“We want to add some real impetus to sustainable construction thinking” says Head of the competition’s Technical Committee, and ETH Zurich professor of engineering, Hans-Rudolf Schalcher. “We urgently need clever ideas to accelerate the sustainable performance of buildings where we all live, work and play.” 

The competition is 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. “After the first Holcim Awards, we created a new category for young professionals” says Foundation Board member and ETH Zurich professor of architecture, Marc Angélil. “We’re delighted with the strong response to the ‘Next Generation’ category, and continued enthusiasm for the competition.” More than one third of the entries were made in the “Next generation” category (3 prizes per region), the rest in the main Awards category (3 Awards and up to 6 Acknowledgement prizes per region).

An Internet-based entry form was used for the competition in the five regional Awards. Asia Pacific and Latin America each account for roughly 30 percent of the submissions, followed by Europe (24 %), Africa Middle East and North America. The countries where the projects are planned and concepts are proposed are not necessarily the origin of the authors, showing that sustainable construction is of truly international concern and is being promoted across borders and regions. Submissions were entered by authors from 90 countries for projects located in 121 countries.

The competitions will be evaluated by independent juries using a proven definition. The “target issues for sustainable construction” 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, architecture and urban design consultancy Phase-Eins of Berlin screen all submissions to ensure compliance with the entry criteria. “A quick glance at the entries confirms their great diversity”, says Phase-Eins Director, Benjamin Hossbach. “The Holcim Awards are an ideal way to demonstrate what can be achieved today and tomorrow to address issues of sustainability within the built environment and raise awareness amongst the field of all involved in the planning and building process.”

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 are automatically qualified for the global Holcim Awards to be announced 2009 following an additional in-depth evaluation by a jury comprised of international experts.

Additional information:

Jury panels of international experts

The juries in each region will be headed by internationally-renowned architects and academics: Harry Gugger, Professor of Architecture, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL Lausanne), Switzerland (region of Europe); Adèle Naudé Santos, Dean of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA (North America); José Luis Cortés, Dean of Architecture, Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA), Mexico (Latin America); Joe Addo, principal and architect, Ghana (Africa Middle East); and Ashok B Lall, principal and architect, India (Asia Pacific). Charles Correa, principal and architect, India, will chair the jury of the global Holcim Awards competition in 2009.
Juries

Technical support from leading universities

The Holcim Awards are supported by renowned technical universities partnering with the Holcim Foundation, including the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich), Switzerland; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT Boston), USA; Tongji University, Shanghai, China; Universidad Iberoamericana (UIA), Mexico City; the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), Brazil; and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.

Results and further information about the Holcim Awards competition 
Winners will be informed personally as soon as the jury decisions are verified and the jury reports signed by all jury members (July/August 2008). Further information regarding the next steps of the competition (prizes available, adjudication and awarding process), statistical details related to the entries received (by country, by region, by category, 2005, etc.) as well as more information on the jury boards (portraits of all members), the evaluation criteria and more is available at: www.holcimawards.org.

Entry statistics

Entries in the Holcim Awards competition closed on February 29, 2008 (14:00hrs GMT). 

Out of a total of 4774 data sets submitted, 1875 entries from authors meet formal requirements: 1169 in the main category (projects) and 706 in Next Generation category (visions). 2899 entries were unspecified, incomplete, non-English or duplicate.

The maps above show the distribution of entries in each country based on the location of the author and also the location (or proposed location) of the project (or vision).