The Holcim Awards, an open international competition for sustainable design and construction, is being held for the fourth time at the initiative of the non-profit Holcim Foundation. The coordinator of the competition is Holcim, one of the world's largest manufacturers of building materials (in particular, cement and concrete). The prize with a total prize pool of US $ 2 million for the best "green" projects in the world is awarded every three years, first on each of the five continents of the planet, and then in the "global standings". Regional stages of the Fourth Competition will take place in the next two years, and its final will take place in 2015. By the way, this time Moscow will host the solemn ceremony of awarding the winners of the European region.
Holcim Awards is one of the most democratic and perhaps the broadest architectural awards in the world. And the point is not only that all continents of the Earth participate in the competition at the same time, but also that objects of any typology can apply for the prize, including landscape and urban environment design, as well as know-how for the development of innovative technologies and new building materials. generations. Perhaps the most eloquent example of this “multi-genre” nature of the award is the list of its winners in different years. Among them are “green” buildings (for example, the Living Lakes Research and Rehabilitation Center for Freshwater in North America, or the open-air public pool project in Berlin), and urban redevelopment projects (for example, the famous
Metropol Parasol by J. Mayer H. Architects in Seville or the renovation project of a former viaduct by Philippe Rizzotti Architects), and the Filipino project Acanthasia, which aims to recreate coral reefs using special concrete structures. Not all of these projects received "gold" - some were awarded "silver" and "bronze", but it is indisputable that it was thanks to the Holcim Awards that the whole world learned about them, and for the younger generation of designers they became subjects for study and imitation.
The main nomination of the Holcim Awards (the so-called "Main category") is open to architects, designers, engineers, builders and construction firms who put the principles of sustainable construction into practice. The only requirement (besides the use of green technologies, of course) that the nominee must meet is the deadline for implementation: since the award is aimed at finding the freshest innovative projects using the technologies of the future, construction of the objects participating in the competition should begin no earlier than July 1, 2013. The second nomination of the Holcim Awards bears the self-explanatory name "Next Generation". Young professionals and students between the ages of 18 and 30 are eligible for the award in this category. But the deadline for the implementation of their projects is the same - no earlier than July 1, 2013.
The nominated projects are evaluated according to five main criteria: innovation and environmental friendliness of the materials used, the use of energy-saving technologies and environmental preservation, economic efficiency, aesthetics and originality of architectural and design solutions, as well as "a reasonable desire to improve social and cultural living conditions."
Traditionally, the world's leading experts in the field of architecture, engineering and construction will act as judges for the Holcim Awards. For example, this time the jury for the Europe region will be headed by Jean-Philippe Vassal, one of the founders of the famous Lacaton & Vassal bureau.
You can apply for participation in the competition through the online form on the award website until March 24, 2014.
