International VELUX Award 2022

The International VELUX Award (IVA) is a biennial ideas competition for students of architecture. It invites students from all over the world to create projects investigating the role of daylight in our everyday lives. Endorsed by the UIA since 2004, the theme of each edition is “Light of Tomorrow”. The competition encourages students to approach the subject of daylight in architecture experimentally, and to explore questions of aesthetics, functionality, sustainability, and the interaction between buildings and environment.

The International VELUX Award has enjoyed increasing numbers of participants since its inception in 2004. More than 10,000 students from more than 800 schools across the globe have participated.

Teams or individual future architects (assisted by an architecture professor from their school) may choose between two categories: Daylight in Buildings and Daylight Investigations. Multidisciplinary teams are encouraged.

PROCEDURE

Students (enrolled during the 2021-2022 academic year) may register on the VELUX platform until 1 April 2022. Registration is free. 

CRITERIA

Projects are evaluated according to the following criteria:

• The work with daylighting as a premise for architecture.
• How the project is researched and documented.
• How the project addresses contemporary and future challenges.
• The level of experimentation and innovation.
• The overall graphic presentation of the project, how the project presents itself.

PRIX

The total prize money is 30,000 €.

JURY

The international jury includes the following architects: 

• Fuensanta Nieto (Spain), UIA Representative
• John Ronan (United States)
• Anupama Kundoo (India)
• Rainer Hofmann (Germany)
• Martin Løkke (Denmark)

The jury will meet in July 2022, to evaluate the submitted projects and choose 10 regional winners from each of the five UIA member regions 1) Western Europe, 2) Eastern Europe and the Middle East, 3) the Americas, 4) Asia + Oceania and 5) Africa.

The jury will select 5 regional winners from each region, who will progress to the final step, presenting their projects before the jury at the World Architecture Forum (WAF), held in Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The jury will then select the two global winners.

CALENDAR

• Registration closes: 1 April 2022
• Deadline for questions and opening of submissions: 15 April 2022
• Submission deadline: 15 June 2022
• Jury meeting and announcement of the 10 Regional Winners: July 2022
• Winners announcement and online exhibition: December 2022

For more information, visit the UIA website.