The world’s most significant competition for sustainable design calls for entries

The Awards Ceremony will occur at the Foundation’s marquee Venice Forum event on November 20, 2025, which will bookend the Italian city’s famous Biennale of Architecture.

With an aspiration to elevate standards in sustainable design internationally, the competition has appointed leading global architectural figures to chair the independent juries for the five regions it covers.

The Holcim Foundation Awards 2025 Jury chairs include Sou Fujimoto, who will examine Asia Pacific entries. Kjetil Thorsen will preside over Europe, Sandra Barclay will lead Latin America, Lina Ghotmeh will lead the Middle East and Africa jury, and Jeanne Gang will lead North America.

Jury Chairs - Holcim Foundation Awards 2025

They award four winners per region in total, with one winner per region selected for a special recognition prize.

“We’re deeply honored to have globally significant architects at the top of their game to help us identify the creative talent that can accelerate the change in building culture that our planet and societies need,” explains Laura Viscovich, executive director of the Holcim Foundation, noting the independent juries will evaluate entries through the Foundation’s goals for sustainable construction - uplifting places, a healthy planet, thriving communities, and viable economics.

“In this decisive decade to advance sustainable development, the Holcim Foundation Awards rewards projects that can speed up the application of innovative design and construction practices that provide a holistic response to meeting human development goals and regenerating natural systems.”

The Awards, which have run for twenty years, have a strong point of difference in an increasingly busy competition space by empowering architects, urban planners, and engineers to submit client-supported projects that have reached the detailed design phase but have yet to be realized.

“The Awards began in 2004 to address an urgent need to challenge the design and construction sectors to act more responsibly by spotlighting best-in-class sustainably-minded projects and processes long before the concept was mainstreamed,” adds Viscovich, noting that the Awards being free to enter and adjudicated by experts across all regions, make it the world’s most significant and longstanding global prize for sustainable design.

“Our mission - to support people who are change accelerators for sustainable construction - is today even more important, and we’re buoyed by the fact that the world’s most responsible architects, engineers, and developers are not just thinking sustainably but looking at regenerative solutions to deal with the critical issues that will trouble our future.”

“They’re also thinking holistically about the people who are impacted by their projects and the business models needed to create true systemic change in the built environment.” 

The legacy of the Awards, which today split the prize money of USD 1M between 20 winning entries, is impressive. Past winners include New York’s BIG U (Dryline) by Bjarke Ingels Group and One Architecture, Pritzker Prize-Winning Diébédo Francis Kéré’s Gando Secondary School in Burkina Faso, and most recently, London’s landmark Natural History Museum’s Urban Nature Project, which was critically acclaimed for its efforts to bring biodiversity back to the city. 

The Awards have also been a catalyst in elevating the work of smaller practices pioneering in their fields and projects struggling to get the attention they deserve in developing regions.

With all this in mind, the Foundation is using the Awards campaign to tell the stories of completed projects and design professionals through its “Words with Winners” series, now live on the Awards entry page and showcasing vivid and extraordinary stories of sustainable design.

The Holcim Foundation for Sustainable Construction is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to support people who are change accelerators for sustainable construction. In addition to its flagship Awards program, the Foundation partners with academics and industry-leading practitioners to create educational opportunities and organizes events to facilitate the exchange of ideas and best practices.

The Holcim Foundation believes that a number of interdependent goals and principles for sustainable construction must be understood, mainstreamed, and implemented to succeed in building a better world.

Our Definition of Sustainable Design and Construction

Breakthrough ideas and solutions are needed to accelerate the construction industry’s transformation at speed and scale. These innovative solutions must be transferable to the entire sector to drive further impact. Furthermore, all sustainable building and infrastructure projects must address four interdependent goals with equal conviction:

• Healthy Planet: Structures that minimize resource use, avoid emissions, and embed solutions to repair ecosystems and restore biodiversity.
• Viable Economics: Financial planning that combines short term project feasibility with long term circular value creation.
• Thriving Communities: Inclusive and affordable living environments that cultivate equity, health and well-being.
• Uplifting Places: Beautiful and spatially relevant structures that work in unison with the local context and culture.

Melanie Schwarz | news@holcimfoundation.org