USD 220,000 in prize money was presented to the best submissions from Asia Pacific in the Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects. The competition run by the Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction in collaboration with five of the world’s leading technical universities aims to promote sustainable approaches to the built environment.

This project is commended for its innovative proposal for eco-construction systems and for demonstrating the possibility of bridging the gap between architectural research and practice. Of equal strength is the range of techniques and points of engagement rather than a singular approach.

This project in China is given merit for innovation in exploring the benefits of eco-construction systems. The work demonstrates the possibility of bringing architectural research and practice into closer dialogue. The conceptual plan for a green community deploys a notable range of techniques and initiatives that are backed up by experiments undertaken in the field. Challenges such as rapid population growth, decreasing supplies of natural resources, and environmental pollution are addressed in a convincing manner.