The laureates of the Daylight Award 2024 are Spanish architect and professor Alberto Campo Baeza (Daylight in Architecture) and German professor of chronobiology Till Roenneberg (Daylight in Research).
Established by the philanthropic foundations VILLUM FONDEN, VELUX FONDEN and VELUX STIFTUNG, and endorsed by the UIA, the Award is conferred biennially in two categories: architecture and research.
Daylight in Architecture: Alberto Campo Baeza
The Daylight Award for Daylight in Architecture recognised the architectural projects of Alberto Campo Baeza as restrained and silent examples of sensuous, mental and poetic qualities in the architectural articulation of daylight.
His works were lauded as “celebrations of the silent miracles of daylight in buildings of widely differing functions”, with buildings that “exemplify the spiritual qualities of daylight and thus expand the understanding of the values of daylight beyond the current scope of science.”
In addition to his numerous, almost archetypically simple, and focused houses, he has designed buildings for a multitude of other purposes; museums such as Andalusia’s Museum of Memory, the recently completed Robert Olnick Pavilion of the Magazzino Museum in New York, the Caja Granada Savings Bank, a sports hall for Francisco de Vitoria University in Madrid, the Almeria Cathedral Square and several office buildings – all which share the same intention of ennobling the architectural experience through abstraction and reduction.
Daylight in Research: Till Roenneberg
The Daylight Award for Daylight in Research was attributed to Emeritus Professor of Chronobiology Till Roenneberg of the Institute of Medical Psychology at the Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany.
Focusing on chronobiology and issues like circadian rhythms and dependencies, his research has helped to understand the many-sided qualities and impacts of daylight, and illumination in general, for human health, wellbeing and performance. His findings have been applied to multiple branches such as medicine, public policy and architecture.
Find out more: https://thedaylightaward.com/