Holcim Announces Awards for Sustainable Construction

The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction—supported by Holcim, Ltd., one of the world’s largest suppliers of cement, aggregates, concrete, and construction-related services—has announced the winners in the first Holcim Awards program, an international competition designed to recognize projects that “embody approaches to meet the present-day needs for housing and infrastructure without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs in times to come.”

More than 3,000 entries representing 118 countries were submitted to five regional competitions, yielding 15 finalists. A jury including architects, engineers, and university professors from ten countries selected the global winners. The Gold Award was given jointly to two projects, each of which also won $300,000. “Although engaged with intrinsically different cultural challenges, and therefore subject to different possibilities, both projects were considered by the jury to be equal in their embodiment of the aspirations of the Holcim awards,” said Adèle Naudé Santos, dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Architecture and Planning and head of the Holcim Awards jury.

• The first Gold project,

Main Station Stuttgart, a belowground railway station in Germany topped by an urban space, was designed by Ingenhoven Architekten. “Due to its attractiveness, the new station will link two parts of the urban fabric that have previously been divided, amplifying the conditions for social coherence while providing novel possibilities for leisure and communication across generations,” according to the Holcim Foundation.

• The second Gold project,

Upgrading San Rafael—Unido, an urban improvement project including social aspects of a large shanty town in Caracas, Venezuela, was designed by Proyectos Arqui 5 CA. “By deploying competitively priced, sustainable technology and material processing, the project offers a model of global importance for improving the living conditions of human settlements while also serving to advance local resourcefulness,” noted Holcim.

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Waterpower—Renewal Strategy for the Mulini Valley, designed by Centola & Associati and the University of Salerno, Italy, won the Silver Award and $250,000. This project, located near Amalfi and Scala, Italy, uses water as the central theme in the historic preservation of several buildings. “A global lesson is postulated in the fusion of preservation and innovation,” said Holcim.

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Benny Farm, in Montréal, Canada, won the Bronze Award and $150,000. Designed by L’Office de L’Eclectisme Urbain et Fonctionnel, this urban, landscape, and architectural project involved the construction or renovation of 187 housing units on four adjacent properties. “A premium is placed on environmental and social sensitivity across a variety of scales, from broad concerns for contextual compatibility of the interventions to the fine-grained detailing of individual structures on the site,” according to Holcim.

The Holcim Foundation will begin accepting entries to its second competition in mid-2007; regional awards will be announced in 2008 and global awards in 2009.

— Jessica Boehland

For more information:

Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction

Zurich, Switzerland

+41 58 858 8292

www.holcimfoundation.org