Kinderspace Jury Panel!

Alexandra Barker, baaostudio
Tommaso Calistri, UN Studio
Jake Heffington, ...and other works
Danielle Reimers, SAOTA
Jan Vondrák, Mjölk
Edward Weysen, WE-S architects
Yunchao Xu, Atelier Apeiron

Alexandra Barker is Founder and Principal at Barker Associates Architecture Office - baao, based in Brooklyn, NY, USA. With over 20 years of experience as a licensed architect, she is also an associate professor and the assistant chair of the Masters in Architecture program in the Graduate Architecture and Urban Design Department at the Pratt Institute, where she has taught since 2001. At Pratt, she has been the recipient of national grants to integrate practice and education and sustainable principles into Pratt’s graduate architecture curriculum. Alexandra received her M.ARCH from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, where she received the Templeton Kelly Prize and the Clifford Wong Housing Prize for her thesis work. Her undergraduate work in Visual and Environmental Studies was completed at Harvard College, where she graduated magna cum laude.

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.

Danielle Reimers, Principal at SAOTA, designs, develops and coordinates a diverse range of international projects. Her responsive, collaborative design approach to exploring unique solutions has been instrumental in SAOTA winning several design competitions. Danielle has a strong interest in vernacular design and passive sustainable architectural practices and has regularly served as an external examiner for the Honours Architectural program at the University of Bloemfontein. She has recently completed her MBA at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Cape Town, specializing in Leadership with a focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Before joining SAOTA in 2013, Danielle gained wide-ranging experience in institutional and urban design projects under the internationally acclaimed architectural practice Renzo Piano Building Workshop. She worked on the extension to the Kimbell Art Museum in Dallas, Fort Worth, the extension to the Harvard Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Masterplan for Area EX-Falck, a 45-hectare zone north of Milan, Italy. Danielle completed her Bachelor of Architecture degree at the University of Cape Town in 2008 with distinction. Her architectural dissertation, exploring urbanity in the post-apartheid suburban township, was published in 10+ years 100+Projects – Architecture in a Democratic South Africa (Cape Town: Bell-Roberts, 2017).

Jan Vondrák Is a cofounder of the renowned Czech studio Mjölk and a graduate of the Faculty of Architecture at TUL in Liberec. Partners Jan Mach and Jan Vondrák are assisted with their projects by a talented team of architects and civil engineers. Their goal is to explore contexts, uncover the qualities of places, fulfill clients' deepest yearnings, and have fun while doing it. Mjölk writes the joy of creation into its projects and, through the buildings, into the lives of its clients. Mjölk's designs have repeatedly succeeded in prestigious architectural competitions.

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.

Yunchao Xu, the lead architect of Atelier Apeiron, is a RIBA Chartered Member and an AIA Associate Member. He earned his Master of Science in Advanced Architecture Design from Columbia University in 2007. Before founding Atelier Apeiron, Xu worked at OMA Rotterdam and Rafael Viñoly Architects, contributing to projects like Qatar Education City and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.

In 2017, Xu developed the design philosophy "Apeironology of Architecture," which has become central to his work. His notable projects include the Hengqin Culture & Art Complex, Promotion Center of High Tech Park in Baoding, Gree Global Center, Kindergarten of Museum Forest, Jinjiang Campus of Fuzhou University, Fashion School of Xiamen Polytechnic University, Tongxin Foreign Language School, Lotus Terrace Kindergarten, Minzhi School in Shenzhen, Waterfront Library with Red Brick and White Stone, Red Brick Learning Center, Bamboo Resort Rising from a Paddy Field, Cusha Village Community Center, Small Hill Kindergarten, and The Garden of Forking Paths.

Xu and Atelier Apeiron have received various architectural awards, including Best Public Projects Firm of the Year in the Architizer A+Awards 2022 Special Mention, Emerging Architecture Studio of the Year in the Dezeen Awards 2022 Longlist, Rising Star/Emerging Practice of the Year in the WAN Awards 2020 Finalist, as well as awards from the International Architecture Awards, Architecture Masterprize, World Architecture Festival Awards, The Plan Award, German Design Awards, Blueprint Awards, LEAF Awards, AR MIPIM Future Projects Awards, Muse Design Awards, LIV Hospitality Design Awards, and NEW YORK Design Awards. In 2022, l'Arca International Monographs published a monograph titled "Apeironology of Architecture" (No.10) about Xu's work. In 2020, Xu's works were exhibited in "The City and the World" by the Chicago Athenaeum and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. His projects have also been featured on ArchDaily, Architizer, World Architecture News, Global Design News, Archiposition, The Plan, and IBS AEC.