The 2014 RIBA Norman Foster Travelling Scholarship has been awarded to Joe Paxton of the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London for his proposal, "Buffer Landscapes 2060."
Taking the threat of floods, droughts, melting glaciers and rising temperatures as a starting point, his research will investigate some of the measures taken to mitigate the effects of climate change, such as reservoirs, artificial lakes and rivers - and the opportunities that these landscapes offer for habitation, as well as flood protection.
The £6,000 travel grant will allow him to study a range of locations, from Kamerik Polder in the Netherlands to Sao Paulo and Los Angeles, as well as investigating 'glacier grafting' in the Himalayas and large-scale flood planning in New York.
"The high standard of entries led to a lively discussion around several of the proposals, however I congratulate Joe Paxton as the worthy winner," commented Lord Foster. "The locations that he plans to visit have been carefully researched and he approaches the issue of global warming and flood protection from an interesting perspective, in looking at the wider opportunities that these resourceful landscapes may present. I am delighted that the scholarship can support him in this valuable research."