The Davidson Prize

Pooja is an architect and planner who was a public servant at Homes England and the Greater London Authority (GLA). It was at the GLA in the Regeneration and Economic Development team where she developed the idea of and co-founded Public Practice in 2017.

She also co-founded the social equality platform Sound Advice and co-published Now You Know, a compendium of fifty essays exploring spatial and racial inequality. She is a Trustee at Open City and a Fellow at the Institute of Innovation and Public Purpose.

In 2023, she received the “AJ100 Contribution to the Architecture Profession Award”, the “London Design Festival Innovation Award” and the “UKREiiF People and Skills Torchbearer of the year". During the last five years, she has been nominated for the Planner’s Woman of Influence a number of times, most recently in 2022.

Jonny is co-founder and creative director of the Anglo-Indian architecture practice Studio Saar. Working across different cultural contexts in the UK and India, with the same vision - to craft places and spaces that uplift those in and around them.

The studio’s approach interprets vernacular traditions through a contemporary lens to deliver innovative, relevant, and beautiful design solutions across a range of typologies. Key schemes include Secure Sanand Factory and Canteen in Ahmedabad, Gujarat; the redevelopment of Udaan Park in Udaipur; the Mayday masterplan for Saxonvale in Frome, Somerset; and Third Space, a cultural, community and learning centre in Udaipur.

Jonny was a member of the team behind the 2024 Davidson Prize winning concept Apartment Store, a visionary proposal that focuses on transforming a redundant Art Deco department store into new homes and buzzing circular economy hubs. In a first for the Prize, the project also won the People’s Choice Prize.

Jonathan Falkingham is co-founder and creative director of award-winning regeneration company Urban Splash, which for three decades has added value to unloved and disused places, investing in innovative design to create the communities of the future. To date, the company has created more than 6,000 new homes and 2 million sq ft of workspace in over 60 regeneration projects – and won more than 480 awards for its work. A Chartered Architect, Jonathan also holds several trustee and volunteer positions, including Design Council Ambassador, Trustee of the Royal Court Theatre, and Board Member of the Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art. Jonathan has also served as trustee at National Museums Liverpool, Board Member of the RIBA and was a Founding Partner of shedkm and founder of Baa Bar Ltd.

Akil is a director of RESOLVE Collective, an interdisciplinary design collective that combines architecture, engineering, technology, and art to address social challenges. They have delivered numerous projects, workshops, publications, and talks in the UK and across the world, all of which look toward realising just and equitable visions of change in our built environment. RESOLVE are currently the commissioned artists at the Mosaic Rooms in London, Tate Liverpool, and Grand Union Gallery in Birmingham. Alongside his RESOLVE colleague Seth, he is a Unit Leader at the Architectural Association, an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a previous research fellow at Het Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam.

Lucy Watson is a commissioning editor for the Financial Times' House & Home desk. She writes and edits stories on architecture, design, interiors and gardens - and has a particular interest in the wild world of London's affordable housing and rental market. She has helped judge the RIBA Journal's annual writing competition, contributed to the Architecture Foundation's New Architects 4 publication and was a judge for the 2024 reincarnation of the Carbuncle Cup. She studied writing at the Royal College of Art and has written for ArtReview, Dazed and Another before joining the FT in 2016. She currently lives in south east London.