Every two years, starting in 1998, the Saint-Gobain International Gypsum Trophy has awarded the most recent developments for quality craftsmanship in drywall systems and plastering. This year, the 13th edition of the Gypsum Trophy took place in Athens on April 28th, 2023. From the Americas to Asia, from Europe to Africa, 73 projects from 27 countries competed in six categories to win one of the 15 prizes of the competition.
Participating contractors combine their know-how and creativity with Saint-Gobain plaster and dry lining systems to carry out high-performance projects. Whereas some are built on existing historical structures, others create something completely new. Similarly, some projects were completed with the help of over a thousand employees/teammates, while others by just a few.
See this year's winners below, as well as the details of the Awards.
The winners
Grand Prix
Project: UAE Pavilion (Pearl Dome) - Expo 2020
Country: United Arab Emirates
Contractor: PMK GROUP
Designed by world-renowned architect Dr. Santiago Calatrava, the architectural design of the UAE Pavilion draws inspiration from the vision of the falcon – the national bird of the UAE. The Pavilion reflects the UAE’s identity and pioneering spirit while cultivating a balance and connection between the country’s past, present and future. A first of a kind project done in the entire Middle East with a high level of complex spherical curvature.
President’s Prize
Project: Nivy Mall
Country: Slovakia
Contractor: HB Reavis Slovakia a. s.
Nivy Mall is a unique concept, combining modern and important city functions. Its combination of a modern bus terminal, a shopping center with a strong brand portfolio, a fresh food market and a public green roof with multiple options for urban activities represents a rare opportunity for the further development of the entire New Nivy zone, where this project was built. The New Nivy zone finally acquired a long-awaited piece of the puzzle, enabling it to become part of Bratislava’s modern city center.
Façade Prize
Project: Hotel St. Martin
Country: Italy
Contractor: MIT Appalti S.r.l.
The new Hotel St. Martin was born from the idea of transforming a disused office complex into an elegant hotel-receptive structure, helping to give new life to a historic building located in the heart of Rome, a few meters from Piazza della Repubblica and in an extremely strategic area for the image of the city. The renovated hotel hosts: 134 rooms, 3 suites with private terraces, 1 congress center with capacity for up to 200 people, cocktail bar & restaurant, fitness area. The particularly bright rooms, the contemporary style with warm tones and the use of quality materials and finishes distinguish all the rooms of the structure.
Plasterboard Category
Winner
Project: Waldorf Astoria Cancun
Country: Mexico
Contractor: Aplica y Recubrimientos S.A de C.V
Waldorf Astoria Cancun is a 173-room luxury hotel and resort set behind a natural mangrove reserve. It offers the perfect combination of Mexican heritage and modern sophistication for an unforgettable experience. Interiors that offer a unique interpretation of the region’s natural wonders as well as the combination of materials (glass, metal, wood, natural fibers), different textures, the balance between natural and artificial lighting.
2nd Prize
Project: Meta India (formerly Facebook)
Country: India
Contractor: Ambience Interiors Pvt. Ltd.
Meta’s first standalone office in Asia located at Gurugram spans over 135,000 sqft across 6 floors. The office building also houses the ‘Centre for Fuelling India’s New Economy’ which aims to train and skill 10 Mn small businesses and 2.5 lakh creators over the next three years. The office houses Meta’s largest team in the country from Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The workspace design incorporates spaces that meld real, online, virtual and augmented worlds. The new office has artworks by renowned artists Pratap Morey, Rohini Devasher and Sameer Kulavoor that reflect India’s cultural and ideological diversity. The building has also received the LEED Platinum Certification by the US Green Building Council.
Residential Category
Winner
Project: Sustainable Residence Limassol
Country: Cyprus
Contractor: Marcon Designs Ltd.
The aim was to build the first Cross Laminated (CLT) Sustainable house in Greece and Cyprus. Studies for this type of construction are almost 20 years old, confirming that timber is a carbon sink and one of best solutions to the increasing demands of climate change. Timber construction, when protected from humidity, can last indefinitely and building process can be very fast. Cyprus is located in an extremely high seismic region and the timber construction guarantees no failures. In addition, insurance companies insure timber constructions with lower fees. In combination with Saint-Gobain’s innovative drywall and insulation systems, the target was to achieve excellent sound, fire, thermal insulation properties, high indoor air quality and technical breakthroughs.
