Architecture competition London Internet Museum 1st prize winners - University Of Dundee

We’d like to take this opportunity to introduce the 1st prize winners of our London Internet Museum competition - Shaun McCallum and Aleksandra Belitskaja from United Kingdom!

Shaun McCallum and Aleksandra Belitskaja from United KingdomAleksandra Belitskaja: Born in Estonia in 1993. Graduated BArch with Distinction from University Of Dundee in 2015

Shaun McCallum: Born in Scotland in 1993. Graduated BArch with Distinction from University Of Dundee in 2015

AB: We met at the University of Dundee, in Scotland, and had similar views on architecture and a desire to discover something more than our academia could give. We, worked together on a few projects and competitions, evolving our style and diversifying our explorations.

SM: Everything we do has to come from somewhere deeper than a response to a site or location, we want to make things that are always pushing our thoughts and pushing our perception of architecture. We're, not overly fond of the ordinary.

AB: We have been working on different competitions and personal research projects in various scales and programs. One of the main influences on our project has been a robotic workshop we took part in January at the University of Melbourne.

SM: After the Robotic Workshop we started to really look into the world of robotics within architecture and it's something I feel we will incorporate into the next few competitions we are involved in, no matter the scale, and hopefully in the next few years we'll be able to realise it, even at a small scale.

What does architecture mean to you and what is the role of AN architect in your society?

AB: Architecture must propose something more than just a shelter, and be an active element in society and to solve specific problems.

SM: It's pure experimentation. Everything is architecture and architecture is everything. The architect's role in society is as big as the architect fights to make it. I believe that role is, and can be, greater than most allow it to be.

Why do you participate in architecture vision competitions?

AB: It is a great chance to propose your vision on a particular problem, to put your ideas out there, and get feedback from a range of high - profile jurors.

SM: We don't really ever stop. It's important for us to continue learning, with every competition or project, we always aim to develop our skills in something we have never done, or even with a new software have never used.