Kinderspace / Edition #3 Jury Panel!

Aybars Asci, Efficiency Lab
Jake Heffington, ...and other works
Matthias Roller, Dannien Roller Architekten + Partner
Yu-Ying Tsai, ZJJZ Atelier
Mona Vijaykumar, Perkins&Will
Edward Weysen, WE-S architects

Aybars Aşçı is an architect, author, and educator with over 25 years of international experience, and a strong commitment to research-driven design. He is the founder and president of Efficiency Lab for Architecture, a New York-based practice focused on the design of innovative learning environments, ranging from large-scale campus masterplans to playful spatial interventions. His work spans North America, South America, the Middle East, and Asia, and is rooted in a deep interest in the social and emotional dimensions of space. Aşçı is the author of Designing for Empathy: The Architecture of Connections in Learning Environments, published in 2024, which explores the role of architecture in fostering human connection and engagement. As an educator, he has taught design studios and seminars at institutions including the City College of New York, Cornell University, Pratt Institute, and Northeastern University. He also holds a U.S. patent for a high-performance enclosure system (Patent #9003727). Aşçı earned his Master of Science in Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University.

Jake Heffington is an award-winning Architect, founder and Principal of ...and other works architecture and design studio, architectural professor of practice in the North Carolina State University College of Design, and founder and Executive Director of [Diversify Architecture]. He is the recipient of the 2021 NC State Alumni Legacy Award and the 2022 AIA NC Young Architect Award. Currently the Durham Arts Guild Artist in Residence, his practice and process regularly stretch beyond the bounds of architecture and into art, product design, and fabrication.

Matthias Roller, born in Stuttgart in 1966, is a cofounder and partner at Dannien Roller Architekten + Partner based in Tübingen, Germany. He began his academic journey in 1986 at the Free University of Berlin, studying art history and theater studies, followed by architecture at the Technical University of Berlin until 1994. Matthias honed his expertise in the field by working as a tutor at the Chair of Building Construction and Design and later engaging in various roles in architectural offices in Berlin and Stuttgart. From 1999 to 2003, he was a partner at Dannien Roller Architekten in Berlin and later took on project management roles in Stuttgart and Tübingen. Matthias also contributed to the arts as the curator and chairman of "shedhalle e.V.," a forum for contemporary arts in Tübingen from 2007 to 2013. His notable involvement in local civic projects includes his role in the municipal project group for Cityscape statutes in Tübingen during 2021-22. In 2022, Matthias was appointed to the Association of German Architects (BDA) in Baden Württemberg, highlighting his significant contributions to architecture and community engagement.

Yu-Ying Tsai is a lead architect at Shanghai-based ZJJZ Atelier. ZJJZ’s projects have garnered numerous recognition, such as its Woodhouse Hotel being listed as one of the top 10 Chinese architecture projects by Dezeen in 2019.

Mona Vijaykumar is an architect, urban designer, and data strategist whose work bridges climate resilience, spatial storytelling, and systems thinking. Based in Boston, she is an Associate Urban Designer at Perkins&Will, where she leads master planning projects for cities, campuses, and public spaces across the U.S., India, and the Middle East. Her recent work includes the Makkah Regional Master Plan in Saudi Arabia, the University of Kansas Master Plan—recognized with the 2024 SCUP Excellence in Planning Honor Award—and the Delaware State University Master Plan, which earned a BSLA Regional Merit Award. Vijaykumar holds a Master of Science in Architecture and Urbanism from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where her research on climate adaptation and Indigenous knowledge systems was selected for the MIT Climate Grand Challenge and presented at the 2022 Design Research Society Conference in Bilbao. She co-authored the Deep Listening Framework through MIT’s Civic Design Initiative and has been featured in MIT News, Maptionnaire, and Kansas Alumni Magazine. She is also the co-founder of Grain Box and Project Chaaya, ventures addressing post-harvest storage and mobile shelter, which have been recognized by MIT DesignX, Harvard i-lab, and the MIT IDEAS Social Innovation Challenge. Her design work has received multiple awards, including the Co(Vai) Urban Design Competition, the National Thesis Award, and the JK AYA Award from the Council of Architecture in India. Through a global practice grounded in innovation and equity, she continues to advocate for design that is emotionally resonant, ecologically responsive, and socially just.

Edward Weysen graduated as an engineer architect (UG) in 2003 and obtained a master’s degree in renewable energy technologies in Switzerland (ETH Zurich) in 2004. After his studies, he started his career at the renowned architectural firm OMA in Rotterdam (Rem Koolhaas), where he worked for 3 years, the last year as project manager. In that capacity, he led projects such as the master plan for Ghent Oude Dokken, an urban development in Almere and a housing complex for Stadionplein in Amsterdam. In 2008, he founded the architectural firm WEYSEN & DE BAERE architects together with Lore De Baere. With the arrival of Thomas Dierickx as a partner in 2018, WEYSEN & DE BAERE architects became WE-S architects. WE-S architects is an architectural practice that designs built and unbuilt space from a down to earth approach, looking for interfaces between buildings and surroundings, between architecture and landscape. The practice established a solid reputation among private and public clients. It has been published both nationally and internationally and has been nominated for the Belgian Architecture Award, the Bauhaus Award as well as the Holcim Award. It won several public competitions, including the central workspaces for the municipalities of both Machelen and Zemst, the new kindergarten for the municipality of Aartselaar and Lichtaart, a primary school in Gentbrugge, a football facility for the municipalities of both Kaprijke and Beveren, the public library of the municipality of Halle as well as a youth center for the municipality of Sint-Lievens-Houtem.