Competition Jury


Kengo Kuma

Kengo Kuma & Associates

Kengo Kuma Kengo Kuma is one of the most prominent Japanese architects. He was born in 1954 in Yokohama, Japan. After going to Eiko Gakuen junior and senior high schools he joined University of Tokyo and graduated in 1979. In 1987 Kuma commenced the “Spatial Design Studio” and soon launched his own office in 1990 with the name “Kengo Kuma & Associates“. He is regarded as one of the most popular contemporary architects of Japan concerned with reviving and revitalizing the traditional Japanese values and customs by blending them well with modernistic approach of current time. Kuma promotes the idea of drawing inspiration from surroundings and context of the project to eliminate the chances of alienation of building on its site. Kuma’s firm Kengo Kuma and Associates has its offices in Tokyo, Paris and Bejing with a staff of 220. Currently Kuma is teaching at the Graduate School of Architecture at the University of Tokyo and also carrying out various research projects in his personal laboratory, Kuma Lab. Major topics related to his researches are architecture, urbanism and design. Kengo Kuma won 2016’s “Global Award for Sustainable Architecture”.

Kengo Kuma
Kengo Kuma
Kengo Kuma

Agostino Ghirardelli

Studio Blengini Ghirardelli Associati

Agostino Ghirardelli Agostino Ghirardelli worked in New York e Paris and oversaw several construction sites around the world. He manages complex urban planning and urban regeneration projects. Agostino graduated from the University of Genova in 1999. As one of the founding partners of SBGA I Blengini Ghirardelli is often invited as a lecturer to national and international conferences and workshops to talk about Architecture. He is fluent in Italian, French and English.

Agostino Ghirardelli Studio Blengini Ghirardelli Associati
Studio Blengini Ghirardelli Associati
Studio Blengini Ghirardelli Associati

Urko Sanchez

Urko Sanchez Architects

Urko Sanchez Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, Urko Sanchez began his architectural studies in 1988. Urko Sanchez has a wealth of experience, having travelled extensively and accomplished projects in multiple contexts. Urko uses his broad experience to craft an innovative and versatile architectural outlook for every unique project. Based in Kenya and Spain, Urko Sanchez Architects, is an award-winning architectural firm renowned for excellence in design and selected among the best practices in Africa. the firm has undertaken projects throughout East Africa, Europe and MiddleEast. In addition, the firm is deeply committed to environmental stewardship, and for each project, the team considers the cultural roots of the structure, and how the building will be best integrated into its environment: the view, the indigenous materials, and the flow of the surroundings.

Diana Lopez Caramazana

Un-Habitat Nairobi

Diana Lopez Diana A. López Caramazana was born in Valladolid (Spain) in 1974. She obtained her BA on Political Sciences at the University of Granada and studied International Relations at the Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg (France), obtaining a Diploma at the Institute for Political Studies (IEP). As a graduate she attended AMLOG (Advanced Management of Local Governance) at the University of Birmingham (UK) leading to her MSc on Public Service Management. She has been dedicated to issues related to local governance and the role of local governments in international development since 1997 when she started working at the UN System as Information Manager at the International Labour Organisation – ILO, providing expertise on local economic development for local governments in Latin America. In 2003 she was detached by the ILO to the Italian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, contributing to build tools for economic internationalisation for Italian regional governments. In 2006 she moved to UN-HABITAT, the UN Programme for Human Settlements, where she was Head of the Spanish Office for Best Practices and Local Leadership until 2010, working mainly on the promotion of decentralisation and in city-to-city co-operation. She was Special Assistant of the Executive Director of UN-Habitat from 2010- 2013 when she moved back to work in the field of local governance. She is actually Head of the Local Government and Decentralization Unit at UN-Habitat headquarters in Nairobi, where she works in areas related to the role of local governments in achieving the SDGs, urban governance, transparency and open local government and innovation in municipal management and finance. Recently, she has been member of the Steering Committee of the London School of Economics research on “New urban governance” and reviewer of the 2018 World Public Sector Report. She is fluent in Spanish, English, Italian and French, with some knowledge of Arabic and Portuguese.

