Two events dedicated to the Swiss and Italian winners of the regional Holcim Awards competition 2014 recently took place in Zurich and Milan. Renowned Swiss architect Christian Kerez, as well as Italian bio-urbanists Pamela Larocca of kausdesign and Lucia Pierro of AutonomeForme introduced their prize-winning projects and discussed their interpretations of sustainable construction. 

A panel discussion in Zurich for architects and other construction industry experts was dedicated to the first ever Holcim Awards “Honorable Mention” winner. Christian Kerez received the prize for a proposed new competence center in Switzerland in the regional competition for Europe. As part of the introduction to his project at the event hosted by Holcim Switzerland, Christian Kerez was joined by Hubertus Adam, Director of the Swiss Architecture Museum (S AM) in Basel, Marc Angélil, Professor for Architecture and Design at the ETH Zurich and head of the Academic Committee of the Holcim Foundation, and Swiss national TV presenter and moderator, Sonja Hasler.

The winning project “Circular Voids – Energy-efficient office building” is designed to accommodate 250 specialists in research laboratories, offices and training facilities that live-up to the highest standards of sustainability. The design features circular atriums that cut through the floors and ceilings to flood the interior with natural light and create unusual encounter spaces.

“Developing the building was a long process in which conversations played an important role. Walter Jung, founder of the Paul Scherrer Institute, told me that the most important areas in a competence center were the areas between the offices and lecture halls – the informal meeting places,” Christian Kerez explained.

Exceptional prize

“When evaluating the competition entry for the new competence center, the jury unanimously agreed that it belonged to the best entries and deserved recognition”, Marc Angélil recounts from his participation in the jury meeting. Since the project was designed to become a research and development facility for Holcim, the sponsor of the Holcim Foundation, the jury decided to bestow a non-monetary prize – the “Honorable Mention”.

During the event, the director of the Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel, Hubertus Adam, commented on Kerez’ design: “His work fascinates, especially because of its radicalism. I am referring to its literal sense – radical comes from the term root, and he is extremely in-depth when designing something. He never stops on the surface, like many other architects”.

His success proves him right! The project received great attention on an international level. Apart from having been published in almost all renowned architecture magazines, the model of the building was exhibited at the Venice Biennale as well as at the GSD Harvard and at the TOTO gallery in Tokyo.

View project info – “Circular voids” by Christian Kerez, Switzerland

Holcim Awards winners from Italy at the Triennale di Milano

The Italian teams who received Holcim Awards prizes in 2014 were honored at a special event at the Triennale di Milano. Holcim Italy invited architects and engineers to meet Lucia Pierro of AutonomeForme, Palermo, and Pamela Larocca of Kaudesign, Milan. Moderated by Fiore De Lettera, Director of CityProject.it, the winners explained their view on sustainable design by showcasing examples derived from their own winning submissions.

A symbiotic relationship with nature

Lucia Pierro is part of an Italian-Spanish team who won the Holcim Awards Gold 2014 Europe for an environmental rehabilitation project in the South of Italy at Saline Joniche. “The project proposes a flooded landscape along natural watercourses, generating an ecosystem filled with flora and fauna, with a special focus on migrating birds,” she explained.

The project investigates the roles of architecture, landscape design, and urban planning –and their constraints by the necessity to allow human existence. The jury commended the design proposal for framing a discourse on potential forms of relationship between human activity and the natural environment. The approach offers strategies for understanding architecture as a form of action in a symbiotic relationship with nature.

View project info – “Anthropic Park” by Francisco Leiva, Grupo aranea, Spain and Marco Scarpinato, AutonomeForme, Italy

Improving lives by furthering participatory processes

A masterplan that responds to rapid urbanization of Kigali, Rwanda designed by Pamela Larocca was the second project honored during the event. The masterplan received a Holcim Awards Acknowledgement prize and addresses the needs of the predominantly young population by establishing participatory processes with local cooperatives and stakeholders.

“Working with, rather than against the topography, our scheme includes a collective hill-farming program, community buildings, and a market. The project results in a wide range of cost-effective and adaptable solutions which are respectful of the Rwandan tradition and improved by a contemporary sense of public space aesthetics,” noted Pamela Larocca.

View project info – “Co-op Capacity Building” by Pamela Larocca, kaudesign, Italy

The project authors confirmed the importance of the Holcim Awards for bringing large-scale urban design projects into the spotlight. The competition and follow-up events support the dissemination of knowledge in related academic, technical and social contexts.

Promoting and rewarding sustainable construction

Lectures and discussion panels with Holcim Awards prize-winners share innovation and encourage all stakeholders to optimize the sustainable performance of the buildings that we live and work in. The Swiss-based Holcim Foundation was established in 2003 and promotes the strength of diverse strategies of achieving greater sustainability of the built environment.

Since it was established in 2003, the Foundation has been supported by Holcim in more than 70 countries worldwide and is independent of commercial interests. Holcim is one of the world’s leading suppliers of cement and aggregates (crushed stone, gravel and sand) as well as further activities such as ready-mix concrete and asphalt, including services.