Jury Members

She founded Can Ran, an architecture studio based in Lisbon, in 2002 with her sister Rita. Her work focuses on public space projects including ceramic tile design, housing and architectural renovation. 
She graduated in Architecture from the University of Lisbon, completed her Master’s at Harvard GSD, and earned a second Master’s in Communication and Arts at Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

Architect, founder of Artes Roots (Goa) and professor involved in research and environmental advocacy. He served as Amabassador for RIBA International Awards Jury (2024) and is senior advisor to United Nations bodies. Balsavar has worked with Atelier Bernard Kohn and B.V. Doshi, among others, and has authored several books. He actively contributes to various international forums, universities and journals.

He is the Principal of Studio Barnes, and Associate Professor and Director of the Master of Architecture Graduate Program at the University of Miami School of Architecture. Barnes’ practice investigates the connection between architecture and identity, examining architecture’s social and political agency. His work has recently been exhibited in the Art Institute of Chicago, MoMA, and the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial. He is a winner of the Architectural League Prize and is a Rome Prize Fellow. His work has also been featured and acquired to the permanent collections of international institutions. 

C.M., OAA, FRAIC, AIA, Blumberg is a founding partner of KPMB Architects and a Member of the Order of Canada, recognized for her contributions to architecture and community. Her work spans interiors, buildings, and large-scale planning, with award-winning academic projects including Princeton University’s Julis Romo Rabinowitz and Louis A. Simpson International Building, UBC’s Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre and Ponderosa Commons, and the CIGI Campus in Waterloo, recipient of major AIA, RIBA, and Governor General’s honours. Her cultural portfolio includes the Global Centre for Pluralism in Ottawa, Remai Modern in Saskatoon, Toronto’s Fort York Public Library, and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. A strong advocate for social equity, she has led affordable and Indigenous housing initiatives and continues to advance mid-rise housing intensification. She is currently working on the Montreal Holocaust Museum in Montreal. Blumberg has served on prominent juries and design panels, and is a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal and the RAIC Gold Medal (2025). She is also a co-founder of BEAT (Building Equality in Architecture Toronto) and has been instrumental in advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion at KPMB.

Architect and founder of Estudio 4.4, based in Laguna, Brazil, she was a former partner at Gabinete de Arquitectura. Her work focuses on housing, the existing city and the pertinent use of resources. She was awarded the Golden Lion at the 15th International Architecture Exhibition in Venice (2016), the Moira Gemmill Prize (2018) and the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture (2021).

Castro founded FCstudio in São Paulo (Brazil) after a three-year master’s period in Spain at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Prior to that, he collaborated with several national and international offices such as MAB Arquitectura, Arteks Arquitectura, and Hidalgo & Hartmann in Spain, and Núcleo de Arquitetura, AR.CO., Fundação MASP, and MMBB Arquitetos in Brazil. Currently, the studio works with associated architects and a multidisciplinary team formed according to the typology and complexity of each project. FCstudio’s projects reflect its vision of architecture and contemporary ways of living, shaped by constant human changes.

After a decade as professor and chair of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where she received the Louis I. Kahn Award for Outstanding Leadership, and after having taught at elite institutions such as Columbia, Harvard, and Cornell, Dubbeldam is currently the Director and CEO of SCI-Arc in Los Angeles. In 1994, she founded Archi-Tectonics, an award-winning, research-driven architectural design studio with offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Hangzhou. Together with partner Justin Korhammer, she leads a multinational team of architects, engineers, and consultants working across scales and typologies. The studio’s methodology integrates systems thinking, advanced digital design, and high-performance fabrication, bridging historical intelligence with future innovation. An active contributor to global architectural discourse, Dubbeldam participates in and chairs international award juries as well as serving as editorial board member of The Plan Journal. She has also been a featured speaker at major global forums including the UN and COP28, underscoring her engagement with architecture’s social and global responsibilities. 

Paola Foster has a diverse background in the arts, with experience across galleries, museums, and publishing. She has worked at institutions including The Royal Academy of Arts, Sotheby’s, Whitechapel Gallery, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Foster completed her undergraduate studies in History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University and earned a graduate degree from the Yale School of Architecture. She is currently working at Foster + Partners. She also serves as a committee member for the Future Contemporaries of the Serpentine in London and as a Trustee of the Norman Foster Foundation.

