School of Art and Design receives RIBA funding

RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) has awarded funding to LJMU’s School of Art and Design for innovative research into building design for sufferers of dementia.

LJMU Reader in Architecture, Dr Rob McDonald, has received the prestigious RIBA Research Trust Award with Bill Halsall, Senior Architect and Landscape Architect at Halsall Lloyd, and Davide Landi, Postgraduate Architect and Engineer to support their research project entitled ‘Design for dementia; The International Architectural Challenges and Responses.’

The research evolves from the two books ‘Design for Dementia,’ co-authored by Dr McDonald and Bill Halsall, and is a collaborative project between LJMU Department of Architecture and Architectural Practice.

The RIBA Trust commented that the team’s bid was excellent and gave particular commendation to the range of healthcare collaborators participating.

The RIBA Research Trust Awards is an annual funding scheme supporting independent architectural research. Obtaining research funding is highly competitive, with the awarding committee placing importance on the originality of the proposed work. Academics and practitioners must also prove they can produce valuable findings, and ideally demonstrate positive, real-world impact.