Children's Hospice Jury Panel

Buildner is pleased to announce its jury for the Children's Hospice - Home for the Terminally Ill competition! 

Alan Dunlop, Alan Dunlop Architects
Rubén García Rubio, studioVRA
Arturo Mc Clean, Miralles Tagliabue EMBT
Phyllida Mills, Mills Power Architecture
Dr Nirit Pilosof, Sheba Medical Centre
Rion Philbin, No So Studio
Susanne Siepl-Coates, Kansas State University
Sonsoles Vela Navarro, studioVRA
Steven Wright, Perkins Eastman
Dr Johan van der Zwart, University of Twente, NTNU - Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Alan Dunlop of Alan Dunlop Architects is an architect with a portfolio of award winning buildings; including the internationally renowned Hazelwood School for children and young people who are dual sensory impaired: blind and deaf. Alan is a fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland and an alumnus of the Glasgow School of Art. He has written extensively on architecture and urban design in a number of professional journals and had peer reviewed papers on architecture published internationally.

Rubén García Rubio is an architect and co-founder of studioVRA based in Zaragoza, Spain. He holds Ph.Ds. in Architecture from the University of Valladolid and the University of Roma Tre. He has been a “Visiting Scholar” at the American Academy in Rome. Currently, he is Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at Tulane University. He previously taught in several schools of architecture and institutions in Europe and the Middle East, where he was able to work on projects that combined his teaching objectives, research interests, and professional work. His work has been distinguished with several architectural awards, both design and built, and published in international architectural magazines. He is Editor-in-Chief of the architectural weblog CajondeArquitecto.com.

Arturo Mc Clean is Communications Manager and Architect at Barcelona-based Miralles Tagliabue EMBT. Born in Panama City in 1982, Arturo studied architecture at the Universidad Santa Maria La Antigua in Panama, at the Universities of Granada and Salamanca in Spain. He has been involved in several interior and graphic design and independent publishing projects. At Miralles Tagliabue EMBT he is a member of the publications and communications team, and is also involved in the running of the Enric Miralles Foundation. EMBT has completed such projects as Kálida Sant Pau Centre in Barcelona - a space of emotional, social and practical support for cancer patients, and part of the Maggie’s Centre Network.

Phyllida Mills is Architect and Director at London-based Mills Power Architecture. Phyllida has a lively and inclusive approach to architecture. She sits on Haringey’s Quality Review Panel, has been External Examiner at Cardiff University and teaches at Nottingham University. Phyllida was a Partner with award winning practice Penoyre & Prasad LLP responsible for Operations, Education and Housing projects. Mills Power completed the CARE building at St Christopher’s Hospice in 2022, a building which provides a series of flexible spaces to extend its teaching and training facilities for palliative and end-of-life care.

Dr Nirit Pilosof is an architect and researcher exploring the intersection of Healthcare, Technology, and Architecture. Nirit is the Head of Research in Innovation and Transformation at Sheba Medical Centre in Israel. She is a Faculty Member at the Coller School of Management at Tel Aviv University and an Associate of Cambridge Judge Business School (CJBS) at the University of Cambridge in the UK. Nirit also works as a consultant for international healthcare organizations and serves as the executive member of Israel at the UIA Public Health Group. She holds a Ph.D. from the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, a Post-Professional M.Arch from McGill University, and an EDAC from the Center for Health Design in the USA. Nirit gained experience in the design process of major medical facilities as a project manager at leading architecture firms in Israel and Canada and won international awards, including the prestigious AIA Academy of Architects for Health award, the American Hospital Association (AHA) graduate fellowship, and the Azrieli Foundation fellowship.

Rion Philbin is the founder and Creative Director of Berlin-based No So Studio (and previously founder of So & So Studio, an anonymous and celebrated design practice). According to Philbin, “We want to connect with people who understand the value of design through our playful creative processes: fun, iterative and at times inappropriate.” His projects include the Casa-mac project, a  home in Italy for a blind woman that orients the spaces around a singular corridor spine, to minimize potential maze effect and ensure efficient movement.

Susanne Siepl-Coates received her Diplom Ingenier (Dipl.Ing.) degree in architecture at the University of Hannover, Germany in 1979 and her Master of Architecture (M. Arch) degree as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley in 1982. At Berkeley she studied with the internationally renowned architect and educator Christopher Alexander and worked at his Center for Environmental Structure.Siepl-Coates was a member of the architecture faculty at Kansas State University for over thirty years. Her teaching focused on the exploration of the relationships between the built environment and human health/well-being. In collaboration with Gary J. Coates, Siepl-Coates examined the health-supporting aspects in the architecture of Swedish architect Erik Asmussen, with special emphasis on the Vidar Clinic in Järna. She has reported on her research at international conferences and in papers and articles published in professional and scholarly journals.

Sonsoles Vela Navarro is an architect and co-founder of studioVRA based in Zaragoza, Spain. She holds a BArch from the University of Valladolid, a Master of Science in Architecture and Sustainable Environment from the University of Extremadura, an MBA from Kühnel Business School, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Advanced Design and Digital Architecture from the San Jorge University. Sonsoles is a practicing architect with 15 years of experience working alongside private clients and builders to develop architectural designs on residential, commercial and healthcare projects. Her work has been distinguished with several architectural awards, both design and built, and published in international architectural magazines. Currently, she is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Tulane University.

Steven Wright is a Principal at Perkins Eastman and a specialist in its healthcare practice. Steven brings a wealth of expertise to his designs that’s rooted in past residential, academic, civic and institutional work. He’s also adept at broader programs such as airports and transit hubs and large-scale mixed-use projects. Along the way, Steven has become a skillful collaborator with colleagues, clients and community stakeholders—often in ways that allow others to thrive, grow, and express themselves as he maintains the collective objectives of each endeavor. Steven received his B.Arch degree from the University of Virginia, and his M.Arch degree from Yale University.

Dr Johan van der Zwart is a researcher at the department of Science, Technology and Policy Studies of the University of Twente and an assistant professor of architecture and health at the NTNU Norwegian University of Science and Technology. His research focus is on the interaction between technology, people, process and place. His distinct contribution to projects is based on his holistic, transdisciplinary approach, connecting different disciplines from an in-depth understanding of scientific research and design of healthcare service systems. He is the author of several journal articles, books and book chapters on healthcare architecture and landscape architecture.

The competition seeks conceptual ideas exploring health design innovation. It offers a chance for participants to explore how architecture can be used as a tool to help people, and demonstrate how architecture can offer psychological relief to those who are suffering.