Daylight in teaching

Vanessa Estrada is an Assistant Professor at the University Of South Florida School Of Architecture. She uses The International VELUX Award in her teaching. One of her students, Christa Scott, won honourable mention in the International VELUX Award 2006.
Interpretation of the use of daylight in architecture is one of the primary ideas behind The International VELUX Award. The Award also emphasizes close cooperation between students and their teachers. In fact, one of the few criteria for submissions to the Award is that students must be granted submission by a teacher. Vanessa Estrada, an Assistant Professor at the University of South Florida School of Architecture, has taken that concept one step further and today includes submissions to The International VELUX Award as part of her semester plan. She says that the experience of submitting to awards like The International VELUX Award has helped to spark creativity, reinforce conceptual thinking and introduce students to the complexities of working on a deadline. “The International VELUX Award urges students to continue conceptual explorations of light in architecture beyond its stereotypical use,” says Estrada, who teaches design, master project planning and contemporary Latin American architecture. “Students respond more quickly and creatively when submitting their ideas to someone other than a professor.” Her students’ submissions are the culmination of studies which investigate light in architecture through the works of a number of architects and artists. Her students also investigate relationships such as Light & Matter, Light & the Social Dimension, Light & Shadow, Light & Time and Light & Movement. Other conditions given to students to explore are: Chromatic Space, Artificial vs. Natural, Day vs. Night, and Reflection & Intensity. “I often use a competition as one of the two projects to be developed during the semester,” she says. “I also prepare one lecture introducing the topic and two or three assignments focused on stimulating the student’s creativity and innovation.” Estrada says that a competition of this kind helps to promote analytical thinking and exploration of conceptual ideas often excluded among most competition topics. It is appealing for students and very well received. By requiring students to participate, she says, both the students and the school are exposed to a broader community. Estrada was supervisor for Christa Scott, who won honourable mention in the 2006 IVA. Christa shared honours with 20 other students representing 12 different countries and they were all celebrated at the Award event at the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain.
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