The Aoyama Design Forum (ADF), a non-profit organization, is proud to unveil the first round of jurors for the 17th annual ADF Design Award 2027, an international design competition hosted by ADF. This year, the panel once again features distinguished figures from the global architecture and design community. The six confirmed jurors are as follows.


Adj. Prof. IDr Ronnie Choong Swee Beng / Founder and Managing Director of Innovative Space Dimension Sdn. Bhd. (ISD)

Adjunct Professor IDr Ronnie SB Choong is a distinguished pioneer and visionary leader in the interior design profession, backed by 43 years of extensive professional practice. Specializing in corporate, retail, and institutional interior design, he is the Founder and Managing Director of Innovative Space Dimension Sdn. Bhd. (ISD). Under his stewardship, the award-winning practice has established a reputation for design integrity, human-centric solutions, and spatial innovation, earning 39 Design Excellence Awards across a diverse portfolio of benchmark projects.


Anna Maria Cavazzuti / Order of Architects of Milano

Anna Maria Cavazzuti is a senior architect with over 30 years of experience in architectural design and complex urban programmes. She has led multidisciplinary teams and community-oriented projects in international contexts, combining strategic vision, design quality, and operational management. Her experience spans housing, urban regeneration, and stakeholder engagement, with a strong commitment to socially responsive architecture.


Sarah Dirsa / Principal, KG+D Architects, PC

Sarah Dirsa is leading KG+D’s next-generation educational design. Prior to joining KG+D, she served as the first-ever Global Chair of Social Responsibility at HOK. Sarah has received several awards, including the AIA Young Architects Award and the BD+C 40 Under 40 Award. She is on the Reimagine America’s Schools national design team and was a panelist for two AIANYS webinars on the future of school design.


Ben Kikkawa / Associate, Zaha Hadid Architects

Ben Kikkawa is an accomplished architect and Associate at Zaha Hadid Architects, where he has been contributing since 2010. A graduate of the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), he specializes in advanced digital design and has played a key role in numerous international projects across various scales. His work reflects a deep interest in the intersection of technology, form, and innovative architectural expression.


Nicola Maniero / Partner, Kengo Kuma and Associates

Nicola Maniero is an architect and photographer. He graduated from IUAV University of Venice in 2008 with a Master’s in Sustainable Architecture and later served for two years as a contract researcher. In 2009, he began assisting Prof. Maura Manzelle in teaching, and since 2020, he has been a visiting professor at IUAV. Based in Japan since 2010, he joined Kengo Kuma & Associates, where he became a Partner in 2023. Active as a photographer since 2020, his work explores the emotional and spatial tensions of contemporary cities through a distinct architectural sensibility.


Fernando Menis / Founder, Fernando Menis Architecture

©Bartek Barczyk
Fernando Menis has been an award-winning architect for more than 40 years, and his body of work consists of extensive research projects as well as works of diverse scales and typologies. He is renowned globally for creating a cutting-edge variable acoustic system for the CKK Jordanki Concert Hall in Poland in 2015. He also designed the Holy Redeemer Church of Las Chumberas, El Tanque Garden, Plaza Bürchen in Switzerland, Insular Athletics Stadium, Magma Art & Congress, a pool in Berlin’s River Spree, and the headquarters of the Canary Islands Presidency.


ADF Design Award 2027
For application guidelines and further details about the ADF Design Award 2027, please visit the official application website.