Alessia Genova is the Principal of Tihany Design, a NYC-based boutique atelier. Named one of Condé Nast Traveller’s “People to Watch", her leadership recently earned the firm a spot on Forbes’ 2026 list of America’s Top Hospitality Designers. A graduate of Politecnico di Milano, Genova specializes in ultra-luxury hospitality, having worked on iconic properties like The Beverly Hills Hotel, The Breakers resort in Palm Beach, The Four Seasons Dubai DIFC, The Joule in Dallas, the Grand Wailea Maui, The Mandarin Oriental Istanbul, and The Oberoi New Delhi. Her portfolio spans luxury cruise ships and high-end residential and retail projects, as well as innovative design concepts. Her mission to conceive stunning, one-of-a-kind spaces that enchant the senses achieves each venue’s most captivating and engaging potential. Built on the philosophy of “custom design as the stunning solution to a problem”, Tihany Design tailors each body of work to the client’s corner with inviting, modern relevance, timeless allure, personalization, craftsmanship, authentic sense of place, and art as a cornerstone of a venue’s identity.

Full professor, researcher and designer, Department of Architecture, Built Environment and Construction Engineering at Politecnico di Milano. He focuses his interests in energy-efficient buildings, Structure/Construction building systems and sustainability in general. He is currently the Dean's delegate for the Far East and represents the Politecnico di Milano in Asia.

Born in Santiago, Chile, in 1967, he has studied architecture at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) in Santiago and at the Architectural Association in London. He teaches at PUC in Chile and has been visiting professor at various universities, including MIT and IUAV. His works have been exhibited in various exhibitions and biennials and has been widely published in specialized magazines. He has received various distinctions, among them the RIBA International Fellowship, a recognition granted to non-British architects for their contribution to the discipline.

Meeta Jain is a Bangalore-based architect and founder of Meeta Jain Architects, a multidisciplinary studio defined by a ground-led methodology. Since 2000, she has developed a practice where architecture is conceived not as a discrete object but as an integrated spatial and ecological system. Her work spans complex urban contexts, rural landscapes, and historic settings, and is driven by a consistent inquiry into how built environments can catalyze community exchange and ecological connection. Through a process-led approach rooted in on-site immersion and iterative making, her projects dissolve boundaries between the built and unbuilt, creating environments that are both contextually embedded and experientially rich. Jain’s work is recognized for clarity of intent and restraint, where material logic, landscape, and spatial experience are brought into a cohesive architectural language. Alongside her practice, she explores feminine leadership in architecture, foregrounding empathy and collaboration as critical tools, and extends her inquiry through MapBee, an experimental initiative engaging public and alternative spatial practices.

Dean and Professor of history, theory and criticism at Tongji University’s College of Architecture and Urban Planning, he has lectured widely on contemporary Chinese architecture and urbanism and published on these topics in international architecture journals. He has been a visiting scholar at MIT, a fellow at MAK Center of Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, and a visiting professor at TU Darmstadt. He has curated the Chengdu and Shenzhen Biennale exhibitions, among various distinctions.

Roberta Lucente, architect, PhD (Université de Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne, 1997), is associate professor of Architectural and Urban Composition and coordinator of the Building Engineering/Architecture program at the University of Calabria. Since 2005, she has been co-director of the international master’s degree in Management of Architectural and Urban Complexity at Sapienza Università di Roma. She has numerous publications to her credit, including: La memoria dell'impegno civile. Il progetto dei BBPR per la tomba di Rocco Scotellaro a Tricarico (with M. Sabini, 2024); Abitare Acciaio (2020); Disaster Otherwhere. New Forms of Complexity for Architecture (with N. Trasi, 2019); Il progetto come fonte, come metodo, come prassi (2014). She is a member of the editorial board of the international journal Metamorfosi quaderni di architettura. She has received awards and recognition for her design research work. She has been invited to teach and conduct research in France, Spain, the Czech Republic, and the USA.

