American architect Steven Holl has been honoured for creating urban environments that actively use daylight to boost quality of life, human health, wellbeing and performance.

The architect has been named the winner of the 2016 Daylight Award in Architecture; an accolade presented by three charitable foundations formed by civil engineer and skylight innovator Villum Kann Rasmussen.

Holl will be honoured at an awards ceremony in Copenhagen on 2 November. The jury cited his “continuous and inspiring work in highlighting space and light in his architecture, creating experiential and emotive architecture with a strong focus on the human experience.”

In a statement, Holl said he was “deeply honoured” to receive the award, adding that space is “oblivion without light.”

“A building speaks through the silence of perception orchestrated by light,” he added. “Luminosity is as integral to its spatial experience as porosity is integral to urban experience.”

His previous leisure buildings include the Campbell Sports Center in New York and the Daeyang Gallery in Seoul. His studio are currently working on the expansion of the John F. Kennedy Center Expansion in Washington, D.C and arts buildings for universities in Princeton, Richmond and Iowa.

A second award celebrating daylight research will be presented to Marilyne Andersen, professor of sustainable construction technologies at Europe’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.

Rasmussen was the founder of Danish roof window firm Velux. He started a number of foundations – including Daylight Award organisers Villum Fonden, Velux Fonden and Velux Stiftung – to provide grants to innovators in architecture, engineering, culture, humanities and technical and scientific research.

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