Winners of International Holcim Awards for sustainable construction projects and visions from Asia Pacific region were recently announced, with US$300,000 presented to twelve groundbreaking projects at a ceremony in Singapore.

The winning projects show how sustainable approaches to infrastructure for communities and innovative architecture can improve the built environment and enhance quality of life.

The Holcim Awards Gold 2011 for Asia Pacific was awarded to the Earthen School Tipu Sultan Merkez located in a small village near Lahore, Pakistan (pictured below).

Designed by architect Eike Roswag of Ziegert Roswag Seiler Architekten Ingenieure in Germany, the project shows the rural community an affordable, high quality and durable approach to building.

The Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction conducts the swards competition to promote sustainable responses to contemporary technological, environmental, socioeconomic and cultural issues from the building and construction.

More than 6,000 submissions for projects located in 146 countries entered the competition with a total prize sum of USD 2 million per three-year cycle.

The competition seeks projects that demonstrate an ability to stretch conventional notions about sustainable building and also balance environmental, social and economic performance – while also exemplifying architectural excellence and a high degree of transferability. 

Projects and concepts related to: buildings and civil engineering works; landscape, urban design and infrastructure; and materials, products and construction technologies are eligible for entry in the competition.

Holcim Awards Gold to a locally-manufactured cob and bamboo school building in Pakistan

A project that upgrades a traditional building method with effective low-tech measures through engineering and design won the top prize of USD 100,000 in Asia Pacific. The Earthen School Tipu Sultan Merkez, in a small village near Lahore, Pakistan and designed by architect Eike Roswag of Ziegert Roswag Seiler Architekten Ingenieure in Germany, provides seven new classrooms in a school for underprivileged girls.

The building is constructed from a locally-sourced cob (clay, sand, water, and straw) lower-floor combined with an upper floor made of earth-filled bamboo walls. Intense research on cob construction resulted in a significant increase in strength and durability, and extended maintenance intervals compared to traditional approaches. 

Wowo Ding, Head of jury and Dean of Architecture at Nanjing University, China, praised the project for propagating the use of new construction methods by the agrarian population and improving the local economic situation. “The new construction approach shows the rural community an affordable, high quality and durable alternative compared to widely-used but higher cost and less environmentally-compatible construction materials,” she said.

Silver for a factory conversion to urban agriculture in Thailand

The Holcim Awards Silver was presented to a Thai project team led by Isavaret Tamonut of TTH Trading for the conversion of a former textile factory and adjacent land into a 1.4ha agricultural production site and retail outlet.

TheUrban Farm Urban Barn is located in a mixed use urban zone of central Bangkok and reintroduces elements of self-sufficiency while also reconnecting food production and consumption.

The project was applauded by the jury for its potential to create a new urban culture, re-sensitizing the community to its ecological impacts and offering a new perception of urbanity that is readily transferrable. 

Ecologically-designed retail and commercial building in Malaysia wins Bronze Award

The Holcim Awards Bronze was awarded to a team led by architect Ken Yeang of T R Hamzah & Yeang International for a 14-level commercial and retail building located in Malaysia’s federal administrative city of Putrajaya.

The building brings together state-of-the-art technologies appropriate for high-quality use in two interconnected towers that use vegetation to actively reduce energy consumption, provide solar shading, and create comfortable spaces considering all requirements of utilization.

The jury commended the project for its imaginative and leading-edge response to upmarket building design that uses integrative engineering to create a sustainable building organism, showcasing best practice design.

Projects in Indonesia, India and Japan receive AcknowledgementsSix projects were presented with an Acknowledgement prize – three are located in Indonesia, two in India and one in Japan. A project in three villages of Central and West Java led by Yandi Yatmo of Universitas Indonesia uses the process of building to encourage community consolidation and development.