Holcim Sustainable Construction Awards Announced
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction announced winners of the third annual International Holcim Awards, with $300,000 awarded amongst ten diverse projects from Canada and the U. S.
The foundation held an awards ceremony in Washington, D.C., and the winning projects demonstrated “how greater levels of sustainability can be reached in building and construction through people-focused designs that include simple adaptation, innovative materials, and clever architecture,” according to a statement from the Holcim Foundation.
The foundation conducts the competition in parallel in five regions throughout the world. More than 6,000 submissions for projects located in 146 countries entered this year’s competition, which aims to promote sustainable responses to contemporary technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues facing the building and construction industry.
International experts in architecture and sustainability evaluated the North American projects submitted for the Holcim Awards. Judges used five “target issues” for sustainable construction, developed by the Holcim Foundation, to evaluate submissions. The target issues address the triple bottom line of economic, environmental, and social factors, together with architectural quality and the potential to apply the innovation in other locations.
The Washington, D.C., ceremony follows the presentation of winners in Milan, Italy; Casablanca, Morocco; and Buenos Aires, Argentina. The awards series concludes in Singapore in November.
Projects in each region that receive gold, silver or bronze Holcim Awards automatically qualify for the Global Holcim Awards next year. Additionally, all prize-winning projects at the regional level will automatically compete for Global Holcim Innovation prizes, a new competition introduced for 2012 to coincide with the centennial anniversary of the Holcim Group.
Winners of the Global Holcim Awards will be announced in April 2012.
Winners of North America Holcim Awards 2011
Holcim Awards Gold 2011 – $100,000
Regional food-gathering nodes and logistics network, Iqaluit, NU, Canada
Holcim Awards Silver 2011 – $50,000
Zero net energy school building, Los Angeles, Calif., USA
Holcim Awards Bronze 2011 – $25,000
Energy and water efficient border control station, Van Buren, Maine, USA
Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prizes 2011 – $18,750 each prize
Energy efficient university building, Lawrence, Kan., USA
Energy neutral portable classroom, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Energy, water and waste efficient military installation, Fort Leonard Wood, Miss., USA*
*The United States of America Army Corps of Engineers is a public organization and as a consequence is unable to receive incentives of any kind or support any particular charity. The Holcim Foundation will therefore reallocate the appropriate prize sum to fund an additional student research grant in North America.
Environmental center and bird-watching facility using recycled materials, Chicago, Ill., USA
Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 1st prize 2011 – $25,000
Reinforced mangrove protective infrastructure, Miami, Fla., USA
Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 2nd prize 2011 – $15,000
Temporary festival structure using recyclable building components, Providence, R.I., USA
Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 3rd prize 2011 – $10,000
Foam concrete utilization research, Toronto, ON, Canada
The Holcim Foundation is supported by Holcim Ltd. and its Group companies, but is independent of its commercial interest. The foundation partners with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass.; Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, Mexico; Ecole Supérieure d’Architecture de Casablanca in Morocco; the Indian Institute of Technologyin Mumbai, India; Tongji University in Shanghai, China; Universidade de São Paulo in Brazil; and the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.