2nd Prize
Project: DY Patil University Hostel Blocks
Country: India
Contractor: DHIPL Projects Pvt. Ltd.
DY Patil University is a sprawling campus spread across 65 acres, which also houses residential hostels for girls, boys and staff quarters. As part of its expansion plans, new hostel buildings were constructed spread across three phases to help extend their residential facilities for the increasing number of student admissions. The lower 5 floors are in RCC and upper 5 floors are in composite steel construction. The upper levels are supported by full height steel frames and by hangers from a ‘crown structure’. Their main requirement was construction of a complex overhanging truss supported structure of around 37000 sqm with a quick turnaround time.
Non-Residential Category
Winner
Project: Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp
Country: Belgium
Contractor: Muller Complete Afbouw België BV
The drastic, comprehensive renovation and restauration of the Royal Museum of Fine Arts in Antwerp (Belgium) meant that, in addition to the work on the existing museum, four of the building’s historic patios were converted into new museum space, increasing the exhibition space by 40%. Thanks to all this work, the 19th-century KMSKA building is now future-proof. Two different worlds have been brought together in one building, with specific technical requirements (bearing capacity, fire resistance, finishing, etc.) were set for this challenging renovation. Muller Complete Afbouw België succeeded in completing it, in close collaboration with Gyproc® and the architect, who monitored the detailed execution closely. With its bright white exhibition halls, hidden rooms, long staircases, far-reaching sightlines and varying gradations of daylight, the new museum charts a route full of surprising vertical experiences, all made possible by the Gyproc® solutions.
2nd Prize
Project: Fraunhofer IEE Institute
Country: Germany
Contractor: OKEL GmbH & Co. KG
The new building of the research institute in Kassel houses offices as well as laboratories and technical facilities on a gross floor area of around 13,400 m². The basic building concept envisaged optimizing each structure for its respective use and bringing them together via a common roof figure. Inside the building, a central entrance hall connects all four floors. Due to the different types of room use and the required adaptability, almost the entire range of modern dry lining systems was required: Wall constructions with high fire protection and room acoustic requirements, wall systems with particularly high static load-bearing capacity, walls and ceilings as design elements including light integration and much more. The complete technical elaboration, architecture planning and implementation was executed by Okel GmbH & Co. KG. The centerpiece of the foyer reception hall presented a special challenge: a 21-meter-high sound-absorbing wall spanning over several floors, inclined vertically at an angle of about 6° and thus following the receding floor levels. Here, OKEL’s dry lining experts demonstrated their knack for challenging large-scale projects. The German jury recognized both the sophistication of the immediately eye-catching constructions, as well as the numerous fine finishing details hidden after completion.
Innovation & Sustainability Category
Winner
Project: Bangkok Boulevard Clubhouse
Country: Thailand
Contractor: TKK ONE GROUP CO., LTD
Inspired by the Mont Blanc Mountain, this “Club House” of the luxury housing village enhances the total value of the properties. The aesthetic of the building is the key differentiation of properties from the others. It offered a seamless roofing solution for luxury residential Thai private compounds / villages.
2nd Prize
Project: University of Alberta Dentistry Pharmacy Building
Country: Canada
Contractor: Kerr Interior Systems
The Dentistry Pharmacy Building was originally built in 1922, and is one of the University of Alberta’s most historic buildings, entering into redevelopment in 2020. The building has been renamed the University Commons as it sits in the heart of U of A and will be a gathering space for all members of the community, housing various academic, research, service and administrative units. This 42,000 m² facility blends old with new to create a bright, modern, dynamic space for learning, teaching and research and will meet Silver LEED standards. It required innovation and creativity to rebuild and repair many of the intricate architectural details like the 100-year-old ceiling referred to as the “fruit bowl”. This building has blended the campus history with the future. The building’s 1922 brick façade now leads to a meeting place in a modern, new glass seven-story north wing and the 1922 building is now face to face and one seamless unit. Kerr has worked diligently the past 22 months planning, innovating, restoring, reinforcing, repairing and rebuilding the original elements all through the 1922 building while simultaneously erecting a seven-story start of the art modern and innovative north wing.
