“Establishing a dialog between architecture and engineering, combining state-of-the-art technologies with formal expression” – Holcim Awards Jury

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Breathing Envelope: Vertically-stacked convention center and public spaces, Bogotá, Colombia

    The project employs an active breathing envelope in response to the city’s particular equatorial mountain climate. Different strategies have been developed with a diverse team of architects, engineers and consultants. Natural lighting and ventilation provide a level of comfort unparalleled in the convention center building type, with minimal energy consumption. Rainwater collection, landscaping and a permeable covering of the surrounding public space complement the set of sustainable strategies.

The jury values the dialog that the project establishes between the fields of architecture and engineering, with both disciplines mutually informing one another, ultimately combining state-of-the-art technologies with formal expression.

Last updated: July 05, 2014 Medellín, Colombia

The jury values the dialog that the project establishes between the fields of architecture and engineering, with both disciplines mutually informing one another, ultimately combining state-of-the-art technologies with formal expression. The deployment of high-tech mechanical systems – for ventilation, lighting, heating, cooling, water management and power generation, including the use of surface geothermal energy storage – is done with restraint, leading to an architecture that appears noble, quiet and discreet – technology not for technology’s sake, but at the service of users, architecture and the environment.