The winners of the second Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction from across region Africa Middle East were announced at a ceremony in Marrakech. Total prize money of USD 270,000 was presented to eleven projects that illustrated the broad scope for applying sustainable construction approaches to the built environment across public and private architecture, urban planning, and environmental remediation.

This outstanding and absolutely novel project proposes an architectural complement to the Anti-desertification Green-wall Sahara initiative of the Sahel-states. Although the project is highly speculative, the jury commended it due its visionary concept and sound scientific background.

Dune anti-desertification architecture is a project proposed in response to the Green-Wall Sahara initiative. At the cutting edge of biotechnology, the plan is to use microorganisms to bind loose sand into sandstone to create structurally stable dune-like formations. These dunes protect new oases in which people displaced by desertification can live.