A jury of nine experts headed by Mariam Kamara, Principal and Owner of atelier masōmī (Niger), will evaluate entries in the 6th International Holcim Awards for the region of Middle East Africa. The Awards seek real projects as well as bold ideas that combine sustainable construction solutions with architectural excellence. The competition offers a total of USD 2 million in prize money and is open for entries until February 25, 2020.

In Middle East Africa, the jury includes Mariam Kamara (Head) as well as Zegeye Cherenet, Professor at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction & City Development (Ethiopia); Linna Choi, Principal at OUALALOU + CHOI (Morocco); Joana Dabaj, Co-Founder & Principal Coordinator at CatalyticAction (Lebanon); Huda Shaka, Associate Director at Arup (United Arab Emirates); and Heinrich Wolff, Director at Wolff Architects (South Africa).

The jury will be complemented by members of the Academic Committee of the Holcim Foundation Marilyne Andersen, Professor of Sustainable Construction Technologies, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (Switzerland) and Guillaume Habert, Professor of Sustainable Construction, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (Switzerland), together with Mohsen Ech, Research & Development Program Manager for Infrastructure Solutions, Holcim Innovation Center (France).

Hosted by the École Supérieure d’Architecture de Casablanca (Morocco), an associated university of the Holcim Foundation, the jury will rank submissions using the five “target issues” for sustainable construction: covering innovation and transferability (progress), ethical standards and social inclusion (people), resource and environmental performance (planet), economic viability and compatibility (prosperity), and contextual and aesthetic impact (place).

The Awards competition is open for entries until February 25, 2020 and recognizes projects and concepts from architecture, engineering, urban planning, materials science, construction technology, and related fields. A comprehensive “Step-by-step” guide explains the evaluation criteria and illustrates how to enter the competition at www.holcim-awards.org

Since 2003, the Holcim Foundation advances the discourse on sustainable construction mainly through its Awards, the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design. The Foundation is an initiative of Holcim, the global leader in building materials and solutions.