Azerbaijan, Baku / corr Trend / The second Holcim Awards competition to promote sustainable construction worldwide is now open. Entries in the competition can be submitted until February 29, 2008 at www.holcimawards.org. The prize money for the five regional competitions and the global awards totals USD two million. The Awards are an initiative of the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation to encourage and inspire a built environment that goes beyond convention to address the challenges of sustainability.
The global competition showcases sustainable responses to technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues affecting contemporary building and construction. The Awards are open to anyone involved with projects in the area of sustainable construction - architects, planners, engineers, or project owners. All building projects are eligible for the competition if construction had not started before June 1 of this year. The first phase of the competition will select regional winners in 2008 that will automatically qualify for the global competition to be held in 2009.
In addition to construction projects at an advanced stage of design, the Awards competition seeks visions and ideas at a conceptual level. This special category is open for professionals younger than 35 years of age.
Submissions in the Awards competition are evaluated by independent juries in five regions of the world, using a five-point definition of sustainable construction. These so-called 'target issues' serve as a yardstick to measure the degree to which a building contributes to sustainable development. Three of the five target issues align with the primary goals of the Rio Agenda: balanced environmental, social, and economic performance. One target issue applies specifically to building: the creation of good buildings, neighborhoods, towns, and cities. A further target issue recognizes the need for significant advancements that can be applied on a broad scale: Ecological quality and energy conservation; economic performance and compatibility; ethical standards and social equity; contextual and aesthetic impact; and quantum change and transferability.
The juries will be headed by internationally renowned architects and academics: Harry Gugger, architect and author, Switzerland (region of Europe), Adele Naude Santos, Dean of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (North America), Jose Luis Cortes, Dean of Architecture, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico (Latin America), Joe Addo, architect, Ghana (Africa Middle East), and Ashok Lall, architect, India (Asia Pacific). Charles Correa, architect, India, will chair the jury of the global Holcim Awards competition.
To carry out the competition the Holcim Foundation works closely with leading technical universities: the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Switzerland; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA; Tongji University (TJU) in Shanghai, China; Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA) in Mexico City, Mexico; and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in Johannesburg, South Africa. These universities lead the independent juries in their regions. The Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil is an associated university of the Foundation.
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