Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction
Encyclopedia
The Holcim Awards is an international competition that seeks projects and visions in sustainable construction – irrespective of scale. A total of USD 2 million dollars in prize money is awarded in each three-year cycle.
Eligible for entry are projects in: buildings and civil engineering works; landscape, urban design and infrastructure; and materials, products and construction technologies. The Holcim Awards is conducted by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction based in Switzerland
. Entries can only be made online.
, North America
, Latin America
, Africa
, Middle East
, and Asia Pacific. Entries in the competition are allocated to a region based on the location of the project.
)
concept of balanced social, environmental and economic performance. The rest cover contextual and aesthetic impact, and innovation and transferability.
, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA)
, Ecole Supérieure d’Architecture de Casablanca (EAC) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay)
).
The prize money for each of the five regional competitions is USD 300,000:
The projects awarded Holcim Awards Gold, Holcim Awards Silver, or Holcim Awards Bronze in all regional competitions automatically qualify for the global Holcim Awards competition. The total prize amount for the global competition is USD 500,000:
Eligible for entry are projects in: buildings and civil engineering works; landscape, urban design and infrastructure; and materials, products and construction technologies. The Holcim Awards is conducted by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction based in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. Entries can only be made online.
Regional and global phase
The Holcim Awards competition opens with five regional Holcim Awards competitions and is followed by the Global Holcim Awards. The regional Holcim Awards are based on five geographic areas: EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
, Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
, and Asia Pacific. Entries in the competition are allocated to a region based on the location of the project.
Holcim Awards (main) and “Next Generation” (student) categories
There are two categories within the competition: The main category of the competition is open to architects, planners, engineers, and project owners that showcase sustainable responses to technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues affective contemporary building and construction. The fifteen projects that receive Holcim Awards Gold, Silver or Bronze in the five regions are then qualified for the competition for the Global Holcim Awards. The “Next Generation” category is open to student projects created within university programs at final year bachelor level or above (including masters and PhDPHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
)
Evaluation criteria
Submissions in both categories are evaluated by independent juries, using five “target issues” to define sustainable construction. Three of these align with the triple bottom line conceptTriple bottom line
The triple bottom line captures an expanded spectrum of values and criteria for measuring organizational success: economic, ecological, and social...
concept of balanced social, environmental and economic performance. The rest cover contextual and aesthetic impact, and innovation and transferability.
Juries
The juries consist of independent, renowned representatives from science, business and society. The regional juries are supported by the respective partner university and the global jury is supported by the Technical Competence Center of the Holcim Foundation (ETH ZurichEth
Eth is a letter used in Old English, Icelandic, Faroese , and Elfdalian. It was also used in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, but was subsequently replaced with dh and later d. The capital eth resembles a D with a line through the vertical stroke...
, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA)
Universidad Iberoamericana
The Ibero-American University is a Mexican private institution of higher education sponsored by the Society of Jesus...
, Ecole Supérieure d’Architecture de Casablanca (EAC) and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Bombay)
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay , popularly known as IIT Bombay or IITB, is a public research university located in Powai, Mumbai...
).
Prizes
The total prize money for each cycle of the regional and global Holcim Awards competitions is USD 2 million.The prize money for each of the five regional competitions is USD 300,000:
- Holcim Awards Gold USD 100,000
- Holcim Awards Silver USD 50,000
- Holcim Awards Bronze USD 25,000
- at least 4 Acknowledgement prizes from a total budget of USD 75,000 per region
- Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 1st prize USD 25,000
- Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 2nd prize USD 15,000
- Holcim Awards “Next Generation” 3rd prize USD 10,000
The projects awarded Holcim Awards Gold, Holcim Awards Silver, or Holcim Awards Bronze in all regional competitions automatically qualify for the global Holcim Awards competition. The total prize amount for the global competition is USD 500,000:
- Global Holcim Awards Gold USD 200,000
- Global Holcim Awards Silver USD 100,000
- Global Holcim Awards Bronze USD 50,000
- Holcim Innovation prize for up to three winners is allocated a total budget of USD 150,000. All prize-winning projects and visions from the five regional Holcim Awards competitions (Awards, Acknowledgements, and “Next Generation” prizes) are eligible for this prize.