The International Velux Award Announces 2022 Regional Winners

The 2022 edition of the International VELUX Award, a biannual international student ideas competition endorsed by the UIA since 2004, has announced its Regional Winners. 507 submitted projects were submitted from 211 schools of architecture around the world.

Organized around the theme, “Light of Tomorrow,” the competition invites architecture students to explore how we use sunlight and daylight for energy and light as well as how to ensure health and well-being for the people who live and work in buildings. Students may enter projects in one of two categories: Daylight in Buildings or Daylight investigations.

The 2022 jury, which included Anupama Kundoo, John Ronan, Rainer Hofmann, Fuensanta Nieto, and Lotte Kragelund met in Copenhagen to select 10 Regional Winners in the two categories, noting the “future-oriented nature of the projects … high in imagination and aspiration.”  Jury chair John Ronan explained that the jury selected projects which demonstrated not only a “vision but also .. technical support of that vision and concise explanation of the idea.”

The jury noted that the future-oriented nature of the projects was high in imagination and aspiration. It was the overall impression that the students are engaged in the environmental, social, cultural, and political key issues of our time and that they are really seeking and exploring solutions. In particular, the jury were struck by the range of issues the students identified as being relevant to their future. This consisted of both common global themes as well as regional and local concerns. The jury was particularly drawn to projects that make a specific impact on the environment and show the potential for an architectural intervention of equality.  

Natural light is a resource that will become ever more pertinent given the growing high-density nature of the urban fabric. There is thus a genuine daylight challenge for all of us and a need for greater knowledge and willingness to work with daylight in architectural practice, which the student projects demonstrate.  

The jury made their final evaluation of the projects in accordance with the following criteria from the award brief: 1) the work with daylight as a premise for architecture, 2) how the project is researched and documented, 3) how the project addresses contemporary and future challenges, 4) the level of experimentation and innovation, as well as the overall graphic presentation of the project or how the project presents itself.    

The jury unanimously selected the winners as listed below.

Daylight in Buildings category were awarded with 1,000 € for the student(s) and 250 € for the teacher(s)

[DAYLIGHT IN BUILDINGS REGIONAL WINNERS]

Aqua Mart (Africa), Daylight in Buildings Regional Winner, IVA 2022

24-HOUR DAYLIGHT: A pavilion that reconnects the city with light (Americas), Daylight in Buildings Regional Winner, IVA 2022

Lighting up, Neighbourhood Hop (Asia & Oceania), Daylight in Buildings Regional Winner, IVA 2022

TIP - Time Indicate Protection (Eastern Europe and the Middle East), Daylight in Buildings Regional Winner, IVA 2022

Spotlight Tree: Self-regulating System in Desert Environment (Western Europe), Daylight in Buildings Regional Winner, IVA 2022

[DAYLIGHT INVESTIGATIONS REGIONAL WINNERS]

Limitless Daylighting (Africa), Daylight Investigations Regional Winner, IVA 2022

Martian Light (Americas), Daylight Investigations Regional Winner, IVA 2022

Under the Three Gorges Project (Asia & Oceania), Daylight Investigations Regional Winner

Flight (Eastern Europe and the Middle East), Daylight Investigations Regional Winner, IVA 2022

Solar Hymnal (Western Europe), Daylight Investigations Regional Winner, IVA 2022

The regional winners are invited to the 3-day trip to Lisbon, Portugal, for the World Architecture Festival end of November. At this largest global annual architectural event, they will present their projects to the jury.

In essence, what we were looking for was projects that foreground daylight and directly address the theme, Light of tomorrow. There had to be a vision, but also, there had to be technical support of that vision and a concise explanation of the idea. The selected regional winners were good in all three of those areas. And I can speak for the whole jury when I say that we're all very excited to see the students present their work in Lisbon, the verbal communication of their idea – says John Ronan, the jury chair.

After the regional winners’ project presentation at the World Architecture Festival, the jury will select the two global winners of the International VELUX Award 2022. The winners in the categories Daylight Investigations and Daylight in Buildings will receive the prize of 5,000 €; 4,000 € to the student(s) and 1,000 € to the teacher(s).

About the International VELUX Award

The International VELUX Award is a competition for students of architecture that runs every second year. Since its launch in 2004, it has grown into the largest competition of its kind with students from 800 schools, from 130 countries of all continents, submitting more than 6,000 projects on the award theme “Light of Tomorrow”.

International VELUX Award 2022 is organized in close collaboration with the International Union of Architects and the World Architecture Festival and is acknowledged by the European Association for Architectural Education.

Learn more about the competition and this year's winners here.