VELUX: The Latest Architecture and News

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Humans spend almost 90% of the time indoors; that's approximately 20 hours a day in closed rooms and 9 hours a day in our own bedrooms. The architectural configurations of these spaces are not random - that is, they have been designed or thought of by someone, and are at least slightly "guided" by the conditions of their inhabitants and their surroundings. Some people inhabit spaces specially catered to their needs and tastes, while others adapt and appropriate designs made for someone else, perhaps developed decades before they were born. In either case, their quality of life may be better or worse depending on the decisions that are made. 

Understanding the importance of carefully designing our interiors, particularly through the lens of access and enjoyment of natural light, was the purpose of the 8th VELUX Daylight Symposium, held on October 9 and 10 of 2019 in Paris. This year, more than 600 researchers and professionals attended and reaffirmed the importance of natural light, presenting a series of concrete tools that could help quantify and qualify light by designing its entry, management, and control with greater depth and responsibility.

The BLL Awards for Architecture & Design comes from “Bringing light to life” which is the slogan of VELUX world brand for roof windows, which distribute daylight and fresh air into buildings through the roof. The idea of the Awards is to popularize good architecture, from architects and designers across countries in the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) region, which demonstrates the effective distribution of daylight into buildings and the utilization of the space under the roof elements. It is a platform to showcase the work and products of architects and designers to a global audience. This year is the 6th edition of the BLL Awards, and is now open for entries. Seven countries from the CEE region are included – Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Turkey.

Aiming at bringing science, architecture practice and the building industry closer together, VELUX two knowledge-sharing and best-practice platforms will for the first time be held back to back. More than 500 scientists, architects, developers, urban planners, building owners, professional housebuilders, government representatives, and building professionals from North America, China and Europe will convene in the historic site Le Carreau du Temple of Paris, 9 and 10 October, to introduce and exchange their latest research and building practice but also discuss how healthy buildings can be a cornerstone in everyday living today.

In the spirit of supporting our readers’ design work, the company Velux has shared a series of .DWG files with us of their different roofing windows models. The files can be downloaded directly from this article and include great amounts of detail and information.

Check the files below, separated into 'Pitched Roofs', 'Flat Roofs' and 'Light Tube'.

The VELUX Group has announced the esteemed architects that will make up the jury for the 2018 VELUX Award for Students of Architecture. The award, given every two years, challenges students of architecture all over the world to explore the theme of daylight and consider its role in our lives as an ever-relevant source of light, life and energy in buildings. The four internationally acclaimed jury members will elect the winners among the hundreds of daylight-focused project entries from all over the world.

"We are thrilled and proud to present this esteemed jury to the works of engaged students from all over the world and we truly hope that all efforts will be made to showcase explorations and excitement in the two award categories 'daylight in buildings' and 'daylight investigations'," says program manager of the award Per Arnold Andersen, from the VELUX Group.

The members of the jury are:

The International VELUX Award 2018 for Students of Architecture challenges students of architecture all over the world to explore the theme of daylight and consider its role in our lives as an ever-relevant source of light, life and energy in buildings - and as an important discipline in architecture. Students can register from 1 September 2017 to 1 April 2018 and submit their daylight projects before 15 June 2018.

Under the theme "Healthy & Climate Friendly Architecture - From Knowledge to Practice", the 7th VELUX Daylight Symposium, held in Berlin on 3-4 May 2017, was attended by 39 speakers from research and architectural practice.

Participants were able to contrast the information presented by researchers with the 'built experience' of architects from Europe, Canada and USA, generating interesting discussions about the need to go deeper in the understanding of this natural resource, and then design more effectively.

These are the highlights from the event.

Anne Lacaton (France) is an award-winning architect and part of the duo Lacaton & Vassal, having made reuse of existing materials and integration of daylighting in standard construction their signature architecture and adding a social dimension to architectural design.

Omar Gandhi (Canada) from Omar Gandhi Architect is recognized as one of the world’s top 20 young architects by Wallpaper* Magazine and as one of 2016’s ‘Emerging Voices’ by The Architectural League of New York will be one of four keynote presentations by critically acclaimed architects that will be live-streamed from the international forum for daylight and architecture, the VELUX Daylight Symposium, to be held for the 7th time, 3-4 May 2017.

Stefan Behnisch (Germany) from Behnisch Architekten, an award-winning architect and advocate of sustainable design, is one of four keynote presentations by critically acclaimed architects that will be live-streamed from the international forum for daylight and architecture, the VELUX Daylight Symposium, to be held for the 7th time, 3-4 May 2017.