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| School Of Architecture Graduate, Euan Clarke, receives the GSA’s highest undergraduate accolade for his graduate thesis project: Datascape, Aygaldes Park, Marseille. Photo – Andy Buchanan. |
Euan Clarke, an MSA Stage 5 graduate from The Glasgow School of Art’s School of Architecture, received the 2024 Newbery Medal, announced today, Friday 12 July. Named after the GSA’s celebrated director Francis ‘Fra’ Newbery, the award is presented each year to the top student graduating from an undergraduate programme at The Glasgow School of Art. The medal was presented at the 2024 Graduation, which saw over 500 students awarded their degrees.
“Today marks a key moment for our graduates as they move forward into the next stage of their creative careers, equipped with skills they have learned during their time here at The Glasgow School of Art and applying them in their new professional roles across the creative sector,” says Professor Penny Macbeth, Director of The Glasgow School of Art.
“Art schools are important incubators of creativity and innovation that have a vital role to play in addressing the key issues facing today’s society. Our graduates examine major societal themes and issues, questioning the world around them as well as interrogating new tools and innovations which expand their creative practice.” she adds “Today’s new cohort of artists, designers and architects now join an international creative network of more than 18,000 GSA alumni who are making tangible differences to the world in which we live.”
Euan Clarke’s graduate thesis Datascape aims to explore and challenge the control which large technology companies have over individuals’ personal information in a future where data is decentralised and nationalised. Currently, tech companies own, manipulate and exploit individuals’ data for their own benefit, eroding private and political freedom through means they have no knowledge of or agency over. People’s sense of their data is that it is invisible, but in reality, it is stored in physical servers often hidden in remote and inaccessible areas. Euan’s thesis proposes moving these data center’s back into the public realm and integrating those servers within a futuristic parliamentary typology. This new space would make the hidden world of data both visible and comprehensible, allowing new political reflection on how data impacts society. These sites would become a symbol of civil liberty, uncovering new forms of public life that would have been impossible if left in the hands of global companies who dominate the technology industries.
“Datascape is an exemplary submission, based on a rich thesis argument which is then deployed through a bold and provocative architectural proposal within a neglected area of Marseille. Moving through range of scales, from the city-wide to the detail, developing coherent architectural language across the scheme, the proposal is envisaged by Euan through a wide range of drawings and imagery conceived of and produced to an exemplary standard.”
Professor Sally Stewart, Head of School, Mackintosh School of Architecture.
View Euan Clarke’s graduate thesis project Datascape HERE
Chairman’s Medals were presented to the top student in each of the GSA’s four schools – School of Design: Flora Mcfarlane, Mackintosh School of Architecture: Callum Symmons, School of Fine Art: Olivia Priya Foster, School of Innovation and Technology: Joseph Cole.
For a full list of award-winners see Notes for Editors.
See work by the 2024 cohort of graduates on the GSA Degree Show digital showcase at gsashowcase.net
For further information contact press@gsa.ac.uk
NOTES FOR EDITORS
Prizes
Mackintosh School of Architecture:
W.O. Hutcheson Prize – Callum Symmons
Landscape Drawing Prize – Emily Earsman
Dissertation Prize -Alexandra Grönberg
J.D. Kelly Memorial Prize – Ciara Balfour
Joe Park Award – Marc Stewart Bourdon Prize – Ollie Simpson, Daniil Solomou
Lynn Scobie Memorial Prize for Architecture – Fergus Broomfield
Stage 4 BArch (Hons) Portfolio Prize – Emelie Fraser
Stage 4 Diploma Portfolio Prize – Hayley Peel
MSA Research Project Prize – Alexandra Grönberg
School of Fine Art:
Dissertation Prize – Carys Bufford
Essay Prize – Suzanne McGhee
Steven Campbell Hunt Medal – Erin McPhee
John Calcutt Prize for Critical Writing – Xiaoyo Xiong
Critical Theory Prize – Embla Graham
Armour Prize – Sarah MacSporran
Glasgow Print Studio Prize – Maya McMahon-Boon
Euan Stewart Memorial Prize – Liz McNeill
Jon McFarland Prize – Sarah MacPhail
Benno Schotz Prize – Eva Griffin
David Harding Public Art Project Prize – James Arkwright
Alice Duncan Prize – Demelza Kingston
The Stow Away Award in Painting and Printmaking – Michael Gilfedder
The Scottish Society of Artists Award – Meghan Josephine, Irene Buchan
School of Design:
Dissertation Prize – Rory McMillan
Essay Prize – Wei Ho
J.D. Kelly Memorial Prize – Phoebe Bell
Richard H. Arroll Memorial Prize – Kyle Ferguson
Carole Harper Memorial Prize – Diane Green
The Longstrider Award – Militsa Milenkova
Incorporation of Hammermen Prize – Imogen Hales
Incorporation of Bonnetmakers Prize – Flora Mcfarlane
Incorporation of Tailors Prize – Kyra Saint-Clair
Bill Naysmith Innovation Award – Jaz Cox-Salmon
Incorporation of Skinners and Glovers – Millie Wood
James Brough Memorial Prize – Emma Fullerton
Stakis Prize – Rachel Hendry
Tom Campbell Memorial Prize – Megan Waterston
Kerry Aylin Prize for Distinction in Print – Beatrice Hudson
Charles Horn Prize – Haeun Kim
School of Innovation and Technology:
Dissertation Prize – Patrick McCrum
J.D. Kelly Memorial Prize – Eva Charbois
Richard Murphy Memorial Prize – Luke Aitken
Innovation Design Prize – Mafalda Reynolds Brandao, Patrick McCrum
Innovation Design Research Prize – Max Philips, Valentina Uribe
Innovation Design Collaborative Practice Prize – Rosina Scarano
Ecological Innovation Prize – Conor McArthur
Critical and Contextual Approaches Prize – Ainoha Sichlidou-Hennessy
Technical Excellence Prize – Jaime Ojeda