A jury of nine experts will meet to select the global prize winners of the 6th International Holcim Awards for Sustainable Construction. 33 finalist projects from 25 countries will take part in the global phase of the competition. The LafargeHolcim Awards promotes innovation in how the built environment is engineered and designed – a crucial requirement to enable the transition to low-carbon construction and circular material flows.

All projects nominated for a Main Category prize in the regional phase of the competition in 2020 were invited to provide an updated project submission for evaluation by the global jury. The authors were requested to include additional information on the carbon footprint and circularity of materials of their project.

The global jury will be led by Hashim Sarkis, Dean of the School of Architecture & Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, MA, USA. He is also Director of the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2021 under the theme of “How will we live together?” and was previously a member of LafargeHolcim Awards juries in 2011 and 2018.

The members of the jury include Angelo Bucci, Co-Founder, spbr arquitetos and Professor of Building Design, Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil); Bruce Gibbons, Managing Principal, Thornton Tomasetti (USA); Anne Lacaton, Principal, Lacaton & Vassal Architectes (France); and Mun Summ Wong, Co-Founder, WOHA (Singapore). In addition, Marilyne Andersen, Professor of Sustainable Construction Technologies, EPFL Lausanne (Switzerland); Maria Atkinson AM, Founding CEO, Green Building Council of Australia; Meisa Batayneh Maani, Founder & Principal Architect, Maisam Architects & Engineers (Jordan); and Brinda Somaya, Principal Architect & Managing Director, Somaya & Kalappa Consultants (India) are members of the jury, representing the Board of the LafargeHolcim Foundation.

The winners of both the regional and global phases of the Awards competition will be announced in 2021 from almost 5,000 entries by authors in more than 120 countries. The schedule and format of the Awards celebrations will be published as soon as possible, taking the Covid-19 pandemic situation and the wellbeing of everyone involved at top of mind.

The LafargeHolcim Awards is the world’s most significant competition for sustainable design. It offers a total of USD 2 million in prize money per three-year cycle and foregrounds exemplary approaches to architecture, engineering, urban planning, materials science, construction technology, and related fields. Submissions are evaluated using the five Target Issues for sustainable construction of the LafargeHolcim Foundation. Under the headings of Progress, People, Planet, Prosperity, and Place the Target Issues outline the critical factors on making the environments we build and inhabit truly viable, as the building sector moves towards net-zero emissions and circular material flows.