PDP London partner and sustainability expert Marion Baeli is among the 18 judges for the Architecture Today Awards. She shares her views on the importance of learning from experience to build better, as well as tips for entrants to the awards.

Baeli also sits on the PassivHaus Trust board and is a member of the NLA Net Zero panel. She is the author of Residential Retrofit: 20 Case Studies (2013), which in part follows the creation of the first certified PassivHaus retrofit in the UK – Princedale Roadb by PDP London.

Baeli shares why she wanted to get involved in the Architecture Today Awards and what she will be looking for among the entries.

What attracted you to be a judge at Architecture Today Awards?
The topic of the award is what attracted me to take part. Looking at past performance is an admirable and unique way to review buildings.

What qualities will you be looking out for in entries?
I will be looking for data; post occupancy feed-back; people’s true experience of buildings and whether is has provided them with the level of comfort and adequacy it was originally designed to do. What has worked but also what hasn’t worked and how people/teams might have adjusted the building to suit.

What do you hope will be taken away from the live presentation and judging process?
Lessons learned from project, the importance of looking back at buildings and listening to people’s experiences of it so that as an industry we can provide better buildings for people to live and work in.

What building would you most like to see among the entries?
All types of buildings. It is about the lessons that we learn from all of them. The story behind the design, both during the design, the construction and the building in use over the years.

Find out more about the Architecture Today Awards and how to enter by visiting the Architecture Today Awards portal.