Jury

Malcolm, an architect by training, founded Malcolm Reading Consultants after six years as Director of Design and Architecture at the British Council. He has overseen international architectural competitions for leading organisations including the V&A, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, the Solomon R Guggenheim Foundation, Mumbai City Museum, Glasgow School of Art, and the Natural History Museum. He was on the Board of Historic Royal Palaces from 2005-2014, is a trustee of English Heritage, a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and an honorary fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He joined the Sovereign Grant Audit Committee in June 2015.

Malcolm was president of the 2014 Prix W architectural prize, a judge of World Architecture News’ 21 for 21 Award, the AIA (American Institute of Architects) UK Excellence in Design Award and World Architecture News’ Education Award 2015. He writes a monthly column for the Architects’ Journal.

One of the most prominent architects in Lithuania, Ambrasas’ projects have become synonymous with the image of modern Vilnius. Audrius is the owner and the head of design company Audrius Ambrasas Architects and associate professor of the Department of Architecture at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University. Since 1991 his design company has collected valuable experience in creating and realizing residential, office, commercial, public and other use buildings. Together with his team, Audrius seeks to design environmentally suited buildings and, as the office credo states, “to create sensible space”. He designed and built the Swedbank Headquarters, ‘Europe’ shopping mall, ‘Rupert’ art incubator, and numerous other significant landmarks in the Baltics.

Jonas is an Architecture professor, founder and director of the design company Studija2A, dean of Vilnius Academy of Arts’ Kaunas faculty, and member of the Vilnius Academy of Arts Council. He is also an active member of various public organizations, including the Lithuanian Architects Union and “Vieningas Kaunas”. Since 2015 Jonas Audėjaitis is a member of Kaunas City Council.

As a member of the City Council and an active citizen, Jonas is involved in various projects related to Kaunas’ urban development. He believes that establishment of The National Science and Innovation Centre will not only make science more attractive to young people but all become the heart of a new modern city centre.

Paul Baker's portfolio at WilkinsonEyre includes some of the practice's most important cultural projects. His passion for creating spaces that intrigue and delight on both an intellectual and emotional level has led to his continued work with key visitor attractions around the world. Projects include the Alpine House at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the RIBA Stirling Prize winning Magna, [email protected], the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea, the extensive redevelopment of Wellcome Trust’s Collection building and a series of projects for the Science Museum in London including the recent development plan for the ‘Museum of the Future’, the award-winning Challenge of Materials Gallery, the Making of the Modern World Gallery and the Wellcome Wing.

One of Paul's landmark projects is the competition winning cooled conservatories at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore. The project received the World Building of the Year award at World Architecture Festival 2012 and the RIBA Lubetkin Prize the following year.

Paul is currently heading teams for the new Crown Hotel Resort in Sydney and the Queensbridge Tower in Melbourne. In January 2016 he was appointed an Historic England Commissioner.

Rainer Mahlamäki is a Finnish architect, Professor of Contemporary Architecture and Dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Oulu. The founding partner of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects, he served as President of the Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA) 2007-2011. He was Chair of the Board of the Museum of Finnish Architecture from 2002-2006.

Mahlamäki has served on a number of competition juries, including National History Museum of Romania (2016), Guggenheim Helsinki (2015) and Chicago Athenaeum Award, USA (2009).  Mahlamäki and his partner have received 37 first prizes and 58 other prizes in architectural competitions since 1987. Significant works include Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw; the Finnish Forest Information Centre and Forest Museum Lusto; and the Folk Art Centre in Kaustinen.

Rolandas Maskoliūnas is a Doctor of Biological Sciences and Chief Press Officer of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and has been the Coordinator of numerous EU-funded projects relating to science popularisation. Rolandas is a long-time science communicator, writing and producing ‘Negali būti’ and ‘Mokslo ekspresas’ for the Lithuanian television and web news portals. He is the organiser of Lithuania’s National Science festival ‘Erdvėlaivis Žemė’, and moderator of various conferences for the Ministry of Economy’s Lithuanian Space Association, which has hosted companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Vilnius University, ISM and others.

Together with Robert Firmhofer (Director of the Copernicus Science Centre) and architect Rolandas Palekas, Maskoliūnas wrote the feasibility study for the Science Museum in Lithuania.

Christos is an Associate Director at Zaha Hadid Architects, were he has worked since February 1998. 

He led the design of numerous projects and winning competitions most notably, the Stirling Prize nominee, the Phaeno Science Center Wolfsburg.  Completed in November 2005, he worked in close collaboration with Zaha Hadid and has since had a significant contribution to the practice’s growth, brand recognition and its ability to deliver complex, innovative schemes across the world. 

His strong interest in innovative technologies keeps him in the forefront of design research, participates in Design Juries throughout the EU and US. Continues to contribute to a series of publications and lectures extensively, on the topics of Innovation, Algorithmic Design and Design Thinking.

Christos taught Parametric Design & Urbanism at the AADRL subsequently, served as Guest DAAD Professor in the Dessau Institute of Architecture and has often lectured in architecture technology studios in Harvard’s GSD. 

Sumit Paul-Choudhury is the editor-in-chief of New Scientist, the world’s most popular science weekly and one of the UK’s best respected media brands. Trained as a physicist at Imperial College, he subsequently turned his hand to journalism, working in London and New York, and spent fifteen years writing about finance and technology before returning to science in 2008.

As comfortable with the worlds of business and culture as he is with science, Sumit has written for publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to the New Musical Express and spoken at events ranging from Innovate 2015 to London Fashion Week. He is a former judge of the Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction and of the Royal Television Society Programme Awards. In 2012 he co-founded Arc, a critically acclaimed digital publication dedicated to literary explorations of the future.

Sumit makes complex subjects comprehensible and relevant, from climate change to black holes, leaving his readers fascinated and uplifted. He also speaks authoritatively on the future, and is skilled at explaining how innovation and discovery change the world. He combines personal insight with critical thinking to offer fresh perspectives on the biggest issues of today, from financial crises to social media – and informed pointers to those that will matter tomorrow.

Povilas Mačiulis has finished Design studies in Vilnius Academy of Art’s and Economics studies in Kaunas Technology University. His creative way of thinking combined with reasonable view to economic issues has helped him to become one of the youngest vice mayors in Lithuania and generate new unconventional ideas for city growth.

Povilas believes in the importance of science education from young age and is excited to take part in the establishment of the first National Science and Innovation Centre in Lithuania. He has visited various science centres and therefore the knowledge that he has gathered and experience of working in the education sector will be beneficial in this design contest.