Global competition for sustainable construction

The second Holcim Awards competition to promote sustainable construction worldwide, is still open, and entries can be submitted until February 29, 2008. The awards are an initiative of the Swiss-based Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction, which is supported by Holcim Ltd, but is independent of its commercial interests. Holcim Ltd is one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement and aggregates (crushed stone, sand and gravel), ready-mix concrete and asphalt.

The prize money for the five Holcim regional competitions (covering Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Middle East, and Asia Pacific) and the global awards, totals 2 million US dollars. The awards seek to encourage and inspire a built environment that goes beyond convention to address the challenges of sustainability, says the Holcim Foundation.

The global competition showcases sustainable responses to technological, environmental, socio-economic and cultural issues affecting contemporary building and construction. The awards are open to anyone involved with projects in the area of sustainable construction — architects, planners, engineers or project owners. All building projects are eligible for the competition if construction had not started before June 1, 2007. The competition is supported in India by ACC Ltd (www.acclimited com).

The first phase of the competition will select regional winners in 2008 that will automatically qualify for the global competition to be held next year.

In addition to construction projects at an advanced stage of design, the award competition seeks visions and ideas at a conceptual level. This special category is open for professionals younger than 35 years of age.
Submissions in the awards competition are evaluated by independent juries in the five regions of the world, using a five-point definition of sustainable construction. These so-called ‘target issues’ serve as a yardstick to measure the degree to which a building contributes to sustainable development. The juries will be headed by internationally renowned architects and academics. The Indian architect, Ashok Lall heads the Asia-Pacific jury. Charles Correa, the renowned Indian architect, will chair the jury for the global competition.

(Competition entries can be submitted online at www.holcimawards.org until February 29, 2008. For further information, visit www.holcimfoundation.org. E-mail:  mfo@holcimfoimdation.org)

Woman of vision

High on a snowy mountainside, four futuristic white buildings catch the eye, but blend seamlessly into the landscape. These structures, part of the Nordpark cable railway in Innsbruck, Austria, are the latest manifestations of the extraordinary vision of London-based architect Zaha Hadid, who was born in Iraq.
These projects and others helped her win one of the most coveted awards in architecture — the Pritzker Prize.
Hadid’s place among the most important and innovative architects of the 21st century is illustrated by a range of seminal buildings she has designed around the world. They include the Rosenthal Centre for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati. USA (said by the New York Times to be “the most important new building in America since the Cold War1”; carmaker BMW’s Central Building in Leipzig, Germany; and the Phaeno Science Centre in Wolfsburg, Germany.

Olympic Aquatics Centre in London

Zaha Hadid has also won a competition to design the Aquatics Centre for the Olympic Games to be held in London in 2012. The project is scheduled for completion in 2011.

Hadid’s hard-won high status is also evidenced by the number of exhibitions of her work that have been staged in various countries of the world. In 2006, for example, a highly acclaimed retrospective was held at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. More recently, there was a major exhibition at the Design Museum in London, where videos, detailed models, furniture, vases and other concept projects were brought together to demonstrate Hadid’s drive to create flowing structures that enhance their surroundings and the lives of the people that use them.

Born in Baghdad in 1950, Zaha Hadid travelled to London at the age of 22 to study at the Architectural Association. She graduated in 1977, winning the Association’s diploma prize, and went to work at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture in London. Only three years later she established her own practice, ready to give full rein to her creative ideas. The earliest recognition of her talent came when she was awarded the first prize for her designs for The Peak Club in Hong Kong in 1982. She has since gained many prizes from respected bodies such as the American Institute of Architects, the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the Royal Academy of Arts.

In 2004, Hadid won the most prestigious architecture award — the Pritzker Prize, widely regarded as equivalent to a Nobel Prize. She was the first woman to be so honoured. The citation for the prize opens with the comment that “her architectural career has not been traditional or easy.” (The prize, established by the Hyatt Foundation, takes its name from the Pritzker family, with businesses in the United States.) Three of Hadid’s projects were selected for special mention by the Prizker judges: the 47-metre Innsbruck ski jump and glass-and-steel tower; the Cincinnati Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Vitra fire station in Germany.

Zaha Hadid’s creativity extends into other areas of art and design, including painting and drawing that she says she uses “as a way of exploring architecture.”

(Zaha Hadid Architects, 10 Bowling Green Lane, London ECIR OBQ. Fax: +4420 7251) 8322. E-mail: press@zaha-hadid.com)