International VELUX Awards 2018: Global winners announced
World’s best architecture students celebrated at the World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam
The VELUX Group is proud to announce that “Light Forms Juggler” by Anastasia Maslova and “Road to Light” by Yuhan Lou, Di Lan, Yuan Liu, Yusong Liu are the global winners of the International VELUX Award 2018 for Students of Architecture. A jury of internationally-acclaimed architects selected two global winners, following live presentations by nine regional winners.
Sunlight as a form giver
“Light Forms Juggler” by Maslova from Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering in Russia was selected as a winner in the Daylight in Buildings category after impressing the jury by asking relevant questions about the way we design buildings today.
The project exhibits rigorous exploration of daylight in buildings related to the urban scale. It showcases a strong architectural mind of thinking and the project raises a lot of interesting questions,
The project invites us to take a fresh look at architecture. At present, a very significant problem is insufficient lighting in buildings. But at the same time, there is so much sunlight. So how do we shape buildings to capture the maximum amount of natural light?
The project suggests a change in the shape of buildings and their openings, where rectangular shapes increasingly limit the penetration of light into space. It also analyses various alternative forms that maximise the potential of natural light penetration as well as investigating the shadows cast by buildings.
Paving the way with light
The global winner in the Daylight Investigations category, “Road to Light”, took home the prize after creating a well researched project that thoroughly addresses a real problem and presents a simple and practical solution.
It is a simple solution that changes the life of children in remote rural areas. By introducing small pieces of local materials, it encourages optimism growth and thinking,
The project, created by students from Tianjin University in China, stems from a very basic need for safe passage between communities. With the lack of road infrastructure and electricity in the mountainous topography of rural China, getting to school can be a very dangerous task for children – especially when coming home in the dark.
The team suggest introducing a small amount of inexpensive fluorite to the pathways. The bright colours of the stones will glow for several hours at night when irradiated by daylight during the day. Almost all provinces in China have large fluorite mines and the coarse processing of the raw stone into pavement material makes is economically feasible for poor rural areas.
The two winning teams received their awards, together with the overall winners of the professional architects’ categories, at the World Architecture Festival’s closing gala dinner in Amsterdam on November 30.
About the Award
The overall theme of the International VELUX Award 2018 for Students of Architecture is “Light of Tomorrow.” Launched in 2004, and held biennially, the award seeks to challenge the future of daylight in the built environment by inspiring creative explorations on the themes of daylight in buildings and daylight investigations from the world’s leading future architects.
The distinguished award jury – featuring Carme Pigém Barceló, Rick Joy, Li Hu, Saša Begović and Martin Pors Jepsen – selected the nine regional winners after reviewing more than 600 project submissions from 57 countries earlier this year.
For more information about International VELUX Award, visit iva.velux.com.
About the VELUX Group
For more than 80 years, the VELUX Group has created better living environments for people around the world; making the most of daylight and fresh air through the roof. Our product programme includes roof windows and modular skylights, decorative blinds, sun screening products and roller shutters, as well as installation and smart home solutions. These products help to ensure a healthy and sustainable indoor climate, for work and learning, for play and pleasure. We work globally – with sales and manufacturing operations in more than 36 countries and around 11,000 employees worldwide. The VELUX Group is owned by VKR Holding A/S, a limited company wholly owned by non-profit, charitable foundations (THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS) and family. In 2022, the VELUX Group had total revenue of EUR 2.99 billion, VKR Holding had total revenue of EUR 4.29 billion, and THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS donated EUR 181 million in charitable grants.
For more information about VELUX Group, visit velux.com.