PennDesign dean + former SOM partner Marilyn Jordan Taylor joins RIBA International Prize Jury

The Royal Institute of British Architects is gearing up for the inaugural RIBA International Prize, which will deem a project as the world's best new building of the year. No need to be British — the prize is open to all architects worldwide. Submissions are due February 9, 2016.

Send in your best designs and your work might impress the Grand Jury, which is chaired by Richard Rogers of Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. Other jury members include NLÉ Projects director Kunlé Adeyemi and Philip Gumuchdjian of Gumuchdjian Architects. Most recently, Marilyn Jordan Taylor — the dean of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Fine Arts and the former managing partner of SOM Architects — was appointed as a jury member.

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Regarding her selection, Marilyn Jordan Taylor stated: "Over the years I’ve had the responsibility of serving on many design award juries, and I’ve learned that design prizes can be very effective in enhancing the visibility of great design work and deepening a broader appreciation of what design at all scales can contribute both to our everyday lives and also to the daunting challenge of today’s significant issues, including urbanization, climate change, personal and community identity, and growing inequities...Exploring criteria that can encompass a diversity of projects across culture, scale, location, and impact — as well as reveal their contributions to the public good — will be an important task as this award is launched for the first time."

More about the RIBA International Prize here.

Additionally, RIBA recently introduced the International Emerging Architect Prize. The Prize will be awarded to a building designed by a practice whose oldest founding director is under age 40 at the time of the building’s completion. More details on this award are yet to be disclosed.