
amayouz Award is delighted to announce the winners of the 2nd cycle of “Tamayouz International Award”, the world’s largest International Excellence Award for Graduation Projects for the number of participants. This Award is open to architecture, urban design and planning and landscape design students around the world to submit their graduation projects. Tamayouz International aims to recognise and reward excellence in architectural design and education and celebrating the achievements of young architects at an early stage and giving them the opportunity to collaborate and support each other, empowering a generation of young architects to pursue their careers knowing that they can contribute towards the advancement of architecture in their communities
In its second cycle, the award witnessed an overwhelming participation of 468 graduates from 118 universities and 42 countries, 50 entries were long listed, followed by 21 entries shortlist, the eight members of the 2017 Tamayouz International Award judging panel (Please see Biographies of the judging panel members) are:
Ayad Al Tuhafi, Owner and director of Ayad Al Tuhafi Architect, London; Fernando Olba Rallo, Principal Director of Fernando Olba Arquitectura + Urbanismo, Valencia; Hanna Vowels, Deputy Head of School at Birmingham School of Architecture and Design; Professor Kanan Makiya, The Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University; Marc Glaudemans, Dean of Architecture and Urbanism at Fontys University, Tilburg; Philip Michael Wolfson, Director of Philip Michael Wolfson Design Studio, London; Sebastian Hicks, Course Director of Architecture at Coventry University, Coventry; Steve Austin, Head of Energy Construction and Environment School at Coventry University, Coventry.
The members of the judging panel were purposefully selected with reference to their expertise and experience, to ensure that a wide range of disciplines in architecture, landscape, urbanism, engineering, and art were addressed. Held on October 3, 2017 at the Engineering, Environment and Computing Building at Coventry University in Coventry, England this full-day event provided an exceptional opportunity for interactive discussion and constructive debate leading to the winner selection. This was followed by a critical discussion surrounding the assessment criteria and recommendations for the upcoming cycle of the award.
The winners of Tamayouz International Award – 2017
The winners’ selection and ranking are based on the judging panel’s unanimous decision on all entries.
The Winner of Tamayouz Excellence Award 2017 and the First Prize is Nishat Tasnim Oyshee from the University of Asia Pacific in Dhaka – Bangladesh, for her entry “Integrated Development Proposal on an Unclaimed Genocidal Site”, this entry was supervised by Ziaul Islam. Nishat’s prize is a an MSc Scholarship for 2 Years at the University Polytechnic of Milan sponsored by the Iraqi Business Council in Jordan.
Judging Panel’s comment:
Achieving a balance between weight and sensitivity, remembrance and reconciliation the winning project offers us an architectural intervention that challenges traditional ideas of monument. A holistic landscape blending program, narrative and journey, a museum and documentation center for a genocide that took place in the Bangladeshi liberation war in the early 1970’s is proposed.
From conception to detail the project’s research led design sensitivity meant the jury was in agreement that project excelled within the scope of the Tamayouz criteria.
The evocative drawings reveal an architecture that is calm and powerful, yet constrained, promising a serene monumental space if ever executed.




The Second Prize goes to Tomas Pont, Stefano Romagnoli and Juan Cruz Serafini from the National University of Cordoba in Argentina, for their work on “Global Energy Landscapes”, this graduation project was supervised by Javier Giorgis.
Judging Panel’s comment:
Tackling global challenges with contextualised solutions and local impact is very much a winning combination and the Tamayouz jury was impressed by the elegant manner in which the project author(s) seamlessly and convincingly merged both scales of thought and representation.
We are presented with a very thoughtful project which combines infrastructure, conservation and landscape in a combined effort to reshape the territory with a minimal but habitable intervention. Convincingly tackling issues of biodiversity and impacts on natural habitat will help in the realisation of a world-class project.




The Third Prize goes to Prachi Metawala from the Sir J.J. College of Architecture, Mumbai – India, for her graduation project “Disaster Resilient, Self-Reliant Community for Displacees on Majuli Island, Assam, India”.
Judging Panel’s comment:
The use of appropriate technology and design sophistication to address a pressing social need is the hallmark of this considered and elegant solution.
The inhabitants of Majuli, a large inhabited river island, known for its rich biodiversity, routinely face devastating floods; the project deploys traditional materials and building methods to achieve a readily accessible solution for the communities who are relocated in housing structures that are more capable of responding to extreme flood conditions. This is a profoundly intelligent and admirable design, with a high level of technical expertise, proposing easy-to-maintain bamboo structures.




The Honorable Mentions
The fourth place goes to Narmeen Marji from the German Jordanian University for her work on “Park and Transportation Hub”, this project was supervised by Mohammed Kahled. This is the second year in a row an entry from the German Jordanian University qualifies to the Top 10 of Tamayouz International Award.
Judging Panel’s comment:
A bold and transformative proposal in Amman’s Al-Abdali downtown district with a view to overcoming the impact of social and economic inequalities and improve accessibility for the general public by ‘stitching’ or ‘healing’ the imbalanced urban fabric. The project is well-conceived and based on a thorough and holistic analysis of the current urban conditions facing users.
Ambitious in its scale the jury thought the design might benefit from the demonstration of a phased implementation.
As a visionary proposal to reconnect neighborhoods and new urban transportation facilities, it is a powerful demonstration of how considered infrastructure can benefit the city.




The Fifth place goes to Vignesh Harikrishnan from Anna University, School of Architecture. Meenakshi College of Engineering – India, for his work on “The Art of Coming Together (Community Spaces)”, this project was supervised by Sheeba John.
Judging Panel’s Comment:
A well thought-through strategic proposal to improve land-use and re-balance the rural to urban disconnect. This approach to recreate commons for villages to cooperate and build resilient communities is well visualized, and elegant in its simplicity. The design has been developed consistently through various scales and is convincing architecturally. The proposal demonstrates a considered understanding of existing conditions and offers a balanced and holistic ‘weave’ between the social, the spatial and the material in a wonderful landscape of production.




