London Met alum shortlisted for Architecture Drawing Prize

The drawings comprising Josh Bristow’s nominated entry were made as part of his Master’s thesis during his architectural studies at the University.

Date: 13 November 2020

London Met Architecture alumnus Josh Bristow has been shortlisted for the hand drawing category of the Architecture Drawing Prize, for which the winners will be announced as part of the World Architecture Festival.

The drawings comprising his shortlisted entry were made as part of his Master’s thesis during his studies within Unit 8 of the Architectural Department. The series of hand drawings map out design possibilities for a scheme of light industrial buildings within the charged urban context of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent.

He explained, “Through oscillating between orthographic and perspectival representation, the drawings stipulate how the future of light industry and commerce can operate in a time of great financial and political uncertainty in Stoke-on-Trent.

“From the ad-hoc layout of the now obsolete pot banks and bottle ovens, to the blank facades of corrugated metal clad­ding found across Stoke’s giant retail unit shed struc­tures that supersede them, the proposed construction borrows and appropriates these contradictory nuances into a new whole.”

Commenting on the shortlist, World Architecture Festival Programme Director Paul Finch, who chaired the judging panel, said: “Entries were up this year, despite (or possibly because of) Covid-19 and lockdowns. The quality of entries was if anything higher than recent years and an encouraging sign of the ongoing interest in architectural drawing in various media. Judging was very encouraging, and we look forward to the exhibition of the shortlist at the Soane Museum in the New Year – and the announcement of the Lockdown Prize winner, category winners and the overall winner.”

After studying architecture at the University of Cambridge, Josh worked as an assistant architect for 6a and Dow Jones architects on a range of cultural and historic projects. Interested in exploring the interrelationships between architecture and drawing further, he was awarded a scholarship placement on the postgraduate programme at the Royal Drawing School in 2017. He then went on to complete his architectural masters under the tutelage of architects Takero Shimazaki and Summer Islam at the School of Art, Architecture and Design within the London Metropolitan University.

In 2018, he won the Bainbridge Prize for Contemporary Printmaking for his project documenting Hawksmoor’s six London churches. In 2019, his master thesis project Construction as Heritage was shortlisted for the East London Architecture Group Prize for its approach to construction and detailing within the charged context of Stoke-on-Trent. He has been invited as a guest critic at the London School of Architecture with experience teaching and lecturing drawing and architecture at the Architectural Associ­ation, Kingston University and the Royal Academy of Arts Outreach Programme.

Drawings of an industrial building

Constructions as heritage - hand drawings by Joshua Bristow