Zurich/Switzerland, February 29, 2008 – Today at 14.00 hrs GMT the 2-Million-USD-Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects and visions closed for entries. The competition had been open since June 1, 2007 and focuses the minds of architects, planners and engineers on creating innovative construction solutions that truly champion sustainability.
The Holcim Awards are run by the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation to promote ground-breaking projects already at an advanced stage of design, and encourage “blue sky” concepts from the next generation.
An Internet-based entry form was used for the competition. Submissions in the five regional Awards competitions will be evaluated by independent juries using a proven definition of sustainable construction: The “target issues” serve to compare each submission and cover environmental impact, social responsibility, and economic performance as well as architectural and contextual quality and the contribution towards quantum change and transferability.
Before the jury meetings take place under the guidance of the partner universities of the Holcim Foundation, the submissions are screened by an independent consultancy firm to ensure compliance with the entry criteria.
The results of the regional competitions will be announced in five ceremonies in late 2008 in Madrid, Montréal, Mexico City, Marrakech and New Delhi. Winners of the gold, silver and bronze awards from each geographic region will then progress to the global Holcim Awards to be announced in Switzerland in mid-2009.