Judges

David Benjamin

Founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

David Benjamin (‘05 M.Arch) is Founding Principal of The Living and Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP. Focusing on the intersection of biology, computation, and design, Benjamin has articulated three frameworks for harnessing living organisms for architecture: bio-processing, bio-sensing, and bio-manufacturing.

The Living has won many design prizes, including the Emerging Voices Award from the Architectural League, the New Practices Award from the American Institute of Architects New York Chapter, the Young Architects Program Award from the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1, and a Holcim Sustainability Award. Recent projects include the Princeton Architecture Laboratory (a new building for research on next-generation design and construction technologies), Pier 35 EcoPark (a 200-foot-long floating pier in the East River that changes color according to water quality), and Hy-Fi (a branching tower for the Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1 made of a new type of biodegradable brick).

Cecilia Tham

Co-founder and CEO at Futurity Systems

With decades of experience working in the intersection of entrepreneurship, technology, science and design, Cecilia is currently founder and CEO of Futurity Systems, providing futures-as-a-service to help companies and organizations to build better futures faster, together. Cecilia is currently a PhD candidate at Illinois Institute of Technology on her thesis in Design Futures.

Cecilia Tham is a Harvard-trained designer, formerly a Social Technologist at Alpha Telefonica, Europe’s first moonshot factory, and a serial entrepreneur, founded multiple companies such as Makers of Barcelona, FabCafe and allWomen.tech. She served as advisor to UN World Food Program X, SXSW, and previously for the City Government of Barcelona as well as other private companies. Futurity Systems is the official Moonshot Factory Specialist providing services to the Secretary of State of Spain in the Department of AI.

Cecilia is the winner of AWS Global Disruptor Award 2022, WEDO Women Pioneer Award 2022, and have been selected as Forbes Top 40 Futurists 2022, 100 Most Influential Women Europe and 100 Women of the Future. Futurity Systems has won Fast Company Innovation by Design Award 2022 as well as the gold Lovie Award 2022.

Gregory Constantine

Co-founder and CEO of Air Company

With a spirit of innovation, Gregory Constantine is recognized as a world-leading entrepreneur in business and marketing, landing him on the Forbes' 2017 30 Under 30 list. Leading all company strategy, operations and innovation, including marketing and product design, Constantine has accelerated the company from an early-stage startup concept into one of the world's most innovative companies. He has led the company towards adopting numerous profitable applications of its technology, including fragrances, spirits and rocket and aviation fuels, among others. He brings expertise in the arts with an undergraduate degree from The University of Sydney and a wealth of business acumen from the Executive program at Harvard Business School.

Anni Korkman

Programme Director of Luovi Productions, Helsinki Design Week

Anni Korkman works as the Programme Director of Luovi Productions. Luovi Productions is a design agency whose core expertise lies in curation, production and communication. Best known as the producer of the largest design festival in the Nordics, Helsinki Design Week and the independent design media Helsinki Design Weekly, Luovi is also the founder and the facilitator behind Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale and several other cultural projects. Anni has a Master’s Degree from Central Saint Martins University (University of Arts London) and as a writer, debater and curator, she is passionate about working with adding Design and Architecture Literacy in to peoples’ everyday lives. The more we are able to recognize design around us, the more critical to our surroundings we can become – and eventually demand for better physical and digital living environments.

Renaud Haerlingen

Architect, former Principal at Rotor and Co-founder of Rotor Deconstruction

Renaud has been a principal at Rotor from 2010 till 2020, is a co-founder of Rotor Deconstruction and remains a satellite member of the cooperative organization based in Belgium. At Rotor, he led open-ended design projects, design assistance consultancies and engagements with high profile actors from the real estate sector.

In recent years, he has given lectures, led studios and multiple academic workshops at places such as the Royal College of Art in London, TU Delft, ETH Zurich, Social Design at Die Angewandte in Vienna, Pontifical Catholic University of Peru or Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. Since 2015, Renaud has sustained a privileged relationship with Switzerland through engagements with leading institutions and connections with local actors. In 2023, he relocated to Geneva.

