International Velux Award 2016
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International Velux Award 2016

International Velux Award 2016
By Editorial Staff -

The International VELUX Award 2016 for Students of Architecture strives to encourage and challenge students of architecture to explore the role of daylight in architecture.
“We want to pay tribute to daylight and to strengthen the role of daylight in building design,” says Per Arnold Andersen, Head of International VELUX Award. “For centuries, daylight has been the primary source of light for the interior, and architects have always been interested in and fascinated by it; yet daylighting can be a difficult discipline to approach, understand and master,” he continues.
The overall theme of the International VELUX Award is Light of Tomorrow. The award seeks to inspire students of architecture to consider how to use sunlight and daylight as main sources of energy and light, and how to ensure the health and well-being of people who live and work in buildings. A crucial challenge is how to transform the existing building stock, with strategic use of daylight as a key driver for change.
The overall scope is Daylight in Architecture and projects should focus on either  
1) Daylight in buildings − with projects that demonstrate applicable principles for providing daylight and sunlight into buildings, or 2) Daylight investigations − with projects that examine such factors as the physical properties of light, new materials, or daylight for health and well-being.
The Award is an ‘open idea’ competition and is organised globally in two phases: in the first phase, regional prizes will be given to projects from 1) Western Europe, 2) Eastern Europe and the Middle East, 3) the Americas, 4) Asia and Oceania and 5) Africa. In the grand finale, prizes will be presented to the overall global winners.
All prizes will be given in two categories − Daylight in Buildings and Daylight Investigations. The jury can now also award prizes for the best projects working with VELUX products, though students are under no obligation to work with VELUX products.
A jury, representing internationally recognised architects and professionals, will evaluate all submitted projects. The jury will be assembled in close cooperation with the International Union of Architects (UIA).
The jury of The International VELUX Award 2016 will be announced in the beginning of 2016.
The International VELUX Award takes place every second year and is part of the VELUX Groups’ continuous effort to establish and nurture relations with building professionals – not least architects – their organisations and architectural educational institutions worldwide.
In 2014, the Award received 797 projects. After jury evaluation, 12 projects were awarded and shared the prize money of 30,000 euro.
The winning project Light, Revitalization was created by Du Dikang, Li Le, Zhou Yujing and Ma Yao from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China: “To us, the light of tomorrow means re-thinking the deeper values of daily life,” says Du Dikang in an interview about their projects.
The first-prize winners of previous awards came from Norway, Denmark, the US, South Ko-rea, Switzerland and China.
Since the first International VELUX Award for Students of Architecture in 2004, the Award has grown into what is probably the largest competition of its kind for the architects that will shape the buildings of our future. Since the first Award, some 5,000 students from more than 80 countries have submitted close to 4,000 projects on the award theme Light of To-morrow.
The International VELUX Award 2016 for Students of Architecture is open for registration from November 2015. Students need to register before 1 April to be able to participate.
Award brief and further information about registration is available at iva.velux.com

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