The winners of the 4th Global Awards have been decided – the trophies and USD 350,000 prize money go to projects in Colombia, Sri Lanka and the USA. All three prizes recognize architectural interventions that deliver tangible benefits to local communities: Turning a decommissioned water reservoir into a park in Medellín, rebuilding social fabric through a community library in Ambepussa following Sri Lanka’s civil war, and creating public zones and flood-protection for the island of Manhattan.

The project submission tells a powerful story, not just of a building, but of a society in the process of establishing strong foundations for its future development. The juxtaposition of weapons and tools on the introductory panel sets both the tone and objective of the endeavor, with a persuasive and well-chosen pair of images, making the conceptual framework of the project more than clear: how to transform a discharged army without mission into a motivated workforce at the service of society?

The Post-War Collective project by Milinda Pathiraja and Ganga Ratnayake of Robust Architecture Workshop is centered upon a community library and social recuperation building in Ambepussa, a rural town near Colombo, Sri Lanka. The project is currently under construction, and was praised by the independent jury for going beyond the physical building to explore processes, engagements, and interactions.

A project in the rural town of Ambepussa by Milinda Pathiraja of Robust Architecture Workshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka was awarded Bronze. The project aims to re-integrate former soldiers into post-civil-war society by providing training in building techniques through the construction of a community library. The slender building sits lightly in the landscape and wraps around an inner courtyard, taking full advantage of cross ventilation and daylight use, rammed-earth walls and recycled materials reduce the building’s ecological footprint.

The jury commends the intention of the project to focus as much on the building process as on the building as physical artifact. The combination of two objectives, pertaining to the term “building” both as verb and noun, celebrates a specific understanding of architecture, one derived from the very structure of its making. Greatly appreciated is the project’s vocational training aspect, which will contribute – beyond the immediate task at hand – to “capacity building” in a broader sense: the project would potentially heal collective wounds, build labor workforces, disseminate knowledge, foster sustainable development and strengthen social relations.

The project in the rural town of Ambepussa near Colombo, aims to reintegrate former soldiers into post-civil war Sri Lankan society. Coming from underprivileged socio-economic backgrounds, young men are trained in building techniques through their involvement in the construction of public buildings – as for example in the realization of the Community Library in Ambepussa. Respecting existing trees, the slender building sits lightly in the landscape and wraps around an inner courtyard, taking full advantage of cross ventilation and daylight use. Rammed-earth walls and recycled materials reduce the building’s ecological footprint.