The sixth place goes to Prithviraj Nimbalkar from Savitribai Phule Pune University – India, for his work on “Room for Enlightenment”, this project was supervised by Vijaya Srinivasan.
Judging Panel’s comment:
An emphasis on analysis and the density of information presented on the panels meant this project took the form of a visualised policy document. The Jury were impressed by the rigour of this process and the depth of understanding demonstrated. The architectural output was shown as a series of delightful sketches where the intimacy and humanity of the subject was expressed with precision and skill. Going forward the project will benefit from a more considered visual hierarchy to increase legibility.




The Seventh place goes to Iryady Redzuan Rozaidi from the Universiti Teknologi Mara – Malaysia, for his graduation project “GEORGETOWN PENANG DESIGN CULTIVATION CENTRE”, this graduation project was supervised by Fairuz Reza Razali.
Judging Panel’s comment:
The project is a celebration of public space expressed through a series of accomplished visualisations. We are presented with a powerful narrative that is underpinned by a complete trust in architecture to act as a catalyst for positive social change. Whilst there is a density of analytical diagrams the jury felt the relationship with the immediate surroundings could have been expressed more clearly. However, the excitement and material resolution of the project was very much appreciated




The Eighth place goes to Neethu Babu Raj from the University of Edinburgh – the UK, for her graduation project “In-Between: Housing for the refugees and the homeless”, this graduation project was supervised by Professor Mark Dorrian.
Judging Panel’s comment:
The project presents a confident and innovative set of urban interventions – new architectural implants activate the existing fabric. Strategically interesting, the jury was impressed by the conceptual approach and the potential of architecture to be socially transformative. The uncompromising aesthetic of the presentation and design of the project was something which the jury felt would benefit from a lighter, more human, touch. A project full of good intention that will need to diversify its investigation to achieve its full impact going forward. The intent of the designer is to be lauded

The Ninth place goes to Amanda Gunawan and Joel Wong from the Southern California Institute of Architecture – USA, for their graduation project “Mixed-use development”, this graduation project was supervised by Casey Rehm.
Judging Panel’s comment:
An exploration into the potentials of an architecture generated through an automated additive process this project is stunning in its presentation. A challenge to the criteria as set out by Tamayouz, the project acted as a provocation to the jury – as it will to a wider architectural audience. The commitment to an investigative process which has the potential to lead to a project of true impact could, in the end, not be denied.

The Tenth place goes to Hana Makhamreh and Tatum Lau from Harvard Graduate School of Design, for their graduation project “University Campus/Housing”, this graduation project was supervised by Christopher Lee.
Judging Panel’s comment:
Impressive proposal for a large scale urban intervention in Palava, a new Mumbai township. Contrary to the mono-functional and hyper dense residential blocks, this proposal is much more holistic in its approach, taking a resilience approach including social, environmental and economic impacts. The typologically varied urban landscape that is created, caters for a mixed academic and business environment, with private sector apartments and a well-thought through urban mobility scheme, prioritizing pedestrian access. A valuable and transformative proposal for Mumbai’s vast urban extensions.




The Tamayouz International Supervisor of the Year 2017 Award
Tamayouz International Award’s Supervisor of the Year 2017 Award goes to Professor Mark Dorrian from the University of Edinburgh for the supervision, support and encouragement to three students, who qualified to the long-list (three students) and the shortlist (two students) of Tamayouz International Award 2017.
The Tamayouz International Architecture School of the Year 2017 Award
The Architecture School of the Year 2017 award goes to the Edinburgh School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture who have claimed three entries in the longlist and two entries in the shortlist including the 8th place winner of the Tamayouz International Award 2017.
Tamayouz Founder, Ahmed Al-Mallak Said:
“Our warmest congratulation to the winners, supervisors, honourable mentions and architecture schools on their outstanding achievements in the Tamayouz International Award 2017.
Many of the projects in our Top 50 list represent a new generation of young inspiring architects, addressing local and global challenges, proposing Socially dynamic, transformative and aspirational responses reflecting extensive input from design research and understanding of community needs and not just thinking about building the next Landmark in their city and we hope to see more projects tackling these challenges in the coming years. The support for the second cycle of the Tamayouz International award has been remarkable and we thank you for that.”
The prizes for the 2017 Tamayouz International Award are:
- 1st Prize: An MSc Scholarship for 2 Years at the University Polytechnic of Milan + Tamayouz Medal + Certificate.
- 2nd Prize: A Scholarship for the Stadslab Master class of your choice + accommodation and flight cost + Tamayouz Medal + Certificate.
- 3rd Prize: A Scholarship for the Stadslab Master class of your choice + accommodation and flight cost + Tamayouz Medal + Certificate.
- 7 X Honourable Mentions: Tamayouz Medallion + Certificate.
- Tamayouz Supervisor of the Year: Given to the supervisor of the winning project or the supervisor with most entries supervised in the Top 10 Tamayouz Medal + Certificate.
- Tamayouz University of the Year: Given to the university of the winning project or the university with the most entries in the Top 10 Tamayouz Medallion.
Worthy of mention, the 2016 winners were Anna Andronova (Russia) and Noor Marji (Jordan).
This award and the meeting for the judges was made possible through the support of our generous sponsors; The Iraqi Business Council in Jordan, Kufa – Makiya Charity, Coventry University, Dewan Architects and Engineers, the United Nations Global Compact, Tradex Global ltd, Artigiani Mondo, Ayad Al-Tuhafi Architects, Stadslab European Urban Design Laboratory and Fontys Academy.