naomi Rubbra and Leopold Taylor)

Other images:
1. Streets are Made for Walking by PeopleMatter (Naomi Rubbra and Leopold Taylor)
2. Greater London Agriculture masterplan designed by Tim Rodber and Dominic Walker