Architect and professor awarded for his advancement of architectural education

Professor Dean Hawkes has been named winner of the RIBA Annie Spink Award for Excellence in Architectural Education. The biennial award, established in 2000 by architect Herbert Spink FRIBA as a lasting memorial to his wife Annie, was conceived as an honour for the ‘advancement of architectural education’. It is open to individuals who have made a significant contribution to architectural education.

Hawkes is one of the most pre-eminent thinkers in architectural education

Oliver Richards, vice president for education and the chair of the judging panel RIBA, said: “Professor Hawkes is one of the most pre-eminent thinkers in architectural education. He has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to the environmental agenda from a time when this was not fashionable or mainstream thinking.

“He has always advocated and promoted a holistic approach to integrating environmental issues into the wider architectural debate and into studio teaching. High praise from his former students and the way that his work has formulated their thinking, make him a deserving winner of this prestigious award.”

Hawkes has combined practice, teaching and research throughout his career. He taught and undertook research at the Department of Architecture at Cambridge University between 1965 and 1995, and held the Chair of Architectural Design at the Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University, between 1995 and 2002.

He has been visiting professor at the Mackintosh School of Architecture (Glasgow School of Art), the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the National University of Singapore and currently holds visiting professorships at the University of Huddersfield, and De Montfort University.

He is Emeritus Professor of Architectural Design at Cardiff University, Emeritus Fellow at Darwin College, University of Cambridge, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Professor Hawkes has also published numerous books and essays, and is a regular contributor to the Architects’ Journal and the Architectural Review.