Jury revealed for Best Use of Natural Light prize at WAF 2024

The jury has been revealed for the Best Use of Natural Light prize at the World Architecture Festival (WAF)  2024, taking place at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore from 6-8 November.

The ‘Best Use of Natural Light’ prize is among Special Prizes at the World Architecture Festival established in 2019, and supported by VELUX, for the best use of natural light in completed buildings that showcase unique use of daylighting. Special emphasis is placed on projects that consider the impact on human well-being, considering where natural lighting improves mood, gives a feeling of more space and energises any room.

The following jury members will review the eight shortlisted projects at a live presentation and judging session at WAF:

Co-founder, Eckersley O’Callaghan Engineers

Brian Eckersley co-founded Eckersley O’Callaghan in 2004. They have since grown to become one of the foremost design-led structural and facade engineering consultancy firms with 160 staff between London, New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Hong Kong, Sydney, Delhi, Milan and Manchester. Their work ranges across all building sectors and they have won multiple industry awards. Clients include commercial developers and major contractors, academic and cultural institutions as well as tech firms including Atlassian, Google and Apple. They have an international reputation for their work in transparent structures and glass, having engineered every Apple retail store in the world and significant parts of Apple HQ in California, as well as the Sky Pool in London and Beijing Central Library. Their concept design for the world’s tallest hybrid timber office building is currently under construction in Sydney. 

Principal Partner, MAD architects

Yosuke Hayano was born in the Japanese region of Aichi and is a first-class registered architect in Japan. He oversees all design works at MAD, directing each design team to seamlessly materialize MAD’s philosophy, from concept sketch to technical drawing to final architectural form. Yosuke also oversees MAD’s design language across all scales, from the human scale to the architectural and urban scale, thus implementing MAD’s unique, site-specific architectural response for each project. 

Yosuke received his Bachelor’s degree in Materials Engineering from Waseda University in Tokyo in 2000. He gained his Associate degree in Architecture from the Waseda Art and Architecture School in 2001, and his Master’s degree in Architecture from the Architectural Association of London in 2003. Yosuke has been the winner of several high-profile awards in his career to date, including the Architecture League of New York Young Architects Award (2006), the Design for Asia Award (2011), and the Kumamoto Artpolis Award (2011). He served as a visiting lecturer at the Waseda Art and Architecture School from 2008 to 2012, and at Tokyo University from 2010 to 2012. In addition, he acted as an external examiner at the Architectural Association of London from 2015 to 2019.

Architect & Senior Daylight Advisor, VELUX

Nicolas Roy is an architect and senior daylight advisor for the VELUX Group’s knowledge centre for Daylight, Energy and Indoor Climate since 2005. He is a skilled specialist in the field of building performance simulations and responsible for the development and dissemination of the simulation software Daylight Visualizer. From his start within VELUX, he has been a key contributor to the biennial conference VELUX Daylight Symposium and several research activities investigating the effects of daylight on buildings and people, as well as new ways to prescribe and evaluate daylight. In 2016, Nicolas Roy received the Society of Light and Lighting Leon Gaster award. 

Explore the eight shortlisted projects here.