Jean Paul Sebuhayi Uwase & Noella Nibakuze

Mass Design Group, Kingali

Jean Paul Sebuhayi Uwase & Noella Nibakuze Mass Design Group Jean Paul Sebuhayi Uwase joined MASS in 2011 as an intern and then in 2013 as Associate. Having been educated in the first class of architects in Rwanda where the numbers are still quite small, he believes that everyone deserves to experience beautiful design. Thus, his first duty is to best serve the community. Jean Paul holds an award for the best performing student in Architecture at the former Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) now. College of Science and Technology (COSTEC). As his first career practice, he worked with MASS while he was still a student and after he graduated, he began working on projects that create a positive impact on the community. His current projects include Malawi Maternity Waiting Village and the One Acre Fund Headquarters in Kenya.
Noella Nibakuze joined MASS in February 2017. She is currently working with the ADC fellowship program, which opened its doors in September 2016. Prior to joining MASS she worked for various architectural firms both in Rwanda and South Africa. She received both her B-tech and M-tech degrees in Architecture at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, South Africa, where her thesis focused on environmentally friendly design through a post occupancy evaluation of a Green Star SA certified building.

Mass Design Group
Mass Design Group
Mass Design Group

Toshiki Hirano

University of Tokyo / Kuma Lab

Toshiki Hirano Toshiki Hirano is professor at Kengo Kuma Laboratory, the University of Tokyo founding and partner of Toshiki Hirano Design. He holds a Bachelors degree from Kyoto University and received his Master of Architecture degree from Princeton University with Suzanne Kolarik Underwood Prize. Prior to founding the firm, Hirano has worked for Reiser + Umemoto RUR DPC, where he involved in the Kaohsiung Port Terminal Project and the Taipei Pop Music Center Project. His projects have been published on various magazines such as Architectural Digest, designboom, suckerPUNCH, and Bustler. He has been teaching a design studio with Kengo Kuma at the University of Tokyo, and has been organizing an annual exhibition “Japanese Junction” which showcases studio projects from universities around the world. He is a licensed architect in Japan and holds Ph.D.

The scientific committee

Raoul Vecchio

Non-Profif Balouo Salo - Raoul Vecchio Architect

Raoul Vecchio Raoul Vecchio was born in Catania (Italy), in 1985. After studying at the Institute for Technical Aeronautics he graduated in Engineering and Architecture at the University of Catania, on 2014. In 2015 he won the International Prize for Solidarity Federico II, and “Giovanni Lorenzin Prize” about for an infrastructure project in Africa. He collaborates with italian and african Universities, and takes part to workshop and conferences. He develops so many architectural and urban projets for african cities and villages, to improve social and economical conditions and to create sulf-sufficiency, also with education programs. In 2016/17 he educates around 10.000 people in Casamance villages. In 2018 he built wells with innovative water decontamination systems and educational centers, with highly sustainable and ecological technologies, involving and educating many beneficiary communities. He is the founder of "Kaira Looro" and “Balouo Salo” Non profit Organization and develops different theories and concepts on the approach to solidarity, integration and development projects. He dedicates most of his life to social activities, to fight prejudice and stereotypes, to promote equality and peace.

Raoul Vecchio
Raoul Vecchio
Raoul Vecchio

Sebastiano D'Urso

University of Catania

Sebastiano D'Urso Assistant professor of Architectural and Urban Composition at DICAR. He has taken his PhD in “Design and architectural urban and environmental restoration” at the University of Catania. He has organized and entered many national and international design workshop both in Italy and abroad. As for the research, he has dealt with modernity in architecture and with its languages and their contamination with other arts. He has turned himself towards the search for contemporary dwelling sense, investigating the conditions and the places where it occurs. Moreover, in the research he deals with aesthetic issues related to sustainability. He is author of 6 books and many book chapters, and author or co-author of several papers published on national and international conference proceedings.

Moussa Souane

Chambre de Commerce, Agricolture et Industrie de Sedhiou, Senegal

MOussa Soaune Doctor of Agriculture in Food Processing and Microbiology. Specialized in Nutrition, Environmental Science in Applied Biology in Food Processing Industries and in Biotechnology, with 35 years of experience in the food industry. President of the Environment Commission in the past Regional Council of Sedhiou. Coordinator of the Sedhiou Nutrition Project funded by the Malnutrition Cell (CLM) of Senegal and President and Director of CO-AID (Corporation for African Integrative Development), which make consulting, research, development and production in the agri-food industries. CO-AID   wond the Gold Prize of the WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) for the Best Invention at the First African Exhibition of Invention and Technological Innovation held in December 1997 in Dakar. Collaborator with various research on organic farming and cultivation that preserve native plants. Director of various agricultural projects, as well as projects for the development of the territory and communities.




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