XAUAT News Network — On June 29, during the World Congress of Architects hosted by the International Union of Architects (UIA) in Barcelona, Sun the Quilt, a project created by six undergraduate students from our university, was awarded the Global Grand Prize in the 2026 VELUX Light of Tomorrow International Student Architecture Competition.
The winning team consists of Xu Qicheng, Luo Jun, Gao Rui, Ruan Guoqiang, and Zhang Xuanyi, all third-year students from the School of Architecture, together with Cai Kunhong, a third-year student from the School of Future Technology. The project was supervised by Professor Han Qingsong.
During the regional evaluation stage, the International Jury convened in Copenhagen to review 539 submissions from around the world. Five regional winners and three special award recipients were selected. Our university's entry received the Regional Winner Award for Asia and Oceania, advancing to the Global Winners round alongside seven outstanding teams from Tsinghua University, Lund University (Sweden), Royal Danish Academy (Denmark), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), Pontifical Catholic University of Chile (Chile), National Academy of Fine Arts and Architecture(Ukraine), and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(Kenya). Competing against the other seven finalists, Sun the Quilt ultimately emerged as the sole recipient of this edition's Global Grand Prize.
Inspired by the everyday practice of airing quilts in households across China's Yangtze River Delta, Sun the Quilt re-examines the complex relationships among moving bedding between indoors and outdoors, access to sunlight, shading, natural ventilation, and the visual interaction between private domestic life and the public realm. The proposal introduces a rotatable, foldable, and adjustable façade component that integrates quilt drying, solar shading, natural ventilation, and daylight regulation into a single architectural interface. By subtly re-configuring the spatial relationship between the quilt and the window, the design reduces the physical effort required for drying quilts, improves indoor environmental comfort, and better mediates the relationship between family life and public space. The project transforms a common everyday activity into an architectural prototype that embodies environmental performance, spatial quality, and cultural significance, demonstrating new possibilities for integrating daylight into everyday living.
This achievement highlights XAUAT students' ability to address architectural challenges rooted in local contexts by drawing inspiration from everyday life and developing original design solutions through the integration of research, design, and technology. It also reflects the School of Architecture's accomplishments in research-driven design education, multi-scalar thinking, and international communication.
Formerly known as the VELUX International Award for Students of Architecture, the VELUX Light of Tomorrow International Student Architecture Competition was established in 2004 and is held biennially. Organized by VELUX in close collaboration with the UIA, the competition has been officially recognized by the UIA since its inception and has grown into one of the world's largest and most influential architecture competitions for students. It encourages architecture students worldwide to explore the future potential of daylight in spatial experience, climate adaptation, resource efficiency, health and well-being, and everyday life.
The 2026 edition, the twelfth since the competition's inception, attracted 539 projects submitted by 1,113 students from 345 architecture schools across 85 countries and regions. All entries were evaluated anonymously. Each team presented its project through a single comprehensive 16:9 presentation board summarizing its research, design concept, and spatial proposal. The international jury comprised James Carpenter (United States), Liene Jākobsone (SAMPLING, a Belgian–Latvian architecture practice), Níall McLaughlin (Royal Academician in the Category of Architecture, United Kingdom), Oya Atalay Franck (Dean of the School of Architecture, Design and Civil Engineering at ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland.), and Elena Arregui Jaeger (VELUX Group, Spain).
Read the Official Report:
https://www.daylightandarchitecture.com/lightoftomorrow
