How can daylight tackle global challenges? This question lies at the heart of Light of Tomorrow by VELUX, a global student competition that encourages architecture students to explore the future potential of daylight in the built environment. In its 12th edition, the competition received hundreds of responses from around the world, culminating in eight finalist projects presented to an international jury at the UIA World Congress of Architects in Barcelona. The 2026 global winner, Sun the Quilt, developed by students from Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology in China, was chosen for its strong concept, design thinking, and innovative use of daylight that transforms an everyday domestic ritual into an innovative facade system shaped by daylight, climate, and care.
Responding to the competition theme, "Light of Tomorrow," the project reimagines the simple act of drying quilts, textiles, food, and household objects in the sun. The proposal combines a fully openable window, an operational ledge, and nested, extendable, and rotatable frames that support drying, shading, ventilation, and daylight modulation within a single architectural system.
The result is an adaptable facade that allows quilts and other household items to move outside while the resident remains safely indoors. By studying seasonal and daily solar patterns, they developed a responsive system that changes throughout the year. When deployed, a quilt becomes an external shading device; when retracted, daylight returns to the interior.
The project emerged from a personal observation. For many people living in dense urban environments, access to sunlight is negotiated through improvised everyday practices. Quilts are carried across courtyards; clothes hang from balconies, and household objects are placed wherever light and air can be found. What may appear as visual clutter became a starting point for architectural investigation.
Research conducted across the Yangtze River Delta documented the various poles, frames, balconies, and window-mounted devices used to dry quilts and clothing. Rather than dismissing these informal solutions, the team recognized them as evidence of an unmet architectural need. This led to a broader question: how can architecture better support rituals connected to sunlight, hygiene, comfort, privacy, and safety?
A key strength of the proposal is its ability to transform a modest act into a broader architectural idea without unnecessary complexity. Reflecting on the design process, the team leader, XU Qicheng, commented that, "For every component, we ask the same question: Does it make this everyday ritual safer and easier, or does it improve the relationship between daylight, the room, and the body. This really helped us keep the final design focused." The students explored questions of flexibility, stability, safety, and user experience, developing a system of tracks, pivots, clamps, and guided movements that support everyday use while enhancing the relationship between daylight, people, and space.
The jury praised the project for its poetic simplicity and strong connection to daily life. They highlighted how the facade system allows light to be modulated differently throughout the seasons while supporting textiles, food, and other domestic objects. Jury member Níall McLaughlin (IE) commented:
The architects have gone through a problem, got to the bottom of that problem, worked it through, and then made it into something that can live and thrive in the world.
While rooted in the specific context of the Yangtze River Delta, the project offers lessons that extend well beyond China. People around the world negotiate access to sunlight, ventilation, and privacy in different ways. Rather than proposing a universal solution, Sun the Quilt presents a compelling principle: the facade can become a responsive, inhabitable boundary between inside and outside.
As Tina Christensen, Director of Light of Tomorrow by VELUX at the VELUX Group, noted, the winning project demonstrates "how daylight can be used with clarity and purpose to connect to real-world concerns, achieving meaningful impact through modest means."
The complete list of winning projects, jury selections, and competition materials from Light of Tomorrow by VELUX 2026 provides further insight into this year's proposals and the ideas the jury recognized. Highlights from the awards ceremony also document the finalists and the presentation of the global awards.
