Regional winners found among 633 daylight projects

The jury, consisting of internationally respected architects Carme Pigem Barceló founding partner of RCR Architects (ES), Li Hu, founding partner of OPEN architecture (CH), Rick Joy, principal of Rick Joy Architects (US) and Saša Begović, founding partner of 3LHD Architects (HR) and vice president of VELUX Innovation Centre, Martin Pors Jepsen, gathered in Copenhagen for two days in the end of June to evaluate the more than 600 student projects proposing innovative ways of using daylight in architecture.

After a long first day, where the jury reviewed all 633 projects, they arrived at a shortlist of 59 projects. By the end of the second day, five winners who demonstrated strong, genuine and well developed ideas in each of the two award categories; ‘Daylight in Building’ and ‘Daylight Investigations’, five regional winners within the two categories were elected.

The winners from the ‘Daylight in Buildings’ category are:

• Western Europe: “Reaching the Light” by Joana Robalo, João Umbelino, Ana Ázar, António Lopes and Miguel Pedro from Universidade de Évora in Portugal
• Eastern Europe and the Middle East: “Light Forms Jugglers” by Anastasia Maslova from Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering in Russia
• The Americas: “Light Liquefaction” by Ziqi Chen, Shuaizhong Wang and Zeyu Liu from University of Virginia in the United States
• Asia and Oceania: “My Dead Relative in the Light” by Qi Wang, Jingkai Chen and Peilin Yin from Qingdao University of Technology in China
• Africa: “Light Pavilion” by Fatai Osundiji and Emmanuel Ayo-loto from Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria

The winners from the ‘Daylight Investigations’ category are:

• Western Europe: “Cover to Reveal” by Brice Lemaire, Xiaolan Vandendries and Julien Obedia from Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium
• Eastern Europe and the Middle East: “Cloud of the Polar Light” by Anna Borisova and Kamilla Akhmetova from Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering in Russia
• The Americas: “Daylight to Water” by Stephen Baik, Abubakr Bajaman and John Nguyen from University of Toronto in Canada
• Asia and Oceania: “Road to Light” by Yuhan Luo, Di Lan and Yusong Liu from Tianjin University in China

In this year’s entries, the jury noted a clear focus on responsibility and considerations for some of the big issues of our time; like public unrest, crises, refugees and climate challenges, by using daylight as a uniting force and practical solution for communities all around the world.

“I saw projects, that were close to themes of poor people, environment, disasters, and taking care of disabled people. It shows a different responsibility and realism. Whereas some years ago, people were more optimistic and showing new spectacular things, now it is more about inclusion of all people and bringing people to the same level with architecture”, Carme Pigem Barceló, founding partner of RCR Architects (ES), noted after the jury meeting had ended.

All prize winners have been informed. Representatives from each team will be given a trip to Amsterdam and tickets to the World Architecture Festival in November where they will present their projects in front of, and get feedback directly from, the renowned architects of the jury. Here, two Global winners, who will win the grand prize of €5000, will be selected.

The winning projects and all other entries can be found on here.