Sumayya Vally & Aric Chen join jury

Two new members add new perspectives in the OBEL AWARD jury’s work to identify new architectural contributions that can help solve global challenges.

The OBEL AWARD jury has gained two new members: Sumayya Vally, Founder and Principal at Counterspace in Johannesburg and London, and Aric Chen, General and Artistic Director of the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam.

With their different backgrounds and professional areas of expertise, the two new members will add important perspectives to the jury’s discussions and work.

Aric Chen and Sumayya Vally join the current five OBEL AWARD jury members: Martha Schwartz, Chair (founder, Martha Schwartz Partners, USA), Kjetil Trædal Thorsen (co-founder, Snöhetta, Norway), Louis Becker (design principal and partner, Henning Larsen, Denmark), Dr Wilhelm Vossenkuhl (professor emeritus of philosophy, Germany), and XU Tiantian (founding principal, DnA, Beijing, China.