A site visit to the proposed Urban remediation and civic infrastructure hub by a delegation of journalists from Switzerland continues to build interest and support for the project. The enthusiastic community of the favela are aware of the array of benefits the project would provide - and also the necessity of securing political support for the project to move towards implementation.

The Holcim Awards winner Grotão – Fábrica de Música by Urban-Think Tank (U-TT) has attracted a lot of attention on how lives can be improved in a mega city, especially for people living in informal settlements. The project is featured at the X Bienal de Arquitetura de São Paulo exhibition dedicated to the topic “Making a City, Using a City” curated by Guilherme Wisnik, Ana Luiza Nobre, and Ligia Nobre. 

The jury was impressed by this proposal for a multifunctional public building in Paraisópolis, one of São Paulo’s largest favelas, because of its macro- and micro-scale approach to sustainability. Located in the heart of the favela, the Grotão – Fábrica de Música (music factory) creates vertical density within the low-rise sprawl of the neighborhood’s informal housing and thus additional space and activity programs available to all residents. To address the lack of social and cultural infrastructure in the area, the building provides a music school, sports facilities, and transport infrastructure. Public spaces for social interaction are located around, under, and within Grotão – Fábrica de Música.

“Grotão – Fábrica de Música” in the community of Paraisópolis in São Paulo was selected to receive the Global Holcim Awards Silver 2012 out of more than 6,000 competition entries from all over the world. The speakers at the prize handover event at CEU included Gilberto Kassab, Mayor of São Paulo, Elisabete França, Deputy Secretary of Housing of the City of São Paulo, and Joildo Santos on behalf of the Paraisópolis community. The internationally-acclaimed project expands sustainability beyond the management of natural resources and into the realm of social sustainability.

A school project in Gando, Burkina Faso, a multifunctional community center in São Paulo, Brazil, and an urban renewal plan in Berlin, Germany are the winners of the Global Holcim Awards for 2012. These leading sustainable construction projects were selected from 15 finalist submissions by a jury of independent experts led by Enrique Norten. The finalists were the regional Holcim Awards 2011 winning projects that had been selected from more than 6,000 entries in 146 countries.

The projects that received Holcim Awards Gold, Silver, or Bronze in each of the five regions of the world were automatically qualified to compete for the Global Holcim Awards 2012. The more extensive submission on the Urban remediation and civic infrastructure hub for the global phase of the competition can be found here:

Project posters