Selection Committee

Dr. Sahar Attia, is an Emeritus Professor of architecture and urban design at the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. She has been the Head of the Department of Architecture 2013-2017 in the same institution. She has 40 years of experience practicing urban planning, urban design, and architecture in the academic and professional field. Aside of her teaching and research work at Cairo University, Dr. Sahar is the founder of the Associated Consultants, a multi-disciplinary consulting firm where she practices and studies her assignments contextually in order to design sustainable solutions, with a special focus on sustainable cities. Her research interests include participatory approaches in urban development, urban regeneration, sustainable urbanism , and upgrading the informal areas,  which gave her extensive expertise in dealing with the civil society. She has a wide diversified national and international network: She is currently a member in the Stakeholders Advisory Group Enterprise (SAGE) UN Habitat, she is also the chair of the University Network Initiative -UN Habitat, and member of the steering committee in the World Urban Campaign, and a board member in Ecocity Builders-USA. She is the Co-Editor of: “Dynamics And Resilience Of Informal Areas: International Perspectives” , 2016 , New Cities and Community Extensions in Egypt and the Middle East, 2018, and “Cultural Sustainable Tourism”, all three published by Springer. She contributes as a member of the board of editors in several International Journals .

Marva Griffin was born in Venezuela, and Milan became her city of adoption when, in the seventies, she started to work in the field of design and furnishing. She began her career as PR communication at C&B Italia (now B&B Italia). She became the correspondent in Italy for Conde Nast Publications. For eight years she organised the textile show “Incontri Venezia-Fabrics for Furnishing” in Venice, Italy. From 1998 she founded and continues to curate SaloneSatellite, a special event within the Milan’s Salone Internazionale del Mobile that represents a showcase for young creative designers and graduate-to-be students from universities and design schools from all over the world.  In 2005 created SaloneSatellite Moscow as an homage to young designers from Russia and former Union Soviet Countries. On November 2016 SaloneSatellite Shanghai began an homage to young designers from China. Both events are held within Salone del Mobile.Milano. In addition, for more than 20 years she’s been directing the International Press Office for Salone del Mobile.Milano. March 2014 was named Expo 2015 WE-Women Ambassador for the 2015 Universal Exhibition hold in the city of Milan. May 2014, she received the Premio COMPASSO D’ORO XXIII ALLA CARRIERA.  December 2016 was named Italian Design Ambassador for conferences on “Italian Design Day” in different cities around the world. On December 7th 2017she has been awarded with the Milan’s most prestigious AMBROGINO D’ORO. Since 2001 she is a member of the Philip Jaohnson Architecture and Design Committee at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa).

Kengo Kuma was born in 1954. Before establishing Kengo Kuma & Associates in 1990, he received his Master’s Degree in Architecture from the University of Tokyo, where he is currently a University Professor and a Professor Emeritus. Having been inspired by Kenzo Tange’s Yoyogi National Gymnasium, built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Kengo Kuma decided to pursue architecture at a young age, and later entered the Architecture program at the University of Tokyo, where he studied under Hiroshi Hara and Yoshichika Uchida. During his Graduate studies, he made a research trip across the Sahara, exploring various villages and settlements, observing a unique power and beauty. After his time as a Visiting Scholar at Columbia University in New York, he established his office in Tokyo. Since then, Kengo Kuma & Associates has designed architectural works in over twenty countries and received prestigious awards, including the Architectural Institute of Japan Award, the Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland), and the International Stone Architecture Award (Italy), among others. Kengo Kuma & Associates aims to design architecture which naturally merges with its cultural and environmental surroundings, proposing gentle, human scaled buildings. The office is constantly in search of new materials to replace concrete and steel, and seeks a new approach for architecture in a post-industrial society.

With expertise in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and computer science, Dr. Voyles’ research interest include novel robotic mechanisms, sensors, self-adaptive software, real-time control, and gesture-based human/robot interaction. His professional experience includes IBM, Avanti Optics, Integrated Systems and Dart Controls, tenured academic positions at the University of Minnesota, University of Denver, and Purdue University, positions with the federal government including leading the National Robotics Initiative at the National Science Foundation and Assistant Director for Robotics and Cyber-Physical Systems at the Office of Science and Technology Policy at the White House, and Board of Director positions on The Works, Easton Family Foundation, Minnesota Virtual Simulations and Mark V Automation.
His formal training includes the PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University, MS in Manufacturing Systems Engineering from Stanford University, and BS in Electrical Engineering from Purdue. At Purdue, Prof Voyles studies infrastructure tools for self-adaptation in real-time and embedded systems. He also directs research in miniature robotics for search and rescue, including small crawling ground robots for penetration into rubble, hybrid serpentine robots for moving over rubble, and high-precision UAVs for inspecting rubble and structures from the air.