Register your interest in the Daylight from Above awards, run by VELUX in partnership with the RIBAJ, which celebrate the effective introduction of light to enhance internal spaces
‘No space, architecturally, is a space without natural light,’ said Louis Kahn. ‘I am designing an art museum in Texas. Here I felt that the light in the rooms structured in concrete will have the luminosity of silver...’ That building was, of course, the Kimbell Art Museum, whose long, narrow rooflights at the apex of blank-walled concrete barrel vaults produce an almost numinous glow, and have fired the imagination of countless architectural successors.
Kahn’s meditations on daylight at the Kimbell – collected in a memorial anthology, The Theme is Light – take in its myriad purposes and effects. He talks of the capacity to surprise, and produce a variable mood that changes with the weather, and of daylight’s role in ‘making manifest’ the nature of a space. There are practical and poetic concerns: control of the ‘injurious effects’ of daylight through the careful design of roof windows, and the coherence of those ‘natural light fixtures’ with the tectonic language of the building.
The Daylight from Above awards, organised by VELUX in partnership with RIBAJ, will take an equally holistic view. The aim is to celebrate projects where the arrangement, use and enjoyment of buildings has been transformed by the introduction of natural light as an integral element of a larger architectural idea. When the awards open for entries later this year, we will be seeking outstanding projects in two categories: Light, Space and Atmosphere; and Heritage Conservation.
Light, Space and Atmosphere
Top-light can produce startling beauty in interior spaces, and add skyscapes and a sense of the weather to the architect’s palette. It can also be the key that unlocks opportunity in spaces deep inside a building’s plan, or on constrained sites. The Light, Space and Atmosphere category will recognise projects where daylight design has played a decisive role – from the transformation of dismal circulation areas into valued parts of the home to the injection of joy into everyday life through the animated play of shadows.
It will be open to new and adapted residential projects in the UK, completed in the last three years, that incorporate any VELUX sloped or flat roof window as part of a considered and creative approach to daylight.
Judges will be looking for projects that show both rigour and imagination in the introduction of natural light. How does design for daylight enhance comfort, whether that is through softening shadows or avoidance of excessive contrast? Have the energy impacts of both natural light and solar gain been considered? Does the placement of windows relate to the movement of the sun, and to the geometry of interior spaces so that reflection and illumination are controlled? And does it, in all those ways, enrich both the architecture of a building and life within?
Heritage Conservation
Adaptation and renovation of historic and heritage buildings requires special sensitivity. Introducing daylight can not only alter their outward experience, but also require structural adjustment or alterations to interior finishes. A special category in the Daylight From Above awards recognises the first generation of projects that use products from the new VELUX Heritage conservation roof window range to enhance historic and heritage buildings, in sympathy with their character and value.
Entries to the Heritage Conservation category will be assessed on the skill and judgement with which historic buildings of any type have been adapted through the introduction of new Heritage conservation roof windows. Has the introduction of daylight extended the useful life of a protected structure? How have the placement and installation of windows responded to architectural character and local context? How does the quality of natural light affect appreciation of the existing structure? Contenders might be alterations to listed buildings, or those responding to the demands of conservation areas, or simply interventions in those parts of our built heritage where careful handling, discretion and high performance are all of paramount importance.
ENTERING THE AWARDS
Daylight from Above award entries will be assessed by an expert jury, chaired by RIBAJ contributing editor Chris Foges: Percy Weston is co-founder of Surman Weston whose Peckham House is shortlisted for the 2024 RIBA House of the Year Award; conservation architect Deniz Beck is the founder of Deniz Beck Partners; Gianni Botsford leads Gianni Botsford Architects; and Richard Williams is senior architect development manager at VELUX.
Prize-winners in each category will receive £5000, commended entries will be awarded £1000, and all shortlisted entries will be published in the RIBAJ.
Have you completed a project where daylight has had a transformational impact? Fill in the form below to be notified when the Daylight from Above awards open for entries later this year.
The Daylight from Above awards are organised by VELUX in partnership with the RIBAJ