To Build A Better World

The two projects could not have been more different–except for the vision, the courage, the commitment and the passion of the people behind them. A decidedly 21st century design for the main railway station in Stuttgart, Germany and a project to rehabilitate and upgrade a shantytown in Caracas, Venezuela took the gold prizes at the first Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction. The winners, announced in Bangkok recently before an audience of 700 people from 50 countries, took equal first prizes of $300,000 each.

In addition, a silver prize was awarded to a preservation project in the Mulini Valley near Amalfi in Italy which integrates historic buildings and new structures in a unesco heritage site using water as its central theme. The bronze prize went to a low cost housing and urban renewal project in Montreal, Canada. They were awarded $250,000 and $150,000 respectively.

The awards concretized the important but complex concept of sustainable construction. The competition, launched in 2004 by the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation in collaboration with five of the world’s leading technical universities, aims to "promote innovative, future-oriented and tangible construction projects" and increase "awareness of the importance of architecture, engineering and construction in achieving a more sustainable future".

Last year, regional winners were named in five regions: Asia-Pacific, Africa-Middle East, Latin America, Europe, and North America. The top three prizes in each region qualified for the global awards, which were deliberated on and evaluated by a formidable 14-person jury headed by Adéle Naudé Santos, dean of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Architecture and Planning in Boston, and included Pritzker Prize winning architect Thom Mayne; dean of Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art & Planning Mohsen Mostafavi; head of the Technical Competence Center of the Holcim Foundation Hans-Rudolf Schalcher; and head of UN Sec-Gen. Kofi Annan’s advisory body on water and sanitation Olivia LaO Castillo.

The awards were a celebration of innovation, of community interaction, of common effort in achieving viable new solutions to problems confronting society. Increasing populations and continued migration to urban centers pose unique and difficult challenges to planners, architects and builders. Through this competition, Holcim chairman Rolf Soiron pointed out, the Holcim Group worldwide renews its commitment to responsible and sustainable development, particularly in the built environment.

Sustainability, however, goes beyond construction and impacts on the continued viability of communities. Jury head Adéle Naudé Santos said that "sustainability has less to do with buildings and more to do with process and behavior, and must particularly inspire city planning".

That, too, was at the core of the message of keynote speaker Klaus Toepfer, recently retired undersecretary-general of the United Nations and executive director of the UN Environment Program. Citing a daily increase of 180,000 people in urban areas worldwide, new grandfather Toepfer posed the question, "What will the world be like when my granddaughter gets to be my age?" The development of mega-cities with more than 20 million inhabitants, particularly in Asia, will challenge city planners, architects, urban managers and infrastructure investors to come up with solutions to make these huge population centers viable, livable communities.

The winning projects fulfilled five target concerns that make up the criteria for the competition. The target issues addressed not only design and aesthetics, but also ecological quality, efficient use of energy, social equity, transferability to other settings, innovative use of materials and design, and high ethical standards in all processes of the projects.

Aside from the four main winners, eleven other projects were considered, covering a wide and diverse range of construction projects. The entry from the Philippines, a silver award winner in the Asia-Pacific regional competition, was a prototype structure for coral regeneration developed by a team from Cagayan de Oro. Other projects included one for roof gardens in existing houses in Buenos Aires, Argentina; a minimum energy school in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; a flexible fabric mold for producing concrete elements from Canada; revitalization of a clan settlement in Hangzhou, China; an "air suit" renovation of an old building in Hiroshima, Japan; a community empowerment facility in a mountain village in Morocco; upgrading a caravan site and the establishment of an environment center, both in South Africa; redevelopment of a plaza in Seville, Spain; and a new design for the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, USA.

The challenges of our world can be daunting, and the future haunting and uncertain. What indeed will the world be like in the next 50 years? Will our resources be able to meet the needs of a population that can double in number in just one generation? What will our cities be like, with teeming masses crowding its streets and polluting its air and water?

The challenges are, without doubt, formidable. But as the winners and finalists in this first Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction have shown, man’s creativity, ingenuity and passion can ably meet and overcome these challenges and make our world a better place–for now, and for the future.

The winning projects may be viewed online at http://www.holcimfoundation.org