Bo Li and Ge Men from China won first prize in International VELUX Award 2012
After months of suspense, the excitement finally peaked when Bo Li and Ge Men from China took first prize
in the International VELUX Award 2012 and were celebrated at the award event in Porto on 4 October.
Inspired by hiking trips in the Swiss Alps during their studies at EHTZ in Switzerland, the two students’ winning
entry is based on a hypothetical mud slide burying a village. Sunlight is transmitted through columns into the
subterranean space, illuminating a poetic memory of the former rooms in the buried houses.
- Nowadays, more and more architects are trying to think outside the box, but the Award theme is just the right
topic to make us go back to the core of that box. It is our belief that the more artificial our world becomes the
more we want to go back to nature. So, in our opinion, the theme “Light of Tomorrow” works as a reminder of
the fact that we can work with both artificial and natural light and that the two can work together,” says Bo Li,
who developed the winning project together with his team mate Ge Men.
The jury was particularly impressed by the project’s convincing treatment of three distinct scales as well as the
poetic nature of the project reconnecting to memory of things that once were.
- The first prize project is impressive because it addresses three distinct scales very eloquently, very powerfully
and in a more comprehensive manner than any of the other entries. At the same time it reconnects us to the
memory of things that were once there. The powerful idea of memory and the subconscious are included in
the project, says jury chairman Brigitte Shim in her motivation for the winning project.
Students from Korea took second prize
A team of five students from the Inje University in Korea won second prize for their highly imaginative and
innovative project titled “The Mongolian dandelion seed impregnated with light”.
The inspiration for their project, ”The Mangolian dandelion seeds impregnated with light”, was dandelion
seeds floating freely in the air and water streams – very similar to the Mongolian nomad’s way of life.
- Nomads wander around and settle into places for shorter periods of time. After a while they break up and
move to new grounds. This behavior reminded us of how dandelion seeds break away from the stem, disperse
and settle into new grounds. With our project we propose similar ‘seeds’ that will serve as nests and
companions to nomads and travellers alike, explains Jeewon Park, who made the project together with his four
team mates Nakyong Kim, Kimoon Park, Jiyoon Jung and Wongyu Yang.
The ‘seeds’ are in the shape of so-called neo-balls made from various forms of polyester, filled with helium gas
and containing optical fibers. During the day, the balls collect solar power and provide shade, and at night the
collected energy can be used for lighting and heating.
The jury characterized the project as remarkable, exemplary, and beautifully presented.
Teams from Poland and China shared third prize
Two students from the technical university in Krakow, Poland took third prize for their very conceptual project
“Light as a tool to break structure”.
The project searches for inspiration in photography and the relation between light, material and form.
- We found our inspiration for the project during our photo research. Taking photos brought us closer to the
different kinds of effects that light has – indirect light, reflections of light, light slits and transmission of light by
use of mirrors. But it was a picture of a closed door, where a small stream of light emerged between the cracks
of the door and the panels, which aroused our curiosity,” says Anna Zagorec, who created the project together
with Maciej Kozlowski.
The jury described the project as very conceptual, but also technically very well thought through and the
renderings really describe the very illusive but beautiful condition.
The team from Poland shared the third prize with a team from Tongji University in China, exploring the
interaction of people and light in buildings in their project “Stroking the sunshine”.
- We think that the use of daylight will be central to any future discussions of architecture and human wellbeing. However, we also think that natural light is often overlooked beause it has always been there and is such
a natural part of our everyday lives. With our project we wanted to remind people of how daylight affects our
everyday lives and how it can be utilized to create personalized spaces, says Tao Cao, who worked together
with Qi Xu.
The jury was impressed with the level of technical exploration of the project as well as the very strong and
visual representation.
Ten honourable mentions awarded
In addition to the four winning projects, the jury awarded ten honourable mentions:
China: Qingsong Han, He dong Peng and Peishu Han from Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology
Project: “Memory of light”
China: Bin Jiang, Haiting Ye, Peixin Xu, Yiqin Zhu and Tenghan Zhang from Tongji University
Project: “Redefinition of the skylight”
Spain: Albert Mercader from Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Girona
Project: “Out, in”
Denmark: Pit Herold, Mads Johnsen, Kasper Old Jensen and Peter Drechsler Poulsen from the Aarhus School of
Architecture
Project: “Light & Wind”
Romania: Ovidiu Mihutescu, Andrei Lazar, Radu Dorgo and Adrian Mihai from Universitatea Politechnica din
Timisoara
Project: “Interactive natural light source”
Portugal: Francisco Ferreira and João Santos from Universidade Lusíada, Lisboa
Project: “Light is matter”
China: Dexiao Zeng, Zhao Gao and Tianchi Chen from Hunan University
Project: “Light drama”
Belgium: Manu Simon, Maïté Oldenhove, Simon Verstraete and Laura Schmitt from Université Catholique de
Louvain U.C.L.
Project: “Atmosphere evolutive surface”
Belgium: Michael Lequeu, Martin Vandevoorde and Florent Schoennagel from Université Catholique de
Louvain U.C.L.
Project: “Evolute glazing – shining light”
China: Bo Zeng, Yiming Cai and Jingyi Zhao from Tianjin University
Project: “Water lily, the symphony of architecture and sunshine”