McEvoy, FRIAI, founded Bucholz McEvoy Architects together with Merritt Bucholz in Dublin (after practicing in New York, Paris, London), further to winning an international competition for Fingal County Hall in 1996. The project responded to an ambitious sustainability brief, and since then the practice has completed other award-winning civic projects following a holistically sustainable design approach. Carefully crafted, site specific solutions optimize natural daylight and ventilation, fine-tuning architectural responses to their particular micro-climates. The recently completed TRCA HQ in Toronto uses mass timber for the bones of the building, in a low carbon healthy workplace embedded in its ravine setting. The practice has been published and exhibited internationally, including at the Venice Architecture Biennale, in Germany, Italy, France and the USA. Karen has been guest critic/lecturer at various Schools of Architecture in Ireland, Germany, Spain (IE Segovia) and the USA (Harvard GSD).

An architectural curator and critic, he is originally from Ireland and looks at the city as both insider and outsider, bringing the international design scene into dialogue with the Pittsburgh region.

An internationally renowned critic of art and architecture, he has taught at the Architectural Association, Goldsmith’s College of Art, the Royal College of Art, the Jan van Eyck Academie, Harvard University Graduate School Of Design, and the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation of the Columbia University. His essays are published in numerous international sector magazines and journals. I have a weakness for a touch of Red, his most recent book, comprises a selection of all his texts published on artists and architects in Portugal.

A writer and editor who specializes in architecture, construction, landscape and lighting, since becoming freelance in 2008, she has written for numerous publications and organizations, as well as chairing webinars and judging competitions. She is the author of 10 books on architecture. Currently, Slavid is studying for a Master’s in sustainable cities at Birkbeck (University of London) and is writing another book on wood architecture. She is a longstanding judge of the Wood Awards. Slavid has a degree in Metallurgy and Materials Science from the University of Cambridge.

Murat Tabanlıoğlu is the founder of +MURAT TABANLIOĞLU, an international architecture, urbanism and design studio shaped by over 35 years of architectural experience, delivering cultural, hospitality and mixed-use projects, airports, stadiums and masterplans worldwide. Educated at the TU Wien, he leads a practice recognized for its culturally grounded, research-driven approach. His work is defined by a strong dialogue between heritage and contemporary expression, creating timeless environments where culture, place and memory converge. Internationally acclaimed projects include Atatürk Cultural Center, Tersane Istanbul, Istanbul Sapphire, Kanyon, Beyazıt State Library, Milas-Bodrum International Airport and Stade du Senegal. Alongside his professional practice, he is actively engaged in academia, international juries and global platforms, contributing to the discourse of architecture as both a cultural and civic act.

In 1997, having graduated from the University of Parma in hydraulic engineering, she joined Impresa Pizzarotti, holding various roles before moving to Engeco SAM in the Principality of Monaco. Over 12 years in Monaco, she has been involved in numerous projects, in an array of roles. She is currently heading up FPMC, a Monaco-based company that focuses on marketing luxury real estate developments. She is also responsible for a real estate development team that operates abroad, notably in France and the United States.

Hon. AIA/LA, he has authored books on architecture and design, most recently Architects' Houses, Building Community: New Apartment Architecture, and a memoir, Moving Around: A Lifetime of Wandering, while editing and contributing essays to a score of monographs. His upcoming book is titled Music and Architecture in Harmony: Opera Houses and Concert Halls of Europe, 1672-2022. He is also a regular contributor to leading journals in the United States, Asia and Europe. Growing up in London, he was an editor at The Times and Country Life, before moving to the U.S., where he directed film programs for the American Film Institute through the 1970s and curated a Smithsonian exhibition on the history of the American cinema. 

Renyi Zhang is an experienced architect and urban designer with extensive hands-on practice bridges architecture and large-scale urbanism across North America and globally. He has contributed to a range of internationally recognized, award-winning projects, including the 776 Summer Street Innovation District in Boston and Lakeview Village in Toronto, both regarded as leading models of sustainable and climate-responsive development. His experience also includes campus master planning for major institutions such as the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Kansas. Projects he has been involved in have received multiple SCUP Merit and Honor Awards, the Canada National Urban Design Awards, and a BSLA Merit Award, among others. He has practiced at leading international firms including Sasaki and Perkins&Will, and holds a Master of Architecture and Urban Design from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

Full Professor of architectural history and theories at the College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Her field of research is on architecture and urbanism in contemporary China, especially focusing on modern architecture and transformation of urban space in Shanghai. She published articles and books on these topics. She was one member of curator team of the China Pavilion at the 2018 International Architecture Exhibition in Venice and has been a visiting scholar at Columbia University.