An Architecture graduate from De Montfort University (DMU) Leicester has spoken of her pride in securing a commendation at the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President’s Medals Student Awards.
Tehreem Zubair, who graduated from DMU’s BA in Architecture in the summer, was Highly Commended in the Bronze Medal category for her project, The Game of Agency.
The 21-year-old, originally from Burton upon Trent, is one of just five graduates this year to have their work highly commended in the Bronze Medal category.
She said: “I was honestly really shocked when I got the news.
“I didn’t know I had been even nominated, so after graduation this has been the cherry on top of a fantastic year.”
Inspired by her love of board games, Tehreem designed a multi-purpose hub that provides co-working spaces in the day, which can then be transformed into a theatre and civic space in the evening through retractable walls.
Tehreem’s concept is set over the River Soar at Leicester’s Wolsey Island, where a former hosiery factory has since been transformed into a new community of residentsPresid.
Designed to accompany this new community, the hub would adapt over time to suit the needs of its users. The structure is built using wooden frames and cork insulation that allows rooms or sections to be built, removed or replaced over time at minimal cost.
Sliding walls, panels and partitions are included to allow its users to manually expand a room into a new space.
A pneumatic roof is inflated to signal that a public event or performance is taking place, while a more intimate, sheltered environment is created when the roof is lowered.
Mirrors are placed on pivots, allowing users to redirect sunlight or moonlight flooding in through the skylights to illuminate new areas of the building, such as the theatre stage, eliminating the need for artificial lights.
Locally-sourced reeds would also be used to create a thatched roof, which would decay over time and fall back into the river banks to help stabilise them, cleaning the water and providing aquatic habitats, while a new thatched roof was fitted.
Tehreem said: “I wanted users to have real control over the space, how it looks, how it breathes, how it’s used.
“A retail zone will only function from 9 to 5, so it can become deserted at night, which creates more isolated spaces that people don’t really use as much.
“I wanted the entire thing to fully open up at the end of the day and become this theatre, where people could come together and use it as a forum to discuss the needs of the community or watch a performance.
“Everyone could come and transform the building through all these physical aspects of it.”
The RIBA’s President’s Medals have a long and illustrious history, stretching back to 1836. Now, they are among the most prestigious awards in architectural education and each year thousands of students from around the world enter their final year projects.
The awards are divided into three categories: the Bronze medal, which is awarded to undergraduate students, the Silver Medal, awarded to postgraduate students and the Dissertation Medal, which is awarded to either a post or undergraduate student for the best thesis.
Winners of this year’s awards were announced at an awards ceremony at the Royal Society on Wednesday 3 December.
Tehreem’s award follows news that MArch student Raven Schneider secured a RIBA Wren Insurance Association Scholarship worth £7,500, capping off a strong year for the Leicester School of Architecture.
Her tutor, Lucy Pengilley Gibb, a Programme Lead for Architecture BA at DMU, said: “Tehreem continued to delight and challenge us with her rich enquiry and crafted process.
“She has a unique way of seeing and communicating forward thinking ideas, week on week the projects would unfold with technical skill and storytelling, can't wait to see what she does next!
Tehreem is now completing her Part I architecture placement at Make Architects in London, where she hopes to continue exploring how buildings can be designed to provide social impact.
Tehreem added: “I’m really interested in how architecture can empower communities. There’s always more we can do to look at cities differently and create spaces that genuinely work for people.”
Posted on Friday 5 December 2025