A Liverpool based architect firm has won an international design competition to create a more sustainable future for the most remote inhabited island in the world.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced that a team led by Brock Carmichael Architects has won the design ideas competition for the main island of Tristan da Cunha in the South Atlantic.
The team also includes Oval Partnership, Arup International Development, Multi QS and Dr Gerda Speller from the University of Surrey.
Tristan is located 1,750 miles south-west of Cape Town. Life there is largely dictated by the weather, with the island only being accessible by sea for around 60 days per year because of the severity of the ocean swells and limitations of the harbour facility.
Tristan da Cunha is actually made up of four islands – Tristan (the main island), Nightingale and Inaccessible, which together form a group, and Gough Island that lies 220 miles to the south-east. Tristan is the only island with a permanent community, known as Edinburgh of the Seven Seas, which has a population of approximately 270 people.
The competition, run by RIBA Competitions on behalf of the Government of Tristan da Cunha, sought design ideas for the island community of Edinburgh of the Seven Seas. The competition encouraged innovation and cost-effective proposals for the redesign and consolidation of Tristan’s government buildings and community infrastructure.
The brief encouraged initiatives to improve the performance and standard of residential properties, along with improvements to grazing and the year-round growth of fresh produce.
Also included in the shortlist were design teams led by: Lateral Office (Toronto, Canada); John Puttick Associates (New York, USA); Scott Brownrigg (Cardiff, UK) and Javier Terrados and Fernando Suárez (Seville, Spain).
Tristan da Cunha administrator and head of government, Alex Mitham, commented: “On behalf of the community of Tristan da Cunha I would again like to thank everyone who participated in the competition, and particularly the five shortlisted teams who further refined their proposals during the second, design development phase.”
