The winner of the high school competition is the family house PEPA, which fits into every village

The task for high school students in the field of construction has been the same for 19 years: to develop their own design for a family house or another building using VELUX products – roof windows, skylights, or light tubes. The main evaluation criteria are the architectural quality of the building, spatial arrangement, energy efficiency, and quality of the indoor environment. And students are very interested in designing buildings with plenty of natural light and fresh air. This year's participation was above average, with 261 students from 12 high schools involved. From the school rounds, 72 projects advanced to the national finals, which were assessed by a two-member international jury consisting of Ing. arch. Zina Ambroz (Junquera Arquitectos, Madrid) and Ing. arch. Jan Kratochvíl (Faculty of Architecture VUT Brno, publisher and editor-in-chief of the architecture server archiweb.cz). In the finals, 10 student projects were awarded, and the competitors and their teachers received rewards totaling 140,000 crowns.

VELUX teaches how to design well-lit buildings

Students benefited from participating in VELUX seminars and webinars, which were viewed by a total of 550 high school students in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. "Students learned how to work correctly with natural light and really got it under their skin. The competition entries convinced us that they consider quality daylighting to be key. We are pleased that they are working not only with roof windows, but also with their combinations and even with light tubes. They utilize the full VELUX portfolio and also use the Daylight Visualizer tool, which helps them reach a higher level of design," evaluated the student works in this year's edition Marek Petrík, architect at VELUX.

The results of the King of Daylight 2023 competition were announced in a ceremonial stream, where all were greeted by Zsolt Szabó, Market Director of VELUX Czech Republic and Slovakia. "I believe this has been useful for you. It is important that one day in your career you create beautiful and healthy buildings that are flooded with daylight and are pleasant to inhabit. We greatly appreciate that even at this early stage you are able to create such quality work," said Zsolt Szabó to the competitors and thanked all the students and educators who supported them for the enormous amount of energy they contributed to this year's projects.

The professional jury was also satisfied with the level of the competition proposals. "It is incredible how many works you create each year; you have my admiration," said Jan Kratochvíl to the competitors. He assured those who did not win that their efforts would not go to waste but would pay off in the future and in further practice because architecture is a long-distance run. He also thanked VELUX for the opportunity to participate in the competition assessment and for the many inspirations to think about. "I really like the task of this competition because it deals with what architecture is about. It is not primarily about structures and building materials, although it is necessary for these things to work. But architecture is mainly about the environment you create, how it affects people, and what light, shapes, materials, and colors you use for it." For future editions, Jan Kratochvíl advised students to use the freedom in the competition task, which they will certainly not have in future practice, to express their attitudes, opinions, and priorities through their designs.

King of Daylight 2023 – results

Family House

1st place in the Family House category
Family House PEPA
Lenka Drastichová, SPŠ stavební Opava, supervisor: Ing. arch. Tomáš Fischer

The author designed a house with a gable roof, a residential attic, and classic proportions. According to the jury, the winning work did not stand out at first glance among the other designs, but it belongs to those that become more appealing upon closer inspection. It deserved to win due to its moderation, "normalcy," sensitive approach to the development of the Czech countryside, and consideration of the character of the village environment.

"Unlike other competition designs, there is no issue with proportions, oversized rooms, or unnecessary complexity of form here. PEPA is an archetypal house that we are used to, already refined by historical development. There is almost nothing to fault; it is nearly perfect in its simplicity, yet it is not boring. Everything is emphasized by excellent graphic processing," evaluated the winning design Jan Kratochvíl and added: "There is no need to create expensive designs and enormous spaces in architecture. Sensitive, small work is also very important. The author’s approach to the development of the Czech village is worthy of appreciation and exemplary, as there are no small tasks, and one can attract attention even with a simple house."

2nd place in the Family House category
RD PHINEAS
David Daněk, SPŠ stavební Opava, supervisor: Ing. arch. Tomáš Fischer

3rd place in the Family House category
BUNGALOW IN23
Martin Bobiš, SPŠ stavební Valašské Meziříčí, supervisor: Ing. Pavla Nováková

VELUX Employee Award in the Family House category
RD GREENHOUSE
Ondřej Satori, SPŠ stavební Hradec Králové, supervisor: Ing. Iva Buriánová

Freestyle – any type of building

Tied 1st place in the Freestyle category
Apartment Building CAPTIONIS
Václav Richtár, SPŠ stavební Ostrava, supervisor: Ing. Iva Polochová
The apartment building design, which is thought out down to the smallest details, rightfully belongs to the winners of this year’s edition. According to the jury, the building is beautiful from the exterior as well as the interior, and the residential terrace on the roof deserves special mention. The evaluation also highlighted the impressive interplay of light and shadow and the technical perfection of the visualizations.

Tied 1st place in the Freestyle category
Stvořidla - The Rocks
Tomáš Vrána, SPŠ stavební akademika Stanislava Bechyně, Havlíčkův Brod, supervisor: Ing. Radek Wasserbauer
The design addresses the Stvořidla locality and connects architecture with the natural environment. The meeting of these two worlds is very interesting, according to the jury. The work is evaluated as mature, excellently handling light and shape, and creating interesting spaces with an attractive atmosphere. Despite the "cave" concept, the interiors are pleasantly illuminated by natural light. The jury also appreciated how the author dealt with the complicated geometry.

3rd place in the Freestyle category
016
Barbora Kocmanová, SŠ stavební Třebíč, supervisor: Ing. arch. Jiří Šnerch

Awards in the Freestyle category

• Yoga Studio Balance, Lucie Morávková, SŠ stavební Třebíč, supervisor: Ing. arch. Jiří Šnerch
• Recreational Area Stvořidla, Adam Černý, SŠ stavební Třebíč, supervisor: Ing. arch. Jiří Šnerch

VELUX Employee Award in the Freestyle category
Weekend Cottage
František Šťastný, SPŠ stavební Opava, supervisor: Ing. arch. Tomáš Fischer

Awards for Schools

For the fifth time, high schools with the highest number of competition entries were awarded. The students from SPŠ stavební Ostrava submitted the most projects to the competition, 66 in total. With 17 submitted works, SPŠ stavební Opava placed second and students from SPŠ stavební Třebíč sent in 16 works for the competition.

Here you can take a detailed look at all the designs that made it to the final round, and watch the stream of the results announcement: