The winners of the 2015 Global Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction were announced on 20 April in Zurich, Switzerland.
The awards program, organized by Switzerland-based Holcim Foundation, are announced every three years with a total prize pool of US$2 million. The 2015 awards recognized three projects that demonstrated architectural interventions with tangible benefits for their respective local communities.
Post War Collective: Community library and social recuperation by Milinda Pathiraja and Ganga Ratnayake (Robust Architecture Workshop).
University of Melbourne graduate Milinda Pathiraja was among the global winners. Pathiraja is part of Sri Lankan studio Robust Architecture Workshop with Ganga Ratnayake. The studio’s project Post-War Collective received the US$100,000 Silver Award.
The project is located in the rural town of Ambepussa, outside of the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. The pair created a community library building that aims to reintegrate ex-soldiers into postwar Sri Lankan community. Made from rammed-earth walls and recycled materials, the building was constructed with the support of the army, teaching young soldiers building techniques and skills through its construction process.
Jury head Mohsen Mostafavi commented that the value of the project centres around transforming a discharged army without mission into a motivated workforce at the service of society. “There is significant value in the basic message of the scheme – and the construction of a library that builds both the physical and social fabric of a community,” Mostafavi said.
Post-War Collective previously received the Bronze Award at the Holcim Awards for Asia Pacific Region in November 2014.
Articulated Site: Water reservoirs as public park by Mario Camargo and Luis Tombé (Colectivo720), together with Juan Calle and Horacio Valencia (Empresas Públicas de Medellín).
The US$200,000 Gold Award went to Articulated Site: Water reservoirs as public park, by Mario Camargo and Luis Tombé (Colectivo720), together with Juan Calle and Horacio Valencia (Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM Group)).
The project seeks to create public park around a series of water tanks in Medellín, Colombia. The park opens up the city’s hidden infrastructure with the pre-existing elements integrated into the public urban space to create an outdoor auditorium, and venues for a range of community activities. The concept of the project sits at the nexus of architecture, landscape architecture, infrastructure and urban design.
The Dryline: Urban flood protection infrastructure by Bjarke Ingels and Kai-Uwe Bergmann, Bjarke Ingels Group and One Architecture.
The US$50,000 Bronze Award went to The Dryline: Urban flood protection infrastructure by Bjarke Ingels and Kai-Uwe Bergmann of Bjarke Ingels Group (Denmark/USA) and One Architecture (Netherlands) in collaboration with City of New York.
The consortium’s project is a large-scale flood protection system for New York City. The system proposes a protective band of raised berms around the water’s edge at Lower Manhattan. The infrastructural barrier is integrated with a range of neighbourhood functions that encourage local commercial, recreational and cultural activies.
The fourth cycle of the Global Holcim Awards attracted more than 6,000 entries from 152 countries. In all, 15 projects were awarded in five regions around the world.
In 2011, Milinda Pathiraja received the RIBA President’s Award for Outstanding PhD Thesis for his PhD inspired by community sentiments.
