2023 Judges
Stephanie Davidson, co-founder of Davidson Rafailidis
Architect and educator Stephanie Davidson is co-founder of Canadian architecture practice Davidson Rafailidis.
Together with Georg Rafailidis, her work explores the divergence from the original intention for a built space, and the richness and changeability it takes on through use. Research into existing built conditions sometimes evolves into a built work but sometimes remains as documentation in the form of drawings, photographs and writing. The duo was shortlisted for the AR House awards in 2017 for their project He, She & It, a multi-use plywood and polycarbonate studio in Buffalo, USA, going on to win the awards in 2020 with Big Space, Little Space: a home cocooned within the shell of a 1920s garage. The duo was also recognised with the Emerging Voices award from the Architectural League of New York in 2018.
Davidson studied art and architecture in Canada and the UK, and has taught at academic institutions in Canada, Germany, the US and Greece, where she is currently a visiting faculty member at the University of Ioannina.
As a previous AR House awards winner and now judge, Stephanie answered 3 questions to help you write your entry for this year's awards. Access this download below.
Daniel Tudor Munteanu, founder and editor of the research project OfHouses
Architect and curator Daniel Tudor Munteanu is the founder and editor of the research project OfHouses, an online repository of old forgotten houses.
Based in Romania, his work has been exhibited at the Venice Biennale – where he co-curated the Unfolding Pavilion with Davide Tomasso Ferrando – the Shenzhen Biennale and the Chicago Architecture Biennial. He also co-curated the Timișoara Architecture Biennial 2022.
His writing has been published in San Rocco, Log, Volume and OASE, and he has lectured at many academic and cultural institutions, from the Architecture Foundation in London to the University of Melbourne. His first book, Another Breach in the Wall (2022) sees rules and regulations as invisible walls, and explores the benefits of straying from traditional methods of producing and inhabiting urban space.
Lina Ghotmeh, founder of Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture
Architect Lina Ghotmeh is the founder of the Paris-based studio Lina Ghotmeh – Architecture.
Born in Beirut, she sees her practice as an ‘archaeology of the future’: informed by research, her work seeks to express the raw qualities of materials and create symbiotic relations with nature. Celebrated projects include the Estonian National Museum in Tartu (in collaboration with Dan Dorell and Tsuyoshi Tane) and the Stone Garden, a housing block in Beirut with a distinctive hand-carved facade. She has just completed a leather workshop for Hermès in Normandy and her Serpentine Pavilion is opening to the public on 9 June.
Ghotmeh has been a visiting professor at both the Yale School of Architecture and the University of Toronto, and also teaches at the International Academy of Architecture.
Her work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, the MAXXI in Rome, the Cooper-Hewitt and the Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, the Building Centre and the V&A in London, and the Danish Architecture Centre in Copenhagen. Her accolades include the Schelling Architecture Award 2020, the Tamayouz Woman of Outstanding Achievement award 2020, the Prix Cardin 2019, the Prix Dejean 2016, and the Grand Prix AFEX 2016.