Winning a LafargeHolcim Awards Next Generation prize has had a significant impact on Meriem Chabani, a young French-Algerian architect: “It has given rise to publications and brought us numerous invitations to present this work,” she explains in an interview series by French/English magazine L’Architecture d’Aujhourd’hui (‘A’A’).

The exhibition New South at Galerie CROUX in Paris features the work of six young architects, including two Next Generation prize-winners, Meriem Chabani and Chamss Doha Oulkadi. New South explores how sustainable design addresses economic, social, cultural and environmental challenges by examining different ways of living, construction methodologies and cultural representations in developing cities of the South.

Re-Made in Bangladesh is a research project investigating – through the deployment of architecture – the relationships in the global garment industry between producer and consumer nations. A catalog of potential architectural interventions is offered to improve working conditions and potentially eliminate practices of labor exploitation in the garment sector, whether in Chittagong or other locations.

The project seeks to enable a shift from mass production industries to forms of micro and small enterprises, with workshops distributed throughout the cities rather than confining workforces in isolated factory compounds on the periphery of metropolitan centers.

Read project feature in 4th Holcim Awards 2014/2015 (flip-book)

Meriem Chabani from École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris Malaquais in France considers the most outstanding aspect of her team’s project is that it allows for constant growth and develops through time. “Re-Made Fabric: Garment district intervention” in Chittagong, Bangladesh won the “Next Generation” 5th prize and seeks to enable a shift from mass production industries to micro and small enterprises, with workshops distributed throughout cities rather than isolated factory compounds on the periphery of metropolitan centers.

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The winning projects of the Holcim Awards 2014 Asia Pacific show how building with sustainable construction in mind can enhance the region’s human, natural and economic performance. A bird sanctuary in Thailand, a locally-adapted orphanage in Nepal, and a community library in Sri Lanka received the top prizes.

The jury applauds the rigor of the intellectual investigation, one substantiated by an “ethico-political” position and culminating in an architecture of “ethic-aesthetic” value. Particularly praised is the depth of the dialog and its aim to frame architecture as an inherently political endeavor, without, however, neglecting or undermining architecture’s disciplinary frameworks. The notion of design as “manifesto” – allowing the designer to operate with, against and ultimately for a given condition – was viewed with greatest esteem and considered an essential contribution by a young team to the Holcim Awards competition, and ultimately to the advancement of the field.