Sustainable construction in Asia Pacific also means building for the community. This was clearly shown by the projects that won prizes in the regional Holcim Awards presented in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The three main Awards winning projects deal with buildings for education – involving the community and sustainably improving neighborhoods.

This project replaces an existing dilapidated guesthouse with a new multifunctional building. The new structure restores and enhances a historic Paati – a type of covered public space – that was damaged in the 2015 earthquake. Wrapped around the Paati with its carefully restored 100-year old carved wooden columns and insets is a plinth design with a water tank at the center. The tank is used to collect and store water to enhance disaster preparedness. Above the tank is an open room for community use. When needed, the seismically-sound structure can also be used as emergency shelter. The roof collects rainwater, which is distributed to exterior taps for washing and laundry. For drinking water, a bio-sand filtration system inside the complex purifies water for a second set of taps. Through this system, the building provides safe water to the community – something the municipal system lacks.

Historic preservation
(Place – contextual and aesthetic impact)

Paatis are reminders of a benevolent society who built these small rest houses across the Kathmandu Valley for weary travelers. Today, these urban architectural archetypes remain an essential focal point for their communities, in use as resting, public meeting, and religious celebration spaces. Since the earthquake in 2015, many are in desperate need of repair and revitalization. This project carefully restores the 100-yearold carved wooden columns and religious insets of the central Paati in Thecho, while enveloping it in a new life. The new building pays tribute to traditional Newari architecture through its angles and rhythms of the structure and wood detailing, while treating the concrete water infrastructure as a modern sculpture carved and molded for different uses.