Meet the OBEL Award Jury
Evaluating seminal works of architecture demands professional competence and a sense of the big picture. That’s why the OBEL Award appoints a jury composed of members with strong architectural expertise, alongside distinguished professionals from diverse backgrounds.

Nathalie de Vries, Chair of Jury
mvrdv
Hon. FAIA, International FRIBA, BNA
Nathalie de Vries (Appingedam, NL – 1965) is founding partner of MVRDV, an architect and urban planner and the “DV” in MVRDV. The work of De Vries focuses on the invention of new building typologies and the creation of changeable, open systems, an approach which she brings to both buildings and urban plans. As an architect, she appreciates intensive collaboration with clients and interdisciplinary design teams, but also with residents and other stakeholders. Whatever the project, there is always a lot of attention given to the design’s interaction with its surroundings, by designing inviting collective spaces and outdoor areas, among other approaches.
In her urban designs, De Vries explores the combination of high-quality public spaces with functionally mixed buildings that act as catalysts for the development of an area. De Vries is committed to the education of future generations of architects. She has been active as a teacher throughout her career, and she is currently Professor of Architectural Design and Public Building at Delft University of Technology. Previously, she taught at TU Berlin, Harvard GSD, IIT Chicago, and the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, among others.
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Xu Tiantian
DnA _Design and Architecture
Hon. FAIA
Xu Tiantian is founding principal of the DnA _Design and Architecture Beijing office, an interdisciplinary practice working with city planning, urban design, and architectural design with a special focus on addressing new relationships between architecture and urbanism in contemporary Chinese culture.
She has received numerous awards throughout her career and in 2020, she was appointed an Honorary Fellow of American Institute of Architects. Xu Tiantian holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design from Harvard Graduate School of Design and Bachelor of Architecture from Tsinghua University in Beijing. She has taught at the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) School of Architecture in Beijing, China.
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Sumayya Vally
Counterspace
Founder and principal of the award-winning architecture and research studio Counterspace, Vally’s design, research, and pedagogical practice is searching for expression for hybrid identities and territory, particularly for African and Islamic conditions — both rooted and diasporic. The practice occupies a space between the functional and the speculative, pedagogy and praxis, simultaneously describing cities and their histories and futures and imagining them. Her design process is often forensic and draws on the aural, performance, and the overlooked as generative places.
Vally has always been involved in academics and has taught at The Bartlett, University of Sydney, Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg, and the University of Illinois, USA. In 2022, Vally was selected by the World Economic Forum to be one of its Young Global Leaders and, in 2021, was named TIME100’s Next list honoree. Vally completed her undergraduate studies in Architecture at the University of Pretoria and her master’s degree at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Aric Chen
Nieuwe Instituut
Aric Chen is General and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Instituut, the Netherlands’ national museum and institute for architecture, design, and digital culture in Rotterdam. American-born, Chen previously served as Professor and founding Director of the Curatorial Lab at the College of Design & Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai; Curatorial Director of the Design Miami fairs in Miami Beach and Basel; Creative Director of Beijing Design Week; and Lead Curator for Design and Architecture at M+, Hong Kong, where he oversaw the formation of that new museum’s design and architecture collection and program. ‘
Chen is the author of Brazil Modern (Monacelli, 2016), and has been a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Wallpaper, Architectural Record, and other publications.
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Anne Marie Galmstrup
Galmstrup Architects
ARB, RIBA, RIA
Anne Marie Galmstrup is the founder of Galmstrup Architects. With extensive experience as an architect, master planner, and client advisor, she specialises in large-scale cultural projects worldwide. She has led the delivery of award-winning projects on complex and sensitive sites, including the Eyemouth Pavilions, Massar Children’s Discovery Centre, and various National Trust for Scotland locations.
Anne Marie blends strategic thinking and pragmatic planning with a deep-rooted Scandinavian design ethos. Her strength lies in visioning and crafting original concepts that emerge from a place’s context, culture, collections, and communities.
read morePast jury members

Kjetil Trædal Thorsen
Snøhetta
2019-2024

Wilhelm Vossenkuhl
Professor emeritus of philosophy
2019-2024

Louis Becker
Henning Larsen
2019-2024

Martha Schwartz
Martha Schwartz Partners
2019-2023