Prior to this, Renaud worked on the design development of projects in the Middle East and as a member of the Brussels collective Boups, he organized free-parties and designed public happenings. In the late nineties, he joined Masterclasses by Kasuyo Sejima and Toyo Ito that settled his sensibility for Japanese Architecture.

Founded in 2005, Rotor is a group of professionals interested in material flows in relation to resources, waste, use and reuse. Rotor’s approach consistently—and very often visually—emphasizes the effects of human planning, oversight, and extended use on the built environment. In parallel, dismantling and reselling activities are conducted under the heading of Rotor Deconstruction, a separate, spin-off entity created in 2014.

Sachiko Hirosue

Osaka Namari-Suzu Seirensho Co., Ltd. President and CEO

Sachiko Hirosue was born in 1970, amid Japan’s economic transformation, and embodies the fusion of art and science. She advocates for the environment’s role in human health while orchestrating global engagement through DIY Open Science. She holds a BS from The Johns Hopkins University and an Sc.D. from MIT/Harvard HST MEMP in biomedical engineering and chemical engineering. She delved into gene therapy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and vaccine development at EPFL, Switzerland, with a biomaterials emphasis. Now, she leads ONS Ltd., an Osaka-based lead refining company, where she steers responsible metal recycling as a 4th-gen President of the company.

Maël Hénaff

Course Leader at MA Material Futures, Central Saint Martins London

Maël Hénaff is a French artist, music producer, and creative technologist based in London. His multidisciplinary work spans sound installation, physical computation, filmmaking, and activism, with a focus on speculative design. Through a storytelling-focused approach, Maël investigates emerging technologies within the context of climate change, exploring their cultural, social, and ethical implications. He is currently the Course Leader on MA Material Futures and a lecturer on MA Regenerative Design at Central Saint Martins. Maël has collaborated with various studios, including Superflux and UP Projects, and his research has been exhibited at prestigious venues such as the Design Museum London, Tate Modern, Milan Design Week, and Dubai Design Week. His practice aims to hack and democratize technology, fostering critical debate on how it can benefit our communities in near-future scenarios.

Kalaya Kovidvisith

Co-founder FabCafe Bangkok

Kalaya Kovidvisith is Co-founder of FabCafe Bangkok and Managing Director of FABLAB Thailand. She holds Master degree in Design and Computation from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her research interests focus on how digital fabrication and biotechnology reinforce the changing relationship in industry and create the new business model for the next design generation. Kalaya is Global Entrepreneur Summit Delegate of 2015 and Asia Pacific Weeks Berlin 2016.

Gwyneth Jong

Co-founder of FabCafe Kuala Lumpur

Gwyneth Jong is the co-founder of FabCafe KL, a pioneering makerspace originally launched as Fabspace in 2016 within Isetan the Japan Store in Kuala Lumpur. In 2019, the space evolved into FabCafe KL, dedicated to empowering the creative community with advanced tools, knowledge, and technology. Under Gwyneth's leadership, FabCafe KL has undertaken notable projects, including the innovative Aape store “Alfa” moss mannequin, crafted entirely from cardboard. The team also specializes in designing and curating sustainable and upcycling workshops for major corporations across Malaysia. Committed to sustainability, FabCafe KL is on a mission to integrate eco-friendly practices into its daily operations, reflecting Gwyneth's vision of fostering creativity while promoting environmental responsibility.

Nami Urano

Marketing Leader at FabCafe Kyoto, SPCS Community Manager

After graduating from university, Nami began her work at the creative company, Loftwork, where she was in charge of planning and managing business events and community management. At this time, her focus was on encouraging industry and university collaboration, specifically between Japanese companies and international universities. In 2018, Nami moved to Loftwork in Kyoto where she is in charge of PR, marketing, and recruitment. In 2020, Nami was involved in the launch and management of FabCafe Kyoto’s project-in-residency program, COUNTER POINT. From 2022, Nami launched SPCS (“Species”), a community that explores the uncontrollability of nature. Nami is interested in creating chaos in place, taking inspiration from her personal experiences of living in Folkehøjskole, Denmark, experiencing a kibbutz in Israel, and the fermentation club activities she co-hosted with chef Momoyo Morimoto.