The winners of the 3rd International Holcim Awards competition for sustainable construction projects and visions from across Latin America have been announced. A total of USD 300,000 was presented to eleven outstanding projects at a ceremony in Buenos Aires. The winning projects mainly address the challenges of intensified urbanization – and range in scale from innovative community buildings through to broad master plans and infrastructure projects. 

The jury welcomed the integrative concept, connecting landscape and architectural intervention with an educational dimension. Even though the constructions have no significant innovation, the buildings provide an appropriate grade of self-confident design and integration into the landscape at the same time. A further quality seen by the jury is the pragmatic realization of the approach, shown in the scheme in general and the proposition in regard to phasing and financing in particular.

The intention of this large-scale project is to save an area of more than 50ha of the Mountain Cloud Forest in the municipality of Banderilla, adjacent to the state capital of Xalapa in Veracruz, Mexico. The forest is at risk from the urban encroachment pattern of the city. The project aims to ensure that the physical, ecological and economic capital of the site are enhanced and remain sufficiently robust for further adaptation over time. To reach beyond the protection of the existing ecology, the master strategy of the Ecology Center “La Martinica” activates the entire forest as an educational space, punctuated by a range of facilities and new buildings at varying scales.