Global Holcim Awards ceremonies 2015

The most significant international prize for sustainable design was presented to a team of young architects of Colectivo 720 from Cali (Colombia) for an urban transformation project in Medellín.The prize hand-over ceremony was held at EPM Cube at the iconic EPM Intelligent Building, and included a site visit to UVA Orfelinato, which is under construction, and other UVA sites that are already completed.

A construction training and community engagement project in rural Sri Lanka won the Silver prize in the most significant international competition for sustainable design and construction. Architects Milinda Pathiraja and Ganga Ratnayake from Robust Architecture Workshop in Colombo were presented with the Award on the site of the winning project in Ambepussa. The project was praised for building human capacity as well as a physical structure.

The Dryline project addresses New York City’s vulnerability to coastal flooding with a protective ribbon in Southern Manhattan – and is the winner of the global Bronze prize of the LafargeHolcim Awards, the most significant international competition for sustainable design and construction. Created by a consortium led by BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group and One Architecture, the 13km (8mi) long infrastructural barrier incorporates public space with the high-water barrier doubling as parks, seating, bicycle shelters and skateboard ramps.

Gilles Delalex of Muoto architects received a Global Finalist 2015 certificate for “Public Condenser”, a multipurpose building to house indoor and outdoor sports facilities, cafés, street terraces and a pedestrian square is taking shape on the new university campus of Paris-Saclay.

Hilary Sample of MOS Architects received a Global Finalist 2015 certificate for “Children’s Ziggurat”, the Lali Gurans orphanage and library in Kathmandu, Nepal. As part of the celebration of the Global Awards Bronze prize in New York City, the certificate was handed over by Marc Angélil, member of the Global Awards jury 2015 and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation.

Jariyawadee Lekawatana of Architectkidd and Singh Intrachooto of Kasetsart University, both Thailand were presented with a Global LafargeHolcim Awards Finalist 2015 certificate for Protective Wing: Bird sanctuary as part of the ceremony to hand-over the Awards Silver prize in Ambepussa, Sri Lanka. The certificate was presented by Meisa Batayneh representing the global jury and Bi Yong Chungunco, LafargeHolcim Area Manager for South East Asia, West who represented the sponsor of the Foundation.

John Locke received a Global Finalist 2015 certificate on behalf of the team from The Living architecture lab for their “Hy-Fi” project that is researching zero-carbon bricks using recent advances in biotechnology combined with cutting-edge computation and engineering. As part of the celebration of the Global Awards Bronze prize in New York City, the certificate was handed over by Marc Angélil, member of the Global Awards jury 2015 and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation.

Caitlin Gucker-Kanter Taylor of Water Pore Partnership, New York was presented with a Global Finalist 2015 certificate for her “Poreform” project to create water absorptive surface and subterranean basin in Las Vegas. As part of the celebration of the Global Awards Bronze prize in New York City, the certificate was handed over by Marc Angélil, member of the Global Awards jury 2015 and member of the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation.