The winners of the global Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction showcase the cutting edge of approaches to sustainable design, green architecture, and materials innovation. In the 6th cycle of the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design, offering prize money totaling USD 2 million, most of the global prizewinning projects came from the Asia Pacific and Middle East Africa regions; one top prize each also went to Colombia and Switzerland. The prizes were presented at a handover ceremony at the International Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy.

Project description by regional jury

Combining the surplus of the global textile industry with the limited means of refugee camps, T-Serai (Textile System for Experimental Research in Artistic Impact) introduces a “cultural technology” to strengthen the ethnographic and environmental resilience of displaced populations. The project deploys participatory design and upcycled textiles for the creation of modular tapestries that serve as refugee shelters for displaced Syrians in Jordan. Inspired by cultural traditions of the Middle East & North Africa (MENA) region, the tapestries can provide a better insulation of temporary settlements, preserve cultural memory and add aesthetic qualities to the refugees’ daily reality. Recycled jeans layered over emergency blankets can be used for mobile storage, or to set up colorful tents for social gatherings.

As a Main category prize winner in the regional Holcim Awards 2020, Connective Threads in Jordan automatically qualified as a finalist in the Global Holcim Awards 2021.

View Global Holcim Awards Entry – Connective Threads in Jordan

The built environment has a significant role to play in addressing climate change and enabling the transition to a net-zero and more inclusive future. The Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction global winners showcase the cutting edge of approaches to sustainable design, green architecture, and materials innovation. The 6th cycle of the competition saw three entries in the Middle East Africa region win prizes at both the global and regional levels, including a project in Morocco that won a Global Holcim Awards Bronze and two projects that were recognized with a Global Commendation. The global prizes were presented at a handover ceremony at the International Architecture Biennale in Venice, Italy. The regional Holcim Awards Main category winners for Middle East Africa were recognized at the same event.

Co-creation across borders promotes new ethical standards for socially inclusive design

The T-Serai supports the cultural resilience of threatened communities through creative innovation in education and vocational training of refugees. Introducing transdisciplinary design processes and cross-generational knowledge exchange, the project provides means for the dynamic preservation of the living culture, social relations, and networks of communities in threat of cultural erasure. Beyond collaborations with displaced Syrians in Jordan, the project also advances cross-cultural understanding through co-creation across borders, involving students from the USA, Europe, and UAE. The multidirectional knowledge exchange between participants of different generations and backgrounds offers a possibility for self-expression, self-determination, and advancement of pluralism.

From raw material to manufacturing, construction, use and end of life, T-Serai incorporates measures for the reduction of gas emissions. The idea lies on the reuse of surplus material for the local manufacturing of modular insulating tapestries that configure a multiplicity of spaces for the changing needs of the displaced. The raw material is the surplus of fabric found locally. Manufacturing requires sewing machines, equipment that already exists in Jordanian refugee camps, and contributes to tailoring training recognised by the Jordanian Ministry of Labor. Tapestries are deployed on-site to minimize energy consumption on the heating of shelters or as adaptive social spaces. The T-Serai end of life has a minimal environmental impact, living no trace behind and dissolving to the soil.