Buildner is pleased to announce the jury panel for the upcoming What is Sustainable Architecture Essay Competition! This is the second edition of this competition run in partnership with ARCHHIVE BOOKS.

Vichera Heang, Paragon International University
Lydia Kallipoliti, ANAcycle thinktank
Al McKee, Studio O+A
Rion Philbin, No So Studio
Rituparna Simlai, Studio Arth LLC
Cristina Verissimo, CVDB arquitectos

Vichera Heang is the Head of the Department of Architecture at Paragon International University, Phnom Penh. She earned a scholarship from the Turkish Government in 2014. Vichera graduated with her Master’s Degree in Architecture from Gazi University, Turkey. She also holds two undergraduate degrees in Interior Architecture and English Language in Cambodia. During her academic years, she has participated in numerous Exchange Programs in different countries in Asia. Soon after, Vichera returned to Cambodia where she quickly established herself as a lecturer at multiple universities in Phnom Penh. Her research area is in the field of sustainability and the traditional Cambodian house.

Lydia Kallipoliti is an architect, engineer, scholar and an Assistant Professor at the Cooper Union in New York. She is the author of The Architecture of Closed Worlds (2018), the editor of EcoRedux; Design Remedies for an Ailing Planet (AD 2011) and the Head Curator of the upcoming Tallinn Architecture Biennale. She holds a SMArchS from MIT and a PhD from Princeton University. Kallipoliti has previously taught at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Syracuse University and Columbia University. She is the principal of ANAcycle thinktank.

Al McKee is the Head Writer at Studio O+A, a design firm based in San Francisco that specializes in workplace environments. He has written five books at the company including Typologies: O+A’s Guide to Space Planning, published in 2014 by the firm’s brand studio; Studio O+A: Twelve True Tales of Workplace Design, published in 2017 by FRAME Publishers (Amsterdam); and Food for Thought Truck, published in 2019 by Artifice Press (London). Because O+A is a company that puts storytelling at the heart of its design process, Al has written about design in many formats and styles including online articles, fiction, film scripts, interviews, and even poetry. Most recently, he is a contributor to O+A’s digital handbooks A Toolkit for the Times and Eco Playbook which respectively address strategies for post-pandemic workplace design and sustainable design in an era of the climate crisis. In another life, Al wrote about film for Film Quarterly, Film Comment, The Threepenny Review, and The New York Times.

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.

Rituparna Simlai is Principal of Studio Arth LLC, based in Miami, USA and New Delhi, India. A disciple of the philosophy “Design with Purpose” Rituparna firmly believes that Landscape  Architects are equipped to act as proactive agents of transformation that use design as a tool  for space making, creating environmental and social awareness; and above all make the future  world better than the present. Throughout her practice as an Landscape Architect, her work has  focused on integrating parametric technology with form and function while seeking a design  with a greater purpose. Rituparna Simlai is the founding principal of Studio Arth, a Landscape  Architecture design firm based in Coconut Grove, Miami. Rituparna has collaborated with renowned design firms such as AECOM, Cannon Designs,  Integral Designs and Raymond Jungles on geographically diverse projects scaling from  residential design to large master planning and infrastructure projects. With over 10 years of  cumulative experience in landscape + architecture and a passion for planting design especially  in the tropical region, she has worked on award winning international projects in New York,  Miami, California, India, Singapore and the Caribbean Islands. She received her Bachelor’s  degree in architecture from the School of Planning and Architecture in Delhi, India and earned  her Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture from Harvard University, Cambridge, USA. She is a registered Landscape Architect in the State of Florida and a registered Architect in India.Rituparna was honored with the Exception Emerging Professional Award by the Florida chapter  of American Society of Landscape Architect (ASLA).

Cristina Verissimo is co-founding partner of Lisbon-based CVDB arquitectos and chief curator of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2022. She is also an assistant professor at the School of Architecture at Dalhousie University, Canada. 


What is Sustainable Architecture seeks innovative ideas related to sustainability in all its forms: from design projects, to philosophical inquiries, engineering and material developments, and aspects of social, economic and ecological sustainability. Selected winning essays will receive monetary awards and will be featured on the ARCHHIVE BOOKS website.

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