AA student Romain Conti-Granteral has received an honourable mention in this year's Kohn Pederson Fox Travel Scholarship competition. The KPF scheme enables students to pursue travel for research as part of their architectural education, and Romain's proposal drew on a project he developed during his studies titled The Big Plan, playing on the complex history of theft, accident and disappearance of prominent parts of the historic built environment to propose a series of audacious heists involving iconic buildings such as the Euston Arch and Battersea Power Station.

Romain commented that: 'The Big Plan was initiated a few years ago when I was a third year student at the AA. This project reveals 10 architectural robberies and proposes a rereading of History while questioning the role of the architect as a saboteur. Ranging from the disappearance of the statue of William IV in Trafalgar Square to the intentional fire of Notre Dame de Paris, it retroactively unveils the secret ambitions and technical details of these near-perfect robberies. Each chapter is designed as a script questioning our urban environment which is mistakenly taken for granted. Since then I have been working on new robbery scenarios and trying to put together a team to execute them. For obvious reasons, future targets cannot be revealed here. Read the newspapers, watch for smoke signals, beware of scaffolding and contact me if you are interested participating in the project.'

Congratulations to Romain for achieving this recognition for his inventive, playful and thought-provoking work.