The Asia Pacific winners of the Holcim Awards for sustainable construction were recently announced in Singapore. The Holcim Awards is an international competition that recognizes innovative projects and future-oriented concepts on regional and global levels. The competition is designed to encourage architects, planners, engineers and project owners to go beyond conventional notions of sustainable construction in their work and to harmonize ecological, social and economic concerns. Projects and concepts in the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and related fields are eligible for entry in the competition. More images and information on the winning competition proposals after the break.
The Holcim Awards Gold 2011 for Asia Pacific (USD 100,000) was awarded to a project that upgrades a traditional building method with effective low-tech measures through engineering and design. The Earthen School Tipu Sultan Merkez, in a small village near Lahore, Pakistan and designed by architect Eike Roswag of Ziegert Roswag Seiler Architekten Ingenieure, Germany, is constructed using a cob (clay, sand, water, and straw) lower-floor combined with an upper floor made of earth-filled bamboo walls. Intense research on cob construction resulted in a significant increase in strength and durability, and extended maintenance intervals compared to former approaches.
