“A minimal physical urbanistic intervention with benefits that extend to a larger social context” – Holcim Awards Jury
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Presentation of the Global Holcim Awards "Innovation" prize 2009: Enrique Norten, Principal and founder, TEN Arquitectos, New York/Mexico City, and Member of the Global Holcim Awards jury 2009 introduced the criteria of the competition – the “target issues” for sustainable construction - and presented the award winning projects of the competition.
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Winners of the Global Holcim Awards “Innovation” prize 2009 "Self-contained day labor station, San Francisco, USA": (l-r): John Petersen, “Innovation” prize winner, Public Architecture, San Francisco; Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, and member of the global jury; Liz Ogbu, “Innovation” prize winner, Public Architecture, San Francisco; and Enrique Norten, Principal and founder, TEN Arquitectos , Mexico City and New York, and member of the global jury.
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Global Holcim Awards "Innovation" prize 2009: Alison Brown, Chief Finance and Operations Officer of the California Academy of Sciences (CAS), welcomed guests to the global prize hand-over held at the new California Academy of Sciences building in San Francisco. She emphasized the importance receiving the Holcim Awards Silver for North America in 2005 had meant for promoting the project of the new CAS as an exemplary approach to sustainable construction even before the cornerstone had been laid. Since then CAS has received a number of further important prizes and recognitions for its contribution to sustainable development.
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Global Holcim Awards "Innovation" prize 2009: Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, New York, and member of the global jury provided a keynote address at the global prize hand-over held at the new California Academy of Sciences building in San Francisco. She compared the prize winning project with an algorithm: “It is the sum of many small interventions that finally make a significant difference to the big picture.”
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Presentation of the Global Holcim Awards “Innovation” prize 2009: (l-r): Rolf Soiron, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Holcim Ltd; Enrique Norten, Principal and founder, TEN Arquitectos and member of the global jury; John Petersen and Liz Ogbu, “Innovation” prize winners of Public Architecture in San Francisco; Sarah Graham, Principal partner, agps architecture and member of the Holcim Awards jury North America; and Saskia Sassen, Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology, Columbia University, New York and member of the global jury.
This is a minimal physical urbanistic intervention with maximum social equity and neighborhood enhancement effects. The project is a small structure that functions as a labor market and service delivery platform for day laborers who wait for casual work every morning at customary gathering points. As this picking up of day workers takes place in cities across the United States, and in other countries, it is also a project that is worth replicating. It is low cost, and could be sponsored by the contractors of the day laborers.
Last updated: May 31, 2009 Zurich, Switzerland
The structure provides rest rooms, kitchen and office space for day workers. It is a first step in providing healthcare and the building of social networks for workers that are among the most vulnerable, poor and often denigrated. It is also a solution to what the surrounding neighborhoods often experience as social disorder and what local police forces find difficult to handle. Thus the benefits extend to a larger social context than that of the workers themselves. This larger positive social effect is further enhanced by the addition of community gardens to be maintained by the day workers themselves, particularly on those days when they are not picked up for work.