Marilyne Andersen receives the Daylight Award 2016

This is the first time that the organizers have presented an award in research on natural light, which, as a field, has enjoyed the support of the Daylight Award since 1980. “We weren't just looking for an outstanding researcher with an impressive track record and promising work in the pipeline, but someone who understood how their research could be applied in architecture and in the future. Marilyne Andersen met these criteria perfectly,” said a member of the 2016 Daylight Award jury (see video).

Professor Andersen is currently the director of EPFL’s Interdisciplinary Laboratory of Performance-Integrated Design (LIPID), but this award recognizes her entire scientific career. The jury was particularly impressed by her uniquely interdisciplinary approach, the concrete applications of her research, and her work on the dynamics of natural light, including its impact on health, wellbeing, energy, and comfort, and on the ways light relates to and influences human behavior.

The Daylight in Architecture Award

The Daylight Award is given every two years, and this year’s laureate was Steven Holl. Past winners include James Carpenter (USA, member of the 2016 jury), Lacaton & Vassal (France), Peter Zumthor (Switzerland) and Jorn Utzon (Denmark). The 2014 Daylight in Architecture award went to Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, from the Japanese architectural firm SANAA, who designed the EPFL Rolex Learning Center. In 2010, the pair was awarded the prestigious Pritzker Prize, which Peter Zumthor won in 2009.