Led by American Lebanese architect Hashim Sarkis, the jury of the global Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction has announced the winners of the sixth edition of the global competition at a handover ceremony at the 2021 Venice Biennale in Italy.
From a self-sustaining center to preserve tribal cultural heritage in Morocco to an industrial-turned-residential building in Switzerland, the winners of the sixth edition have addressed climate crisis and circular material flows under the five pillars of the Global Holcim Awards: progress, people, planet, prosperity, and place.
"New approaches are needed along the entire value chain of the construction industry as the building sector moves toward net-zero emissions and circular material flows," explained the organization in a press release.
Global Holcim Awards Gold: Extending the Cycle
Office: baubüro in situ
Team members: Marc Angst, Michèle Brand, Barbara Buser, Pascal Hentschel, Benjamin Poignon, Kerstin Müller
Location: Basel, Switzerland
This project redefines the starting point of the design process by treating demolition as an opportunity to source construction materials. An industrial building is preserved, repurposed, and expanded by 3 stories to house 12 residential units. The additional stories are built using materials reclaimed from demolition sites. The design process started with the collection of salvaged building elements and materials. The materials were then cataloged, and their potential for reuse was determined.
Global Holcim Awards Silver: Wetland Vitality
Office: Connatural
Team Members: Edgar Mazo, Sebastian Mejía, Gloria Aponte, Santiago Hurtado, Louis Maria van Asten
Location: Medellín, Colombia
This project aims to consolidate the Jaboque wetlands. The consolidation is achieved along a 5.5 km-long linear park that integrates recreational and natural areas and offers educational opportunities for the community. The landscape planning was used as an opportunity to create a live botanical collection. Plants were selected depending on their impact on the ecosystem and their potential to strengthen the wetland flora and fauna.
Global Holcim Awards Bronze ex aequo: Cultural Interlude
Office: Aziza Chaouni Projects
Location: Morocco
The oasis in the Drâa Valley in southern Morocco is losing its inhabitants, and along with them its heritage. This project aims to help preserve local life and culture by creating a self-sustaining cultural center in the town. It incorporates traditional construction with appropriate technologies such as solar chimneys and solar-powered geothermal systems along with passive systems like composting toilets and rainwater harvesting for both domestic and irrigation purposes.
Global Holcim Awards Bronze ex aequo: Propagated Sanctuary
Office: ODDO Architects
Team Members: Marek Obtulovic, Nguyen Duc Trung, Mai Lan Chi, Viet Anh Nguyen, Hoang Long Nguyen, Victor Lagoa, Manh Cuong, My Nhat, Thi Ngoc Anh Le
Location: Hanoi, Vietnam
A large group of volunteers plans to restore the subtropical forest on Banana Island, a 26-hectare island in the Red River. By planting endemic trees and plants, the project aims to introduce abundant greenery within the urban fabric, reduce carbon emissions, and multiply the number of native species. The flora will enable animals to return to their natural habitat, boosting regional biodiversity. The project will also create an educational recreational area for Hanoi residents and an open-air laboratory for interested scientists and research institutions.
Global Holcim Awards Commendation: Connective Threads
Winners: Azra Aksamija and the MIT Future Heritage Lab team
Location: Cambridge, MA, United States
The world generates over 80 billion square meters of discarded or unused garments every year. Creating value by coupling that waste with the human potential of refugee camps is the idea behind this project. Modular tapestries are created that can be used to make refugee shelters for displaced Syrians.
Global Holcim Awards Commendation: Empowering the Homeless
Office: Billion Bricks
Team Leaders: Prasoon Kumar, Robert Verrijt
Location: India and Singapore
This project combines social housing for 125 homeless families and a solar power plant that will produce and sell enough energy to finance the development. The roofs of the buildings are covered with photovoltaic panels that will generate 25 times more power than the residents will need. The surplus energy will be sold, and the revenue will be used initially to pay off the construction of the buildings.
Global Holcim Awards Commendation: High-Performance Tower
Team Members: Wolfgang Kessling, Transsolar Energietechnik, Germany; Edwin Chan, EC3 Design, USA; James O’Callaghan, Eckersley O’Callaghan, United Kingdom; Corie D. Sharples and Andreia Taixeira, ShoP, USA; Ric Wang, Atlassian, Australia; Njnotschka Titchkosky, BVN, Australia.
The high-performance tower is a 39-story building accommodating 4,000 workplaces. Introducing a new sustainability model, the design addresses an expanded program, incorporates next-generation systems, and presents an innovative typological and structural concept.
Global Holcim Awards Commendation: Rebuilding Erupts
Office: M_EIA/Atelier Mar
Team Leader: Leão Lopes
Location: São Vicente, Cabo Verde
Following a disastrous volcanic eruption in 2014, the government of Cabo Verde decided to create a masterplan for the sustainable rebuilding and redevelopment of a destroyed village. Within this plan is a design for an educational complex conceived as a catalyst for the reactivation of community life. The buildings are being erected by locals trained in specific construction methods.
The independent jury was chaired by Hashim Sarkis, including Pritzker Prize 2021 laureated Anne Lacaton, Angelo Bucci (spbr arquitetos), Bruce Gibbons (Thornton Tomasetti), and Mun Summ Wong (WOHA). The Board and the Academic Committee of the Foundation were represented by Marilyne Andersen, Maria Atkinson AM, Meisa Batayneh Maani, and Brinda Somaya.
Project descriptions and team details provided by Holcim Awards.
