en.Wedoany.com Reported - The 2026 Daylight Award was announced on UNESCO's International Day of Light (May 16), presented by the Daylight Academy (DLA) to support research on daylight and its impact on health, well-being, ecosystems, and architectural design. The award is divided into two categories: Daylight in Architecture and Daylight Research.
The jury stated that the 2026 laureates "reveal daylight as a common condition that both shapes how we inhabit urban environments and sustains the microscopic life that supports planetary systems." The Daylight in Architecture award was granted to Momoyo Kaijima and Yoshiharu Tsukamoto, founders of the Tokyo-based Bow-Wow architecture firm, who lead the practice alongside partner Yoichi Tamai. The award recognizes their long-term exploration of the relationship between architecture, daylight, climate, and daily life through the methodology of "Architectural Behaviorology." Since founding the firm in 1992, their projects have consistently examined how architecture responds to dense urban conditions, treating daylight not only as an aesthetic element but also as a spatial, environmental, and social factor. Rather than relying on large expanses of glass or monumental volumes, their projects introduce natural light through adaptive strategies such as courtyards, narrow slits, reflective surfaces, filtered openings, and site-specific window configurations. The jury particularly emphasized the architects' attention to vernacular conditions, existing structures, and patterns of habitation, highlighting their design approach rooted in the relationship between architecture, weather, and everyday life.
The jury noted that Kaijima and Tsukamoto demonstrate strategic diversity across a range of completed projects, each responding to specific environmental and social conditions. Award-winning projects include the GAE Residence in Tokyo, which introduces reflected light through a glass eave; the Nora Residence in Sendai, which uses light and ventilation shafts to organize multi-story living spaces; and the Rue Rebière residential project in Paris, where balconies of varying depths create changing patterns of light and shadow on the facade. Other award-winning projects include the adaptive reuse of a traditional machiya townhouse in Kanazawa, the incorporation of salvaged building components in the Bird Theatre studio in Tottori, and the Environment and Energy Innovation Building in Tokyo, where photovoltaic panels simultaneously generate electricity, provide shade, and filter daylight.
The Daylight Research award was granted to marine biologists Brittany N. Zepernick, Steven W. Wilhelm, and R. Michael McKay from the United States and Canada, in recognition of their research on the relationship between daylight, photosynthetic algae, and climate change. The team investigates how changes in light conditions in aquatic environments affect microscopic algae that sustain ecosystems through photosynthesis. These algae generate oxygen, support food chains, regulate nutrient cycles, and contribute to carbon fixation. Focusing on temperate lakes in the Northern Hemisphere, the researchers study how climate change-induced reductions in winter ice cover intensify water movement and sediment disturbance, thereby increasing turbidity and limiting daylight penetration underwater. Their findings reveal how algal communities adapt to changing light spectra in cold and increasingly turbid waters, providing insights into ecosystem resilience and the broader environmental consequences of climate change.
In other recent awards in architecture and design, the Mies van der Rohe Foundation and the European Commission announced the winner of the 2026 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, selected from 410 nominated works. The Architects' Journal and Architectural Review recently announced that architect Barbara Buser has been awarded the 2026 Jane Drew Prize for her pioneering work in recycling, reuse, and circular construction in Switzerland. Earlier this year, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced that Irish architect, educator, and writer Níall McLaughlin will receive the 2026 Royal Gold Medal.
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