Ceilings Category
Winner
Project: SeaWorld Abu Dhabi
Country: United Arab Emirates
Contractor: International Decor Co. LLC
SeaWorld Abu Dhabi will bring the region’s first Marine Life Theme Park to Yas Island. Opening its doors in 2023, the Park will feature multiple different realms, offering immersive experiences as well as dynamic habitats that will house different species together, as they are in their natural habitat. The Marine Life Theme Park will be home to more than 150 species of marine animals including sharks, schools of fish, manta rays, sea turtles, reptiles, amphibians, and invertebrates, in addition to hundreds of birds including penguins, puffins, murres, flamingos and more. To be located next to the Marine Life Theme Park, SeaWorld Research and Rescue Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s first dedicated marine research, rescue, rehabilitation and return center will open this year. It will support regional and global conservation efforts, providing an advanced knowledge hub with a focus on indigenous Arabian Gulf and marine life ecosystems. The SeaWorld Abu Dhabi experience will tell a unified “One Ocean” story, based on the interconnectivity between all life on earth and our one ocean.
2nd Prize
Project: Acquamotion Gramado
Country: Brazil
Contractor: MB Rodrigues
Implanted in almost 50,000 m², Acquamotion is the only indoor theme water park in South America. It has naturally heated thermal waters and special air conditioning that guarantees thermal comfort at any time of the year. The Glasroc® X plasterboard delivered its performance to replicate an open sky indoors, with many details and different angles in more than 6,000 m² ceiling area, something that would be very hostile for any other plasterboard, considering the permanent conditions of humidity and steam in the place. To ensure that the conditions of use of the product were respected, and that the system delivered its full potential, multiple meetings were held with the technical department of Saint-Gobain
Plaster Category
Winner
Project: Luma Foundation
Country: France
Contractor: Ile De France Plâtrerie
Following the Louis Vuitton operation, the architect Frank Gehry started the construction of the Luma foundation tower, a cultural building of 5000 m², 9 floors and 53 glassboxes. The tower houses exhibition rooms and research spaces for artists. For this prestigious cultural project, the company –which has already worked with the architect on the Louis Vuitton foundation project in Paris– applied its plaster expertise and used new technologies such as 3D modelling and BIM to achieve the desired shapes by Frank Gehry. The project was modelled with “Digital Project”, Frank Gehry’s architectural design software. On site, a layout station placed on the survey point allowed the model created with the software to be transposed and modelled on site in 3D. Then, the structural office carried out the calculations necessary for the implementation of the metal structure. Finally, with its expertise in sprayed plaster, Ile de France Plâtrerie applied Lutèce® Projection 33 XPERT sprayed plaster to make works such as the "skirts", formed from a structure calculated and fixed only at the top, forming a magnificent drapery, and the glassboxes.
2nd Prize
Project: Langley Park House
Country: United Kingdom
Contractor: George Jackson Ltd, Multiplex, Stortford Interiors
A luxurious hotel in an 18th century Grade 2* listed Palladian mansion, fitted out to the very highest standards. Extensive heritage plasterwork repairs, along with beautifully crafted Glass Reinforced Gypsum (GRG) ceilings to a hotel and a 2,000 m² spa. The interface with the existing listed building fabric was of primary importance and the package also captured heritage lime plaster, fibrous plaster and GRG cornice repairs.
The Jury
Jury members were selected by the International Central Marketing Team of Saint-Gobain to guarantee objectivity and to ensure full comprehension of all technical aspects. The 13th International Jury is composed of experts from Saint-Gobain – country delegates and members of the International Central Marketing Team – and external experts.
The judges can both assess the technical skills of drywall contractors and the overall performance of the systems and solutions implemented during the course of the projects. This year, to ensure greater objectivity, special attention has been given to creating a balanced jury team in terms of sector, geography and specialization. View the biographies of 2023 jury members.
To learn more about the Saint-Gobain International Gypsum Trophy, visit the official website.